In every lecture I give, at least two or three people have questions about why their animals seem to act like their owners in one way or another.  A great example of this is from a lecture I gave for a 4H club a couple of years ago.

A very outgoing woman in her late 30's, who was sitting with her two daughters, was frantically waving her hand in the hope that I would call on her.  As soon as I did, she started talking a mile a minute.  Her issue was with her cat who had become so obnoxious and irritating to her during the early morning hours while she was sleeping, that she was seriously considering finding a new home for her.

As she was talking, the message was coming to me from her kitty that the woman really loved her job but felt bad about some of the aspects of it.  I soon discovered that she was a professional nurse.  When asked about how she felt about having to wake her patients up at all hours to give them their medication, she responded that she felt terrible, but it was part of her job. 

She was very concerned because her patients would be so irritated at her and thought she was being totally obnoxious (notice the same verbage that she used earlier when talking about her cat's escapades in the early morning hours). 

I asked her if her behavior reminded her of anyone she knew.  She gasped and immediately started laughing, as did her daughters.  We talked about her forewarning her patients that she was going to have to wake them up a couple of times during the evening and letting them know why.  Most people, if they know what to expect, tend to be a lot more understanding, especially knowing that she is just doing her job.

It is my belief that with every situation we find ourselves in and in everything that happens to us, there is a message.  A message to further our growth and connectedness.  The fact that our animals are willing to help deliver those messages is a wonderful testament of their love for us.

Here is another interesting story...

On my way out to my car in a parking lot, one day, I noticed the car next to mine had all of it's doors open.  As a matter of fact, it also had the trunk, and hood open!

A gentleman emerged from the back of the car wearing a pair of those yellow rubber gloves one usually cleans with.  It was logical to figure that he had spilled something and was cleaning it up.

As I got closer to my car, however, a woman emerged from the other side and said "....spider!"  Hmmm!  Since getting my door open would require speaking to the woman anyway about closing her door first, I decided to ask her what the problem was.

The poor woman was terrified!  She said that she had seen a HUGE spider in her car and there was absolutely no way she was going to get back in it until the spider was found and eradicated.

Have YOU ever tried to find anything as small as a spider in a car before???  The poor gentleman with her was lifting up the seats and moving things around and I thought the whole thing looked hopeless.

Even though I'd never tried to "hear" or talk to anything as small as a spider, all at once there it was.  As clear as a bell, this voice said, "Please tell her I'm sorry I frightened her and that if she will open the front door of the car, I will leave."

Ok...Uhhh...It's one thing to have a person call me wanting help with their pet, knowing what it is that I do.  It's a whole other thing walking up to someone out of the blue and saying something like, "Say, you know that spider you're looking for, well I just talked with him and..."  Fortunately, the universe helped me out and inspired me to give her one of my cards first.

After she had a chance to read my card, I quietly told her what the spider had said.  At this point she was ready to believe just about anything, if it meant the spider would be leaving. 

We no sooner turned around and opened up the front door of her car when THE spider jumped out onto her hood!  She screamed, "That's him!"  A puff of wind came along and he jumped up into it and was taken away.

The woman was in shock...I was in shock too, but told her, in my professional manner, of course, "See that's exactly what he said he would do".  I then slipped into my car and drove off just like this sort of thing happened to me every day.

Not!!