What Is Animal Communication — and How Do You Know If Your Pet Is Trying to Tell You Something?

A natural born animal communicator shares what the gift actually is, how it works, and the signs your beloved pet may be reaching out right now

By Carolina Burns · Unum Reiki & Wellness · unumreikiandwellness.com

I did not choose to be an animal communicator.

The gift chose me long before I had a name for it — long before I understood that what I was experiencing when I was near animals was not something everyone experienced. I simply knew things. I felt things. I received impressions, images, emotions, and sometimes words with a clarity that I later came to understand as a form of communication that operates entirely outside of spoken language.

Animals have been talking to us for as long as we have shared the planet with them. Most of us have simply forgotten how to listen.

In this post I want to share what animal communication actually is — not the mystified, sensationalized version, but the honest, grounded reality of what happens in a session. I also want to share something I believe every pet parent deserves to know: the signs that your beloved animal may already be trying to reach you right now.

What Animal Communication Actually Is

Intuitive animal communication — sometimes called animal telepathy or animal intuitive reading — is the ability to receive information from an animal through energetic and intuitive channels rather than through observable behavior or verbal language.

It is not magic. It is not performance. It is not guessing.

What it is — as best as I can describe from the inside of the experience — is a kind of energetic listening. When I connect with an animal, I become receptive to what they are broadcasting: their emotional state, their physical sensations, their needs, their memories, their perspective on their relationship with their human, and sometimes very specific information that could not have been known any other way.

Animals communicate constantly. They communicate through energy, through feeling, through image and impression and sensation. A skilled animal communicator does not make the animal talk — she simply learns to receive what the animal is already broadcasting.

Animals have been talking to us for as long as we have shared the planet with them. Most of us have simply forgotten how to listen.

I was born with an unusually open channel for this reception. It is something I have developed and deepened over a lifetime of working with animals of all species — dogs, cats, horses, birds, rabbits, and others. But the gift itself arrived with me. It was not learned from a course or a certification. It is simply part of how I experience the world.

What Animal Communication Is Not

Before I share the signs that your pet may be trying to communicate with you, I want to address some of the most common misconceptions — because they often prevent people from reaching out when their animal genuinely needs to be heard.

It is not a party trick or entertainment

Animal communication is a healing modality. People come to me when their pet is anxious, unwell, behaviorally struggling, approaching the end of life, or has already passed. The conversations that happen in these sessions are often profound, deeply moving, and genuinely life-changing for the pet parent who receives them.

It is not a replacement for veterinary care

I am not a veterinarian. Animal communication is a complementary approach — one that can provide insight, emotional context, and understanding that veterinary diagnostics cannot. Many of my clients find that what they learn in a communication session helps them have better conversations with their vet, because they now understand more clearly what their animal is experiencing.

It does not require your pet to be present

Distance is not a barrier to intuitive connection. Many of my most powerful sessions happen remotely — with the pet at home and the pet parent on a video call with me from anywhere in the world. The energetic connection does not require physical proximity. It requires intention, openness, and a clear channel — all of which I bring to every session.

It works for animals who have passed

Some of the most healing sessions I facilitate are with pet parents who have lost an animal and are carrying unresolved grief, guilt, or unanswered questions. The connection does not end at physical death. If you have lost a beloved pet and there is something you wish you could have said — or heard — that conversation is still possible.

10 Signs Your Pet May Be Trying to Tell You Something

Animals communicate constantly — with their bodies, their behavior, their energy, and sometimes in ways that are harder to explain but impossible to dismiss. Here are the signs I most commonly hear from pet parents who reach out for a communication session.

1. Sudden unexplained behavioral changes

When an animal who has been calm suddenly becomes anxious, or an animal who has been social suddenly withdraws, the behavior is communication. Something has changed in their inner world — emotionally, physically, or energetically — and they are showing you. Behavioral changes that have no clear environmental cause are one of the most common reasons pet parents seek an animal communication session.

2. Persistent, unexplained anxiety or fear

An anxious animal is an animal trying to communicate something it cannot resolve on its own. Sometimes the source is a past trauma. Sometimes it is a current physical discomfort. Sometimes it is an emotional response to something happening in the household. A communication session can often identify the source of anxiety that behavioral training and veterinary visits have not been able to reach.

3. Your pet stares at you with unusual intensity

Pet parents often describe a moment — sometimes repeated over days or weeks — where their animal locks eyes with them in a way that feels different. More deliberate. More sustained. More weighted with something unsaid. This is not imagination. Animals use eye contact as a primary channel of energetic communication. When they hold your gaze that way, they are reaching.

4. Unexplained physical symptoms your vet cannot fully explain

The body and the emotional field are not separate. Animals who are carrying unresolved emotional pain, grief, or stress often express it physically — through digestive issues, skin conditions, recurring infections, or a general decline in vitality that does not respond fully to medical treatment. In these cases, addressing the emotional and energetic layer can support and sometimes accelerate physical healing.

5. Changes in eating, sleeping, or elimination patterns

These are among the first physical signals an animal sends when something is off in their inner world. A pet who suddenly refuses food they have always loved, or who begins sleeping in unusual places, or who develops changes in elimination without a medical cause — is communicating. The question is what they are trying to say.

6. Your pet seems to be grieving

Animals grieve. They grieve the loss of human family members, animal companions, and sometimes the loss of a home or a routine that meant safety to them. A grieving animal often becomes quieter, less engaged, less interested in play or food. They benefit enormously from being heard — from having someone acknowledge what they are carrying and communicate back that they are seen and loved.

7. You sense something is wrong but cannot identify it

Pet parents are often the first to know when something is wrong with their animal — before any symptoms are visible, before any diagnosis is made. If you have a persistent, unshakeable sense that your pet is not okay and you cannot put your finger on why — trust that instinct. Your bond with your animal is itself a form of communication. Your sense that something is wrong may be their way of reaching you.

8. You are approaching a difficult decision about their care

One of the most heartbreaking moments in a pet parent’s life is facing a decision about end-of-life care — whether to pursue treatment, when to let go, whether their animal is suffering. Many pet parents reach out to me in these moments not because they do not trust their vet, but because they want to know what their animal actually wants. These sessions are among the most sacred work I do.

9. Your pet has recently joined your family

A newly adopted animal — especially one who has come from a shelter, a difficult situation, or an unknown background — is navigating an enormous transition. A communication session in the early weeks of adoption can provide invaluable insight into who your animal is, what they have experienced, what they need to feel safe, and what they want you to know about themselves. It is one of the greatest gifts you can give a new pet.

10. You simply want to know how they are

You do not need a crisis to book a communication session. Many of my clients come simply because they love their animal deeply and want to understand them more fully — to know what brings them joy, what they find difficult, what their favorite moments are, what they want more of in their life. These sessions are joyful and affirming in ways that are hard to describe and impossible to forget.

You do not need a crisis to connect with your animal. Sometimes love is reason enough.

 What Happens in an Animal Communication Session at Unum

Before a session begins, I ask you to share a photo of your animal and any questions or concerns you most want to address. This gives me a point of connection and helps me understand what is most on your heart going into the session.

From there I make the energetic connection with your animal. I receive whatever they are offering — images, feelings, sensations, words, impressions — and I share it with you in real time. I ask clarifying questions. I relay your messages back to your animal. The session is a genuine two-way conversation facilitated through me.

I always let you know what I am receiving and what I am uncertain about. I do not fill in gaps with what seems likely or what you want to hear. If I am not receiving something clearly, I say so. The integrity of the connection matters more to me than producing a polished performance.

Sessions are conducted remotely via video call, which means your animal can remain in their own comfortable environment throughout. You can be anywhere in the world. All you need is a quiet space and a willingness to hear what your animal has to say.

✦    Sessions are available in English and Spanish

✦    Remote sessions via video call — available worldwide

✦    Sessions for living animals and those who have passed

✦    All species welcome — dogs, cats, horses, birds, rabbits, and more

Your Animal Has Something to Say

I have facilitated hundreds of animal communication sessions over the course of my life and practice. And in all of that time, I have never once had an animal who had nothing to say.

They are always communicating. They are always reaching. The question is simply whether there is someone present who can receive what they are sending.

If something in this post has stirred something in you — if you thought of your animal while reading it, if a particular sign felt familiar, if you have been wondering for a while whether your pet is trying to tell you something — that is the moment. Not tomorrow. Now.

I would be honored to be the bridge between you and the animal you love.

Book an animal communication session → unumreikiandwellness.com/contact

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Remote sessions worldwide · Sessions in English and Spanish

About the Author

Carolina Burns is a natural born animal communicator, Reiki Master and Healer, intuitive medium, Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, and co-founder of Unum Reiki & Wellness. Her gift for animal communication arrived with her — not from a course or a certification, but as a natural dimension of how she experiences and moves through the world. She has worked with animals of all species throughout her life and considers the work of bridging the communication between animals and the humans who love them to be among the most sacred things she does. She offers sessions in English and Spanish, remotely worldwide.

Unum Reiki & Wellness  ·  unumreikiandwellness.com  ·  McDonough, GA