A New Pet for the Holidays?

We’ve all had that dream – a new puppy or kitten or turtle for the holidays. But when it comes right down to it, is that really the best way to bring a new companion into your home? It’s already traumatic enough for an animal to leave the comfort of his home or shelter and be brought into a new space – but couple that with wrapping paper, unfamiliar family routines, lots of people milling about and a lack of general routine and you’ve got a recipe for a difficult beginning to a new life together.

If you still feel that your lifestyle or situation means that the holidays are the right time to bring a new animal into your home, here are a few tips to make the transition easier.

Preparing Your Home for Your New Companion

1. Let everyone know!  Yes, it’s really fun to “surprise” the kids-but the excitement and screaming that often happens can be upsetting to the animal.

2. Have food on hand already. Preparation is key! Find out what the shelter or breeder was feeding him/her several days before you bring home your new friend and have that on hand. A change in food (even for a day!) can result in messy GI problems (and no one wants that!)

3. Buy books. If you’re bringing home a puppy-I recommend “The Art of Raising a Puppy” by the Monks of New Skete. If you’re bringing home a kitten-there are SO many wonderful references out that! I can’t narrow it down to even one. If you’re adopting a rescued animal, then your “homework” is even more important. Older animals will have their quirks-and it will take you a bit to get to know them, just like it will take him/her a bit to get to know yours. And YES you do have your own quirks.

4. For dogs: are you crate training? Decide this BEFORE the big day and buy the appropriate items. Be sure to have a sales person help you figure out the right size crate. Dogs grow you know!

5. For cats and kittens-decide if you have an indoor or outdoor cat before hand and prepare accordingly.

6. For turtles: they need special care. A google search will yield pages of information on what to have for the aquarium-and just like all other beings out there-they grow too. So get ready!

7. If you get stuck and are feeling confused or worried about how to handle the new addition to your home, get help. Talk to a qualified trainer, animal communicator (me!) or other person who has professional knowledge in how to help with the integration of a new companion.

Have a wonderful holiday season! And if you decide to go this route-remember, you are making a long-term commitment to care for and love this beautiful being who has decided to come into your life!

 

What the Heck’s an Animal Energy Reading?

For the past few months I’ve been giving daily Animal Energy Readings and Personalized Animal Energy Readings via Facebook and Twitter. A lot of people have asked me how I “come up” with this information-is it from a book? a card deck? etc. Here’s my answer: the information comes to me every day in one crazy form or another. Sometimes I dream it, sometimes it’s a picture or a photo, sometimes it comes in an email, sometimes it just gets typed by my fingers! Second, the energies vary according to what each species wants to do for that day. For example, one day “dog” energy might want to help you prioritize who best to listen to, while another day “dog” energy may want to help you organize your garage. It’s all based on the energy of that moment! Here a bit more detail about each type of reading:

Daily Animal Energy Reading
I post these little readings every week day (and some weekends) on Facebook and Twitter. I connect with the general energy of the day and then I ask a particular animal to “step forward” and help people navigate their day. For example, today’s animal was squirrel and today’s energy was prioritizing. So the message read:

Today’s animal is (you guessed it!) squirrel. We’ve all been working, preparing, evaluating, etc for the past few days. Squirrel wants to help you slow down and focus a little. You can get a lot more accomplished with some priorities and clarity in place!

In order to most effectively work with squirrel for the day then, it would be up to you to call squirrel into your life. Most people tend to look for squirrel to show up in their life either physically (you saw one run by your car) or in name (you received an email talking about squirrel etc.) but there is a much more proactive way to work with squirrel (or any animal energy for that matter): call upon him and ask him for help. It’s simple: you can do this in your head “hey squirrel, will you come help me out today please?”  Then, you’ll not only find squirrel showing up in your life, but you will receive help and support from him in various ways. The only way to receive this info is through Facebook or Twitter – so please sign up to be a friend!

Personalized Animal Energy Reading
A personalized Animal Energy Reading is the same thing as a general Animal Energy Reading, except that I connect specifically with your energy in order to do the reading. Here’s a recent example:

Ashley: You’ve been through the ringer lately. Time to take a break (goose can help you feel like that’s ok to do) and feel some forgiveness for yourself. You’ve handled everything well-despite the difficulty of the stuff coming up. Ask Bee to help you accept that you did your best-and your best was wonderful.

I offer these for free via Facebook and Twitter about one time per week-but you have to be in the right place at the right time as I only offer them to 3 people at a time. Keep an eye out on Fb and Twitter for a message like “First 3 to respond get a Personalized Animal Energy Reading.” Due to the high demand for them (and the subsequent hurt feelings of those who missed out), I also offer them for $5, if you can’t catch the free type. I usually respond same day to these requests. You can click this link here to get one.

Email Reading
This is a detailed reading in which you email me 1 question (preferably kept to 1-2 sentences) about yourself, a situation or your pet. I respond within 48 hours via email. The cost is $52.50 for a 2-3 paragraph answer. Get an Email Reading

I hope this helps!
~Danielle

 

Does Your Pet Want to be Human?

Your pet lives with you in your human world. Because of that you, as a responsible guardian to your pet, are accountable for helping your pet adjust to your human world AND for integrating a portion of the animal-world into your life. It’s a mistake that many pet guardian’s make: rather than looking at life from the animal’s perspective, they cater to their animal’s every anticipated need, as if the animal were a human. They provide lush beds, the best food, great toys, windows etc-but something is still missing!

Being "treated like an animal" is a positive thing in the eyes of your pet!

The animals that I have worked have thrived when some aspects of their natural world are integrated into their current life. They want access to the outdoors. They want stimulation-they want to catch things, they want to hunt, stalk, fight, roll around, wrestle, swim far distances, fly, choose their mates and more.

Take some time to evaluate your pet’s lifestyle. Have your brought enough nature into your home to create a suitable blending of the two lifestyles? Does she get enough exercise? Are you providing sufficient species-directed stimulation? For example, are you giving your hunting dog a way to exercise her hunting skills, other than through the food falling off the table? Have you set up your space so that your bird can fly-even a little bit?

Our pets, while adapting to the world of humans, also deserve to have their animal worlds honored. Love and affection are a beautiful beginning, but continuing to provide opportunities for your pets to exercise their animal instincts will also go a long way to creating a happy animal and a healthy human/animal relationship.

 

Using Twitter, Facebook & Emails to Determine Psychic Abilities

Want to know how to determine your innate psychic abilities just by looking at your emails, tweets and Facebook updates? It’s easy! With this very basic overview of the psychic senses you’ll quickly be able to determine your undiscovered psychic abilities!

The four most common psychic senses are clairvoyance (psychic sight), clairaudience (psychic hearing), clairsentience (gut feelings) and claircognizance (inner knowing). As babies, we all have these abilities, but many of us, as we grow up, slowly shut them down. In most cases, though, the senses were never completely closed and we remain unknowingly open. To get a better understanding of this, let’s look at how a clairsentient, a clairvoyant, a claircognizant and a clairaudient person would behave when meeting a new person.

Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance is the most famous psychic sense. People who are clairvoyant are usually creative. Their information often comes to them as a picture or a quick flash of a movie. The first thing they notice when meeting a new person would be looks, clothing, hair color and style. To determine if you are primarily clairvoyant, look at the language you use in your writing. Do you say “I’ll see you later” or “It looks to me like…” or “I look forward to seeing your tweets”? If so, your primary psychic sense could be clairvoyance!

Clairaudience
People who are clairaudient, on the other hand are more likely to take note of the sound of a person’s voice first. They often hear guidance from within their head (almost like “voices” but not quite that loud!). When writing, people who are more clairaudient will use phrases like “I hear what you’re saying” and “I can’t wait to hear your tweets!”

Clairsentience
A clairsentient person will pay attention to whether or not they feel comfortable around the new person. Does this new person make them feel nervous or sick to their stomach or even have goosebumps? This is how clairsentience often arises. Clairsentient people are all about emotions. In their writing they say “I feel blah blah blah” and “It feels like…” or “Your tweets make me feel…”

Claircognizance
Finally, the least trusted (but most common) psychic sense is claircognizance. This is that inner knowing that causes a person to blurt out an idea—that they didn’t even know they had. Because the claircognizant information didn’t arrive in any obvious way (seen, heard or felt) it is often difficult to trust it. A person who is claircognizant will want to be stimulated when meeting a new person. “I think” phrases will dominate writing by a person who is primarily claircognizant.

Once you have figured out what your own innate psychic abilities are, start looking at your friends and even your Twitter followers. Those auto-DM’s on Twitter that everyone finds so annoying? You now have a new use for them—figuring out the psychic senses of those around you!

To learn more about each of the psychic senses, visit the podcasts page of my website at www.daniellemackinnon.com/radio.html.

 

Helping Your Child Handle the Death of a Pet

Everyday, I work with people and pets dealing with death. From grief to relief to sadness and even to freedom, the death of a pet is certainly a complicated experience for adults. When you add children into the mix however, moving through the process can feel like wading through wet cement.  Here, I offer a few guidelines for supporting your child through these difficult moments:

• Everyone handles death differently. Your daughter may want to spend time in her room with her beloved cat’s photos and favorite toy while your son may want to go out and play. Neither method of coping is wrong, just different. Honor these by not judging them.
   
• While it may seem like a good idea to offer to get another pet right away, this can actually mask emotions that need to be dealt with. Let your child take the lead on this. Until he says “ok, I would like to have another cat in our life” don’t offer. The healthiest way to move through this process is through release not replacement.
   
• Prepare your child for the animal’s passing if that is a possibility. Shielding him from such a natural fact of life will only make it more difficult later on, but allowing your child to say a goodbye can be a healing experience for you, your child and your pet.
     
• You cannot “fix” your child’s grief, but you can be there to support. Asking a nudging question here and there and having an ear ready at all times to listen in case he decides to talk about his feelings are the best methods for support.

Remember that you have your own grieving process to go through as well—so concentrating too much focus and energy on your child can mask your own feelings and emotions. The healthiest way for you to move through this is by giving to yourself, not giving to everyone else.

If the grief does become unmanageable or it doesn’t feel like there is any movement within yourself, grief counselors and animal communicators can be helpful. I have talked with many deceased pets and their humans to help give closure to a situation which then enabled the human (or family) to resume moving toward a place of peace and acceptance of their animal’s passing. To procure that type of help for yourself, please visit:  daniellemackinnon.com/signup.html.

 

Spiritual Preparation for a Visit to the Veterinarian

Time for the Vet?

Grabbing your dog and a leash, jumping in the car and rushing off to the vet’s office doesn’t always result in a calm, easy vet appointment. For many animals and their humans, a visit to the vet is fraught with nerves, anxiety—and extra poop and pee. Many people however, are starting to realize that things don’t have to be this way! When created consciously, a vet appointment can actually be a cool, fun, healing experience for everyone involved.

 Based on my years of work with animals and their humans, the following recipe for a great visit to the vet incorporates spirituality, energy, our desire to connect with our pets and the ability of our animals to help us be the best people we can be:

• Do whatever you can to be grounded yourself. Our energy is intrinsically linked with the energy of our pets and if we get ungrounded (spacey, nervous, anxious, and disorganized) in a situation such as this, our pets are most likely to mirror that to us.

• Imagine pulling your energy back into the core of your body (your torso). In your head picture running the explosion of a Star Wars ship backwards (all your energy gets sucked back into you).

• Drink plenty of water to ensure your energy has a flow to it. This will help to counteract your own body’s desire to tense up around anxiety. Flow is always good!

• Let your pet know that you will be going to the vet a few days beforehand. Be sure that when you “tell” this to your pet you are in a calm, grounded place. If you feel yourself tensing up during this conversation, stop and either start over more calmly or take a break and come back to it. Your pet won’t hold it against you if you need to restart!

• Breathe deeply. Those of you who know me know what I mean when I say “belly breaths.” Breathe slowly in through your nose while filling all the way through to your stomach (push your stomach out). Pause, then breathe out slowly through your nose while sucking your stomach in. The will release anxiety. If you are particularly anxious person, this type of breathing will feel completely backwards. It may take a few minutes to figure it out—but once you get it, you’ll know it because you will feel it.

• Give yourself plenty of time to drive to the office. Worrying about being late or not giving you and your pet enough time to acclimate to the energy of the office could easily un-ground you both. Arrive 5-10 minutes early, sit in the car, relax, and then move slowly as you leave the car. Maintain your clarity and balance!

• Visualize you and your pet sitting calmly in the waiting room, meeting with the vet. Imagine the air (or energy) all around you is soft, light, puffy and cushioning. Hold this image in your mind before you leave for the trip, while you are driving and while you are in the actual office.

• Do not play music in the car on the drive over. Additional sounds can add to the stress of a vet visit.

• Tiring your pet out before the vet visit is also a great way to manage anxiety. Haven’t you noticed it is much harder to be stressed when you want to take a nap?

• If you have a dog on a leash, notice how you hold the leash. Are you sending tension or anxiety down to him/her through a too tight leash?

• If you have a cat in a crate, notice if you get tense when you see other animals. Your cat will be able to sense this. While carrying the crate, don’t “turn away” from other animals, remain calm and maintain your balanced energy.

• Schedule your visit during the middle of the day, rather than during busy after work hours to minimize noises and contact with other animals.

• Ensure, before you schedule another vet visit, that you feel that you and your pet truly do connect with your vet. Many of my clients have said “well, we don’t love her, but she’s OK.” Why settle for OK? Don’t you want someone helping you whom you really trust and love? Look for a vet who is knowledgeable, but who also takes into account your own observations. After all, you are with your pet every day!

• Ask your vet to speak only positively about your pet. Rather than saying “he’s fat,” ask him to say “it’s time for you to get him in great shape!” Our pets understand EVERYTHING going on around them and all of the conversations taking place. Help you and your pet work with the Law of Attraction to bring into your lives only those wonderful things you desire.

• If you notice your pet getting nervous, don’t “reward” this behavior by giving him/her more attention “it’s ok sweetie” or “aw… poor baby”. Instead, re-ground yourself and play your role as the human leader. When you pet sees you in the leadership role, relaxation will come easier.

• After the visit, thank you pet. Showing gratitude will help everyone feel good and connected—and what’s better than that?!

PS: For those animals who are MUCH too upset or sick to go to the vet, many vets will do home visits. Often for a home visit, more planning is involved, but for some animals and their humans, this really is the best option. Many of my clients have found enduring relationships with a vet who visits their home. A home visit really does create a special connection.

However you choose to go through the vet visit, it will be the right way. Just remember: anything that you didn’t love about your last visit was put there so that you could learn from it and master it next time around. There are no mistakes!

Did I miss any? Please feel free to add your own!