August 9, 2023 • 24 mins
Share your thoughts & ideas! ✨
Pet anxiety is on the upswing. As the world we share with our animal companions gets louder, brighter, more unrelenting in every sensory way, human animals are not the only ones who may act out due to rampant feelings of anxiety!
But is that anxious behavior you are seeing in your pet truly because of anxiety? Could there be other factors contributing to what you are labeling as pet anxiety?
In this episode, animal communicator Shannon Cutts shares stories from her recent client files to explain how simply calling anxious-appearing behaviors "pet anxiety" may cause us to miss the bigger picture of what is going on with our animal.
This episode focuses on three commonly overlooked pet issues that can masquerade as anxiety, trigger anxiety or lead to anxiety. You will also learn more about a genetic temperament trait that affects up to 20 percent of all pets - high sensitivity - and how this trait interacts with anxiety in affected pets.
Learn more and request Shannon's free Highly Sensitive Pet Help Guide at https://animallovelanguages.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to let's Talk to Animals.
My name is Shannon Kutz.
I am an animal, intuitive andsensitive, and this little puff
ball, fluff ball is petal cuts.
She is my now six month old,precious and perfect feathered
sidekick.
And here on let's Talk toAnimals, we are truly a podcast
for all species.
Everybody is invited to theparty and we tackle different
(00:24):
topics in every single episodeand we've covered the spectrum
from dietary health to energywork, to how animal
communication happens, who cando it?
And today I want to share someinsights from a recent spate of
(00:44):
clients that I've had who arereally struggling with their
pet's anxiety.
We live in anxious times.
We are all struggling withanxiety, regardless of species
and because we share our liveswith one another.
If one member of the family isanxious, the ripple effect tends
(01:05):
to be that anxiety is amplifiedin the other family members as
well.
I tend to find that my animalcommunication client load comes
in waves.
Sometimes I will have a wholeseries of clients who are
working their way through end oflife or transition issues.
(01:25):
Then I'll have a number ofclients come through who are
seeking to reconnect with theirpet and spirit or maybe call
their animal back into theirlife through pet reincarnation
into a new body, and right nowI'm experiencing a rather high
number of clients who are comingto me saying I feel like my pet
(01:45):
is really anxious and can'trelax.
There's all kinds of ways tolook at the energy that presents
as possible anxiety.
One of the ways to look at thatenergy is yes, it's anxiety,
absolutely it walks like anxiety, it talks like anxiety.
It's anxiety.
But there are also a number ofother interpretations that we
(02:07):
can take a look at and, ratherthan try these interpretations
on for size on our own,consulting our left brain, mind
and kind of turning ourselvesinto a think tank of one to try
to figure out what's going onwith our animal, I found that
the best way to figure outwhat's going on really, what's
(02:30):
really happening inside thatanimal skin, is to ask the
animal directly.
That's what I do, that's thework I do as an animal
communicator.
I'm able to talk with allspecies and receive information
that I can then decode andtranslate, put into words and
share with other human animals,members of my own species, and
(02:53):
so if that's of interest to you,please do consider having a
chat with your own animal love,consider possibly scheduling a
session.
Would be my honor and my joy.
But today let's really focus inon pet anxiety, or what looks
like pet anxiety.
So the first thing I want totake a look at is we have a
(03:14):
natural empathy as a humananimal, to where we have the
ability very unsung ability,very underrated ability you have
the ability to projectourselves into another being's
experience of life.
In fact, that's the definitionof empathy is to be able to feel
(03:34):
and sense what another being isfeeling and sensing, without
knowing how or why it happens.
It simply happens when we'relooking at an animal who appears
to be acting anxiously.
Maybe they have a high energylevel, or maybe they have a very
low energy level.
Maybe they are exhibitingbehavior changes throughout the
(03:57):
day, maybe they are interactingdifferently with other family
members, with other animals thatthey know, with their diet or
with their regular schedule.
There are all kinds of cues thatwe may recognize as possibly
pointing to anxiety, and most ofthe time it's because we've
(04:18):
experienced those same cues andlabeled them as anxiety in our
own lives.
So, for instance, when I'm veryanxious, I change my eating
habits.
I'm not as hungry.
Some people get more hungry.
I'm not as hungry when I'm veryanxious.
I tend to have disturbed sleepand I maybe even sleep more at
different times of day thanwould be normal because I can't
(04:40):
sleep during the regularlyscheduled sleep hours at night.
So my schedule shifts, maybe myenergy changes.
A lot of times when I'm anxiousI find that I talk faster or
that I am less likely to seekout help.
So I kind of keep to myself andtrying to kind of reign in my
energy so that it won't impactothers in a negative way.
(05:02):
So these are some ways in whichI might project how I
experience anxiety onto one ofmy own animal family members and
say well, I do that when I'manxious.
Therefore, since they're doingsomething similar, that must
mean they're anxious too, and itcould mean something completely
different.
Obviously, the only way to knowfor sure is to ask.
(05:23):
But the very first step isactually to just take off our
anxiety glasses for a moment andjust put on a pair of glasses
with clear lenses and getcurious and wonder and think
well, I'm not going to labelthat as anxiety just yet.
I'm just going to get curiousand see what could it be and
(05:46):
just feel if anything rises up.
Here's a really good examplefrom a recent client that I
talked with, who came to mesaying my dog is just acting
really, really anxious, andespecially around a certain time
of day, it just feels like hisanxiety really spikes.
When I talked to her dog, hetold me it's not anxiety, it's
(06:11):
anticipation.
I'm excited.
And the analogy he gave mewhich is really funny because
I'm about as far away from anOlympic athlete as you can
imagine but the analogy he usedis when you're an athlete and
you get up to the starting lineand you're running a race or
you're going to do a swimmingevent or something like that,
and you have this heightenedenergy in your body and you can
(06:36):
either let it get to you andmake you anxious or you can
harness it as rocket fuel andallow it to work for you and
propel you forward.
And he's saying, yes, I am moreintense, yes, I am more
energetic, but it's excitementand anticipation, not anxiety.
(06:58):
So that's one way to look at it.
Now, this particular animalalso had a number of other
interesting things to shareabout the behavior that his
person was interpreting asanxiety, and I want to just stop
for a moment and say kudos tothis dog's human for caring so
(07:22):
much and for being willing topull out all the stops to make
sure that her sweetheart, hersoul dog is okay, is feeling
good, is getting his needs met.
There's never any shame orself-judgment implied when we're
talking about what we think ouranimal is going through versus
(07:44):
what our animal tells us isactually happening.
The most important thing is totune in and go.
I want to understand thisbetter.
I want to amp up my empathyability or really tune into my
empathy, what I call the empathychannel, the inner species
empathy channel, to really takea walk in their paws or their
(08:06):
claws or their wings, to reallyfeel and sense what they're
feeling and sensing, so that ifthere's anything I can do to
make their life even morewonderful, I want to know and do
it.
So if you're listening to this,if you're watching this right
now, don't worry about oh, did Imislabel it or am I
understanding it quickly.
Just recognize yourself for theloving, caring, empathic soul
(08:30):
that you are and I just want tosay your animal is so lucky to
have you.
So just know that.
Just first and foremost, I hadanother animal client whose
human came to me and said my dogseems really, really anxious
and doesn't seem thatenthusiastic about their food
(08:51):
and is kind of picky and doesn'tseem to really want to eat.
Most animals love their foodand they look forward to meal
times, and my dog just reallyisn't.
I don't know what's going onand I just I'm wondering if that
shift that I'm seeing isbecause he's feeling anxious,
and so of course that's anotherone.
We just talked about that.
Sometimes we change ourrelationship to how we eat, how
(09:13):
much we eat, what we eat whenwe're feeling anxious, so if we
do it, of course our animals maydo it as well.
Now, what this dog showed mewas that his diet wasn't
agreeing with him, and we're notgoing to talk about
kibble-based diets on thisparticular podcast episode, and
(09:34):
I'm not technically qualified.
I would point you in thedirection of some of my podcast
guests, like the pet parentingreset or Dr Judy Morgan, who are
much more qualified to guideyou through a diet transition.
But it just so happens thatthis dog was eating a pure
kibble diet and showed me thathe had some kind of stuck energy
(09:57):
in his kidneys and in hislymphatic system because it was
so hard for his body to breakhis food down and get the
nutrients out of it and becausehe really was taking in
insufficient hydration to helphis body really use the kibble,
(10:19):
what he could get out of thenutrition he could get out of
the kibble to the maximumbenefit.
And so his body was like,literally his physical mechanism
was just a little sluggish andit was manifesting.
Of course, he wasn't thatexcited about his food and he
wasn't really eating enough andit was kind of interfering with
(10:40):
how his body was naturally wiredto work.
The whys of that, and whetheryou believe in kibble diet or
raw diet or something in between, that is a topic for a whole
other podcast episode andprobably a different presenter.
But this is just what he toldme.
As an animal communicator, I'mnot an expert in the dietary
needs of different species.
(11:01):
I'm not an expert in thephysical organism and how it's
meant to work.
What I'm an expert in is havinga conversation with an animal
to ask for them to share theirperspective what's going on with
them in their life, how arethey feeling, what's working,
(11:23):
what's not working.
Share that information withtheir human so that that human
can then take next steps.
Go consult a holisticveterinarian.
Go talk with an energy healer,go and work with a behavior
consultant or an end of lifedoler.
Whatever needs to happen next.
(11:43):
With good information we canthen make much better decisions
on behalf of our animals, thepets that we love.
So that's my role.
I'm the first person to say run, don't walk to the veterinarian
or the holistic veterinarian,behaviorist or the healer.
Go find the right expert withthe right credentials to take
those next steps based on theinformation that your animal
(12:06):
gives you.
That in itself can be a wholeconversation.
There's another example of howan animal's life experience may
not really have anything to dowith anxiety per se.
It's certainly not anenvironmental or emotional
anxiety.
There's an argument to be madethat there can be a literal,
(12:26):
chemical anxiety, a physicalanxiety, when you're having
indigestion, when your body'snot able to use your food very
well, when you're not able todigest it and eliminate and just
do all those wonderful thingsthat we tend to take for granted
that our bodies just kind of doautonomically for us.
We could say, yeah, there's alittle bit of physical, systemic
(12:47):
anxiety going on in thebiological organism, absolutely.
But then we can take those nextsteps based on the information,
to go and see okay, maybe I'dtake a make a dietary adjustment
, and see if the behavior changethat I've been witnessing then
resolves itself.
Another example of what canappear to be anxiety is this is
(13:12):
my passion point and this is oneof my specialties is the highly
sensitive temperament trait.
This is a genetic temperamenttrait.
Researchers have traced it toover 100 species, including our
own, the homo sapien.
Definitely with dogs, cats,birds, reptiles, fish.
(13:32):
Highly sensitive animals of anyspecies have a trait that is
evolutionarily advantageousunder certain types of
environmental conditions, andwhat that means in plain English
is that if 80% of thepopulation, of the species
population, behaves one way when, let's say, a natural disaster
occurs, and 20% behaves adifferent way, then there's a
(13:56):
greater chance that that animalpopulation will survive the
disaster.
So let's say there's a forestfire and 80% of the gophers run
underground and that turns outto be the wrong behavior,
because the fire overtakes themand they all perish.
Well, the 20% that's highlysensitive might choose to run in
(14:19):
a different direction andbecause they didn't follow the
80% that's not got the highlysensitive personality trait,
they survive and the speciescontinues.
So that's a very extremeexample of how the highly
sensitive personality trait canwork, how it developed most
likely, and why it's a goodthing that we have it.
(14:41):
But highly sensitive just theterm highly sensitive.
This doesn't mean quick to takeoffense, it doesn't mean
they've got a thin skin.
It means they are highlyattuned to their environment.
They're highly aware.
Sensitivity, in this caseindicates sensory awareness and
(15:02):
alertness.
Finally, tuned ability to pickup subtle changes in the
environment, subtle nuances,shifts in the personalities
surrounding them and theenvironment surrounding them.
And this can mean that theworld, not their relationships,
even their own bodies, can feeloverwhelming at times and just
(15:27):
too much, too loud, too close,too bright, too everything all
at once.
And they tend to need moredowntime.
They tend to need more alonetime.
They tend to seek out naturalenvironments.
If you see a dog or a cat justlaying down on the lawn for a
while and just kind of groundingwith the earth and attuning
(15:49):
their body to the magneticfrequency of the earth, this is
a way of off-gassing, ofdetoxifying from some of the
impact of what's going on aroundthem in their daily life.
And so a highly sensitive petcan have this trait.
It's a genetic trait, it's aheritable genetic trait.
(16:09):
They don't develop it.
It can be influenced byenvironment.
So there's the argument fornature, which is the genetics,
and the nurture, which is theenvironment.
A highly sensitive animalthat's repeatedly subjected to
highly intense or negativeexperiences may become even more
sensitized, even more reluctantto engage with life in the
(16:31):
world, even more withdrawn orself-protective as a result of
that.
However, the highly sensitivetrait can also provide an animal
with a more extremeadaptability to come out of
trauma, to come out of difficultenvironments and actually turn
(16:52):
around and thrive.
So there's a lot to love aboutthis trait.
But if you don't know that youranimal is highly sensitive, you
don't know that they have thepersonality trait, especially if
you've had many differentanimals all the same breed or
the same species and theyhaven't had the highly sensitive
trait.
When you encounter a highlysensitive pet for the first time
, you could certainly beforgiven for thinking that
(17:14):
they're just really reallyanxious all the time.
But light stimulates them more,sounds stimulates them more and
it may not be anything thatthey can do anything about.
Like a non highly sensitive petmay in time become acclimated
to cars backfiring or fireworkspopping or the sound of the
(17:35):
booming bass of the stereo orbright party lights or crowds of
their own kind or of our kindor a mix.
The highly sensitive petprobably is never really going
to acclimate to those things.
They're rather going to developa set of coping strategies
designed to keep them at a safedistance If that means they
(17:58):
become aggressive towardsstrangers, or they run under the
bed, won't come out whenthere's a fireworks display or
there's a thunderstorm, or theydon't want to leave the house
when it's very cold or very hot.
It's them trying to cope andadapt so that their highly
sensitive nature doesn't getoverstimulated again and again
(18:20):
and again, because if thiscontinues to happen and they
cannot get away and there'snothing that they try that works
, then what we've got is anoverabundance of cortisol in the
system.
Cortisol is the stress hormone.
It's called the silent killerfor a reason.
So then we've got an animalthat's increasingly just bathing
in their own toxic cortisol,and all kinds of health problems
can result in things like that.
(18:41):
So a highly sensitive pet, andI've got a lot more resources
about highly sensitive pet on mywebsite.
I've written about it in myblog and podcast episode about
it.
I've got a help guide that youcan access.
It's got a whole bunch ofresources.
It's something that's notreally all that well known among
pet parents and animalguardians and it's really still
emerging science, and the humanspecies as well, and so there's
(19:04):
so much more to learn.
In fact, if you're resonatingwith some of what I've described
, you might be highly sensitiveyourself.
I am this little girl is andI've parented several highly
sensitive animals over thedecades, and they do act
differently, and it can be alltoo easy to label what you're
(19:25):
seeing as anxiety, and it couldalso be that that's true.
Highly sensitive beings of anyspecies are more prone to
experience any kind of emotionalreaction or state more
intensely, and anxiety is noexception.
So if a highly sensitive animalis anxious, they are probably
(19:46):
going to appear more anxiousthan a non highly sensitive
animal would appear if they wereexperiencing the same degree of
anxiety.
So those are, those are threeof the top triggers that I have
seen, or behavior sets that I'veseen being highly energetic or
(20:07):
anticipatory, being physicallyoff in some way, maybe with diet
, maybe with hydration, maybewith pain, maybe with something
else going on in their physicalbody.
That's leading to behavior thatlooks like anxiety, and the
high sensitivity trait, which isone of the most common
misinterpretations for petanxiety.
And there are many, many more,but that's what I wanted to
(20:31):
highlight for you today, becauseI have seen so much of this
over the last few weeks in myown animal communication client
practice and I hope that theseinsights and these tips may be
helpful to you, especially ifyou're worried about your own
pet or an animal that you'verescued or that you're fostering
or caring for the animals thatyou work with.
Maybe just play around withtaking off that anxiety filter
(20:55):
for a moment and putting on aset of clear glasses and asking
yourself what else might bedriving this behavior that I'm
seeing.
Is it truly anxiety?
Could anxiety be a facet ofsomething greater, something
bigger?
Is it something else entirely?
And then, rather than try tothink your way through with your
(21:16):
left brain, your left brain hasthis severe that's so logical
and analytical and really thinksit has all the answers, because
that's kind of how it'sdesigned to work to keep us
alive Go into your right brain.
Play around with.
What do you feel, what do yousense?
If you didn't know the answer,what might you feel or sense is
(21:41):
the underlying reason for thisbehavior shift that you're
seeing?
And if you have any aha moments,I would love to hear about them
.
So drop a comment or send me aDM on social media, or you can
email me and let me know,shannon at
animallovelanguagescom.
I'd love to hear what you comeup with and what you're learning
as you get to know your animalbetter.
Ok, so stay tuned.
(22:03):
We're doing fresh new episodesevery two weeks here in season
four, let's talk to animals, andI am so glad to connect with
you this way.
If you are enjoying let's talkto animals, be sure to check out
seasons one, two and three ifyou haven't already, and leave a
like, leave a comment, download.
Downloads really, really helpus in terms of being able to
(22:26):
reach more people.
And just know that I'm gratefulfor your listening ears and
your viewing eyes and your lovefor your pets and sending you
all my love.
Ok, bye for now.
Welcome to let's Talk to Animals.
My name is Shannon Kutz.
I am an animal, intuitive andsensitive, and this little puff
ball, fluff ball is petal cuts.
She is my now six month old,precious and perfect feathered
sidekick.
And here on let's Talk toAnimals, we are truly a podcast
for all species.
Everybody is invited to theparty and we tackle different
(00:24):
topics in every single episodeand we've covered the spectrum
from dietary health to energywork, to how animal
communication happens, who cando it?
And today I want to share someinsights from a recent spate of
(00:44):
clients that I've had who arereally struggling with their
pet's anxiety.
We live in anxious times.
We are all struggling withanxiety, regardless of species
and because we share our liveswith one another.
If one member of the family isanxious, the ripple effect tends
(01:05):
to be that anxiety is amplifiedin the other family members as
well.
I tend to find that my animalcommunication client load comes
in waves.
Sometimes I will have a wholeseries of clients who are
working their way through end oflife or transition issues.
(01:25):
Then I'll have a number ofclients come through who are
seeking to reconnect with theirpet and spirit or maybe call
their animal back into theirlife through pet reincarnation
into a new body, and right nowI'm experiencing a rather high
number of clients who are comingto me saying I feel like my pet
(01:45):
is really anxious and can'trelax.
There's all kinds of ways tolook at the energy that presents
as possible anxiety.
One of the ways to look at thatenergy is yes, it's anxiety,
absolutely it walks like anxiety, it talks like anxiety.
It's anxiety.
But there are also a number ofother interpretations that we
(02:07):
can take a look at and, ratherthan try these interpretations
on for size on our own,consulting our left brain, mind
and kind of turning ourselvesinto a think tank of one to try
to figure out what's going onwith our animal, I found that
the best way to figure outwhat's going on really, what's
(02:30):
really happening inside thatanimal skin, is to ask the
animal directly.
That's what I do, that's thework I do as an animal
communicator.
I'm able to talk with allspecies and receive information
that I can then decode andtranslate, put into words and
share with other human animals,members of my own species, and
(02:53):
so if that's of interest to you,please do consider having a
chat with your own animal love,consider possibly scheduling a
session.
Would be my honor and my joy.
But today let's really focus inon pet anxiety, or what looks
like pet anxiety.
So the first thing I want totake a look at is we have a
(03:14):
natural empathy as a humananimal, to where we have the
ability very unsung ability,very underrated ability you have
the ability to projectourselves into another being's
experience of life.
In fact, that's the definitionof empathy is to be able to feel
(03:34):
and sense what another being isfeeling and sensing, without
knowing how or why it happens.
It simply happens when we'relooking at an animal who appears
to be acting anxiously.
Maybe they have a high energylevel, or maybe they have a very
low energy level.
Maybe they are exhibitingbehavior changes throughout the
(03:57):
day, maybe they are interactingdifferently with other family
members, with other animals thatthey know, with their diet or
with their regular schedule.
There are all kinds of cues thatwe may recognize as possibly
pointing to anxiety, and most ofthe time it's because we've
(04:18):
experienced those same cues andlabeled them as anxiety in our
own lives.
So, for instance, when I'm veryanxious, I change my eating
habits.
I'm not as hungry.
Some people get more hungry.
I'm not as hungry when I'm veryanxious.
I tend to have disturbed sleepand I maybe even sleep more at
different times of day thanwould be normal because I can't
(04:40):
sleep during the regularlyscheduled sleep hours at night.
So my schedule shifts, maybe myenergy changes.
A lot of times when I'm anxiousI find that I talk faster or
that I am less likely to seekout help.
So I kind of keep to myself andtrying to kind of reign in my
energy so that it won't impactothers in a negative way.
(05:02):
So these are some ways in whichI might project how I
experience anxiety onto one ofmy own animal family members and
say well, I do that when I'manxious.
Therefore, since they're doingsomething similar, that must
mean they're anxious too, and itcould mean something completely
different.
Obviously, the only way to knowfor sure is to ask.
(05:23):
But the very first step isactually to just take off our
anxiety glasses for a moment andjust put on a pair of glasses
with clear lenses and getcurious and wonder and think
well, I'm not going to labelthat as anxiety just yet.
I'm just going to get curiousand see what could it be and
(05:46):
just feel if anything rises up.
Here's a really good examplefrom a recent client that I
talked with, who came to mesaying my dog is just acting
really, really anxious, andespecially around a certain time
of day, it just feels like hisanxiety really spikes.
When I talked to her dog, hetold me it's not anxiety, it's
(06:11):
anticipation.
I'm excited.
And the analogy he gave mewhich is really funny because
I'm about as far away from anOlympic athlete as you can
imagine but the analogy he usedis when you're an athlete and
you get up to the starting lineand you're running a race or
you're going to do a swimmingevent or something like that,
and you have this heightenedenergy in your body and you can
(06:36):
either let it get to you andmake you anxious or you can
harness it as rocket fuel andallow it to work for you and
propel you forward.
And he's saying, yes, I am moreintense, yes, I am more
energetic, but it's excitementand anticipation, not anxiety.
(06:58):
So that's one way to look at it.
Now, this particular animalalso had a number of other
interesting things to shareabout the behavior that his
person was interpreting asanxiety, and I want to just stop
for a moment and say kudos tothis dog's human for caring so
(07:22):
much and for being willing topull out all the stops to make
sure that her sweetheart, hersoul dog is okay, is feeling
good, is getting his needs met.
There's never any shame orself-judgment implied when we're
talking about what we think ouranimal is going through versus
(07:44):
what our animal tells us isactually happening.
The most important thing is totune in and go.
I want to understand thisbetter.
I want to amp up my empathyability or really tune into my
empathy, what I call the empathychannel, the inner species
empathy channel, to really takea walk in their paws or their
(08:06):
claws or their wings, to reallyfeel and sense what they're
feeling and sensing, so that ifthere's anything I can do to
make their life even morewonderful, I want to know and do
it.
So if you're listening to this,if you're watching this right
now, don't worry about oh, did Imislabel it or am I
understanding it quickly.
Just recognize yourself for theloving, caring, empathic soul
(08:30):
that you are and I just want tosay your animal is so lucky to
have you.
So just know that.
Just first and foremost, I hadanother animal client whose
human came to me and said my dogseems really, really anxious
and doesn't seem thatenthusiastic about their food
(08:51):
and is kind of picky and doesn'tseem to really want to eat.
Most animals love their foodand they look forward to meal
times, and my dog just reallyisn't.
I don't know what's going onand I just I'm wondering if that
shift that I'm seeing isbecause he's feeling anxious,
and so of course that's anotherone.
We just talked about that.
Sometimes we change ourrelationship to how we eat, how
(09:13):
much we eat, what we eat whenwe're feeling anxious, so if we
do it, of course our animals maydo it as well.
Now, what this dog showed mewas that his diet wasn't
agreeing with him, and we're notgoing to talk about
kibble-based diets on thisparticular podcast episode, and
(09:34):
I'm not technically qualified.
I would point you in thedirection of some of my podcast
guests, like the pet parentingreset or Dr Judy Morgan, who are
much more qualified to guideyou through a diet transition.
But it just so happens thatthis dog was eating a pure
kibble diet and showed me thathe had some kind of stuck energy
(09:57):
in his kidneys and in hislymphatic system because it was
so hard for his body to breakhis food down and get the
nutrients out of it and becausehe really was taking in
insufficient hydration to helphis body really use the kibble,
(10:19):
what he could get out of thenutrition he could get out of
the kibble to the maximumbenefit.
And so his body was like,literally his physical mechanism
was just a little sluggish andit was manifesting.
Of course, he wasn't thatexcited about his food and he
wasn't really eating enough andit was kind of interfering with
(10:40):
how his body was naturally wiredto work.
The whys of that, and whetheryou believe in kibble diet or
raw diet or something in between, that is a topic for a whole
other podcast episode andprobably a different presenter.
But this is just what he toldme.
As an animal communicator, I'mnot an expert in the dietary
needs of different species.
(11:01):
I'm not an expert in thephysical organism and how it's
meant to work.
What I'm an expert in is havinga conversation with an animal
to ask for them to share theirperspective what's going on with
them in their life, how arethey feeling, what's working,
(11:23):
what's not working.
Share that information withtheir human so that that human
can then take next steps.
Go consult a holisticveterinarian.
Go talk with an energy healer,go and work with a behavior
consultant or an end of lifedoler.
Whatever needs to happen next.
(11:43):
With good information we canthen make much better decisions
on behalf of our animals, thepets that we love.
So that's my role.
I'm the first person to say run, don't walk to the veterinarian
or the holistic veterinarian,behaviorist or the healer.
Go find the right expert withthe right credentials to take
those next steps based on theinformation that your animal
(12:06):
gives you.
That in itself can be a wholeconversation.
There's another example of howan animal's life experience may
not really have anything to dowith anxiety per se.
It's certainly not anenvironmental or emotional
anxiety.
There's an argument to be madethat there can be a literal,
(12:26):
chemical anxiety, a physicalanxiety, when you're having
indigestion, when your body'snot able to use your food very
well, when you're not able todigest it and eliminate and just
do all those wonderful thingsthat we tend to take for granted
that our bodies just kind of doautonomically for us.
We could say, yeah, there's alittle bit of physical, systemic
(12:47):
anxiety going on in thebiological organism, absolutely.
But then we can take those nextsteps based on the information,
to go and see okay, maybe I'dtake a make a dietary adjustment
, and see if the behavior changethat I've been witnessing then
resolves itself.
Another example of what canappear to be anxiety is this is
(13:12):
my passion point and this is oneof my specialties is the highly
sensitive temperament trait.
This is a genetic temperamenttrait.
Researchers have traced it toover 100 species, including our
own, the homo sapien.
Definitely with dogs, cats,birds, reptiles, fish.
(13:32):
Highly sensitive animals of anyspecies have a trait that is
evolutionarily advantageousunder certain types of
environmental conditions, andwhat that means in plain English
is that if 80% of thepopulation, of the species
population, behaves one way when, let's say, a natural disaster
occurs, and 20% behaves adifferent way, then there's a
(13:56):
greater chance that that animalpopulation will survive the
disaster.
So let's say there's a forestfire and 80% of the gophers run
underground and that turns outto be the wrong behavior,
because the fire overtakes themand they all perish.
Well, the 20% that's highlysensitive might choose to run in
(14:19):
a different direction andbecause they didn't follow the
80% that's not got the highlysensitive personality trait,
they survive and the speciescontinues.
So that's a very extremeexample of how the highly
sensitive personality trait canwork, how it developed most
likely, and why it's a goodthing that we have it.
(14:41):
But highly sensitive just theterm highly sensitive.
This doesn't mean quick to takeoffense, it doesn't mean
they've got a thin skin.
It means they are highlyattuned to their environment.
They're highly aware.
Sensitivity, in this caseindicates sensory awareness and
(15:02):
alertness.
Finally, tuned ability to pickup subtle changes in the
environment, subtle nuances,shifts in the personalities
surrounding them and theenvironment surrounding them.
And this can mean that theworld, not their relationships,
even their own bodies, can feeloverwhelming at times and just
(15:27):
too much, too loud, too close,too bright, too everything all
at once.
And they tend to need moredowntime.
They tend to need more alonetime.
They tend to seek out naturalenvironments.
If you see a dog or a cat justlaying down on the lawn for a
while and just kind of groundingwith the earth and attuning
(15:49):
their body to the magneticfrequency of the earth, this is
a way of off-gassing, ofdetoxifying from some of the
impact of what's going on aroundthem in their daily life.
And so a highly sensitive petcan have this trait.
It's a genetic trait, it's aheritable genetic trait.
(16:09):
They don't develop it.
It can be influenced byenvironment.
So there's the argument fornature, which is the genetics,
and the nurture, which is theenvironment.
A highly sensitive animalthat's repeatedly subjected to
highly intense or negativeexperiences may become even more
sensitized, even more reluctantto engage with life in the
(16:31):
world, even more withdrawn orself-protective as a result of
that.
However, the highly sensitivetrait can also provide an animal
with a more extremeadaptability to come out of
trauma, to come out of difficultenvironments and actually turn
(16:52):
around and thrive.
So there's a lot to love aboutthis trait.
But if you don't know that youranimal is highly sensitive, you
don't know that they have thepersonality trait, especially if
you've had many differentanimals all the same breed or
the same species and theyhaven't had the highly sensitive
trait.
When you encounter a highlysensitive pet for the first time
, you could certainly beforgiven for thinking that
(17:14):
they're just really reallyanxious all the time.
But light stimulates them more,sounds stimulates them more and
it may not be anything thatthey can do anything about.
Like a non highly sensitive petmay in time become acclimated
to cars backfiring or fireworkspopping or the sound of the
(17:35):
booming bass of the stereo orbright party lights or crowds of
their own kind or of our kindor a mix.
The highly sensitive petprobably is never really going
to acclimate to those things.
They're rather going to developa set of coping strategies
designed to keep them at a safedistance If that means they
(17:58):
become aggressive towardsstrangers, or they run under the
bed, won't come out whenthere's a fireworks display or
there's a thunderstorm, or theydon't want to leave the house
when it's very cold or very hot.
It's them trying to cope andadapt so that their highly
sensitive nature doesn't getoverstimulated again and again
(18:20):
and again, because if thiscontinues to happen and they
cannot get away and there'snothing that they try that works
, then what we've got is anoverabundance of cortisol in the
system.
Cortisol is the stress hormone.
It's called the silent killerfor a reason.
So then we've got an animalthat's increasingly just bathing
in their own toxic cortisol,and all kinds of health problems
can result in things like that.
(18:41):
So a highly sensitive pet, andI've got a lot more resources
about highly sensitive pet on mywebsite.
I've written about it in myblog and podcast episode about
it.
I've got a help guide that youcan access.
It's got a whole bunch ofresources.
It's something that's notreally all that well known among
pet parents and animalguardians and it's really still
emerging science, and the humanspecies as well, and so there's
(19:04):
so much more to learn.
In fact, if you're resonatingwith some of what I've described
, you might be highly sensitiveyourself.
I am this little girl is andI've parented several highly
sensitive animals over thedecades, and they do act
differently, and it can be alltoo easy to label what you're
(19:25):
seeing as anxiety, and it couldalso be that that's true.
Highly sensitive beings of anyspecies are more prone to
experience any kind of emotionalreaction or state more
intensely, and anxiety is noexception.
So if a highly sensitive animalis anxious, they are probably
(19:46):
going to appear more anxiousthan a non highly sensitive
animal would appear if they wereexperiencing the same degree of
anxiety.
So those are, those are threeof the top triggers that I have
seen, or behavior sets that I'veseen being highly energetic or
(20:07):
anticipatory, being physicallyoff in some way, maybe with diet
, maybe with hydration, maybewith pain, maybe with something
else going on in their physicalbody.
That's leading to behavior thatlooks like anxiety, and the
high sensitivity trait, which isone of the most common
misinterpretations for petanxiety.
And there are many, many more,but that's what I wanted to
(20:31):
highlight for you today, becauseI have seen so much of this
over the last few weeks in myown animal communication client
practice and I hope that theseinsights and these tips may be
helpful to you, especially ifyou're worried about your own
pet or an animal that you'verescued or that you're fostering
or caring for the animals thatyou work with.
Maybe just play around withtaking off that anxiety filter
(20:55):
for a moment and putting on aset of clear glasses and asking
yourself what else might bedriving this behavior that I'm
seeing.
Is it truly anxiety?
Could anxiety be a facet ofsomething greater, something
bigger?
Is it something else entirely?
And then, rather than try tothink your way through with your
(21:16):
left brain, your left brain hasthis severe that's so logical
and analytical and really thinksit has all the answers, because
that's kind of how it'sdesigned to work to keep us
alive Go into your right brain.
Play around with.
What do you feel, what do yousense?
If you didn't know the answer,what might you feel or sense is
(21:41):
the underlying reason for thisbehavior shift that you're
seeing?
And if you have any aha moments,I would love to hear about them
.
So drop a comment or send me aDM on social media, or you can
email me and let me know,shannon at
animallovelanguagescom.
I'd love to hear what you comeup with and what you're learning
as you get to know your animalbetter.
Ok, so stay tuned.
(22:03):
We're doing fresh new episodesevery two weeks here in season
four, let's talk to animals, andI am so glad to connect with
you this way.
If you are enjoying let's talkto animals, be sure to check out
seasons one, two and three ifyou haven't already, and leave a
like, leave a comment, download.
Downloads really, really helpus in terms of being able to
(22:26):
reach more people.
And just know that I'm gratefulfor your listening ears and
your viewing eyes and your lovefor your pets and sending you
all my love.
Ok, bye for now.
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