Psychic or Profitable?

Well the economy may be hurting but pet owners are still spending like crazy. According to the American Pet Products Association, Americans spent a total of $45.5 billion in 2009, up 5.4% from 2008.

And some of that spending might surprise you. According to Newsweek magazine, pet communicators, those who "speak" to animals psychically, have seen their businesses boom in recent months. Newsweek cites one such psychic, Lisa Greene, from Houston, who reports receiving anywhere from 15-40 calls during a busy week.

Recently those inquiries have included cowboys who have started to call with questions about their horses. And according to Greene, horses are among the most "chattiest" of the animals with whom she routinely chats.

Veterinarian Rebecca Johnson, director of the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine says vets are communicating with their patients all the time, trying to pick up the animal's own signals about what might be bothering it.

"Animals are communicating through pheromones," she notes. "Veterinarians can use their sense of smell--we use our eyes and ears, our sense of touch. Animals are communicating a lot of the time but we can't speak their language."

In other words, the general idea is to try and communicate with the animal by interpreting its own signals, spoken in its own language, rather than try and get the animals to speak to us in our language. She finds the attempts to "translate" animal thoughts into "human" ones, a bit problematic, especially when the psychics claim they can "speak" to the animals without seeing them.

Buyer beware. Spending on pets is one thing. Spending wisely may be another.