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ST. PETERSBURG - Your pets know all your secrets and sometimes they blab. If they do, pet psychic Sonya Fitzpatrick just might be listening.
Fitzpatrick was listening Saturday at the Mahaffey Theater where more than 800 animal lovers, mostly women, came to hear her talk to the animals.
There was the "chatty" hedgehog who said he enjoyed being on stage.
"He's really enjoying it. He knows he's a star," Fitzpatrick said.
He told Fitzpatrick that he had come into his owner's life for a "very special reason."
"It's true," his owner said.
Then he told Fitzpatrick that his owner had been ill and was now better.
Fitzpatrick asked his owner to elaborate, and she did, telling of chemotherapy and needing a pet. She chose a hedgehog after seeing one on The Pet Psychic, Fitzpatrick's show on the Animal Planet cable network.
The audience was thrilled.
A native of England, Fitzpatrick has taken the States by storm. She has written books and began her television show in 2002. St. Petersburg was the second stop in her first national tour.
Fitzpatrick said she has always been able to talk to animals, claiming she developed the ability as a child because she was born with a hearing impairment. She learned to communicate with animals' "silent language," she said.
"I was hearing them with my feelings. ... my senses," she said. "This was as natural to me as breathing."
She did not realize at first that her ability to sense animals' thoughts was anything special. Then a neighbors' cats complained that their owner was closing herself in the bedroom several times a week with the mailman.
The cats were upset because they were locked out and because the postman left a "stink" in the bed.
Fitzpatrick tried to help, telling the woman of the cats' complaints in front of a room full of people. Fitzpatrick's father was furious and reprimanded her. When she told him the cats had told her of the mailman's visits, he accused her of having an overactive imagination.
Crying, she went to her grandmother, who explained she had the same gift. Then her grandmother explained that if she told people she could talk to animals they'd think she was crazy. But, it was okay to tell her grandmother.
These days, lots of folks believe Fitzpatrick has a gift. They buy her books. They buy the dog and cat food she and "a renowned Ph.D animal nutritionist" developed.
At the Mahaffey, people paid between $25-$50 for a seat. Many brought pictures of their animals in hopes Fitzpatrick would "read" their thoughts.
Fitzpatrick has said she uses her ability not only to tell folks the good things their pets think about them, but also to help owners treat their animals better. Fitzpatrick has said she always sides with the animal.
"They are children in fur clothes," she said. "Aren't we so lucky to have these animals in our lives?"