Fitzpatrick reportedly learned of her unique gift to communicate with animals at a young age, but abandoned her talents after three of her family's pet geese turned into Christmas dinner. The event was very traumatic for her, and it wasn't until 1994 that she reconnected with her psychic abilities, which she uses to help people gain a greater understanding of their pets.
Before arriving at BlogPaws, I'd heard from my friend Cat Chat Caren that Temptations Cat Treats was giving away a one-on-one reading with Sonya (Just to be clear, I have no affiliation with them), so on the first night of the conference I made a beeline to their table and made sure my entry was in. I wasn't sure how many readings they were giving away (it turned out to be quite a few), but I was thrilled to get a voicemail the next evening letting me know I had won. In addition to having the rare chance to meet Sonya in person, I should also note that according to her website, a 30-minute phone session with her normally runs $300! (My reading was around 10-15 minutes).
I was worried about how the session would go since Charlie and Priscilla weren't with me (they don't travel), so I decided to gather up a nice selection of pictures on my laptop to bring to the reading. In addition to my two kitties, I also included photos of my dog Teddy, who went over the rainbow bridge just over two years ago (From watching her show, I knew that Sonya talked to ALL kinds of animals).
Before I get into more details, I want to preface this story by saying that while I don't generally believe in psychics, I went into the session with an open mind, and really wanted Sonya to be able to answer my questions and give me some insight into the secret life of my cats. That being said, had I gone in with a more skeptical attitude, perhaps the results (or my perception of them) would have been a little different.
Sonya was beautiful and regal in person, she is British and a former model after all, and immediately put me at ease with her friendly and open demeanor. I told her it was an honor to meet her, and she warmly laughed before reaching out to hold my hand. When I get nervous I tend to jump ahead of myself, so I whipped out my laptop and exclaimed, "I have pictures!" before she even asked me to do anything. She told me how she loved pictures, but the funny thing is she never ended up looking at them.
The first thing she asked for were the names of the animals I wanted to communicate with. She wrote down "Charlie", "Priscilla", and "Teddy" on a piece of paper, and the reading began. There were a few times she closed her eyes and it looked like she was concentrating, but most of the time the conversation was very easy and free-flowing.
While she did ask some specific questions like, "What bothers Priscilla in the kitchen?" and "Who had a silver car?" she never asked me to tell her anything about the pets beforehand, meaning it's not like I told her their life stories, and she was just regurgitating what I had already said. Now, I'm not saying she couldn't have implied certain things from my reactions, but at the very least, that makes her one hell of an intuitive.
The main piece of information I was looking to find out was where Charlie came from. As I've written about in the past, he came into our lives five years ago after we found him living in a sewer on our street. He was around a year old at the time, in fairly good shape, extremely friendly, and fixed, so we knew he wasn't feral, but we weren't sure if he was lost or abandoned, either. I explain these details to give you a little background on his story, but I didn't tell all of that to Sonya.
That being said, Charlie "communicated" to her that he was living with a family that abandoned him when they moved away. He said that he was on the streets for quite awhile, where he was very worried, and also quite hungry. While it breaks my heart to hear he was so carelessly tossed out on to the street, he also told her that he was glad those people moved because he likes his new home much better! She also mentioned him saying several times that he is very, very happy, and stays close to home now (he's an indoor cat) because he doesn't want to end up like that again! On a cute side note, Charlie also told her that he likes him name and that I kiss him a lot, which is funny because I'm a serial cat kisser, but I'm not so sure he likes it!
On to Priscilla, she said that she's very funny and bossy. At first, she wouldn't let Charlie get a word in edgewise. She told Sonya that she's a very good cat who was never any trouble and always uses her litter box (which is true, and Sonya even told me the color of the box), and that everyone loves her, even Charlie. She also said that she's very independent and runs the house (yep).
Charlie and Priscilla don't get along (mostly on Priscilla's end), and everything she said about their relationship was correct. In fact, the things she was telling me Priscilla said were pretty much EXACTLY what I already imagined coming out of her mouth, so I definitely got a good laugh out of that.
Through Sonya, Priscilla communicated that Charlie is a "mess" (true), and that he is very needy (extremely true). Her overall feeling is that, "Well, I guess he's sticking around, and I'll just deal with it," and although there's no love lost between the two, they still "rub on" and would miss the companionship if the other were not around. Priscilla says that I worry about her a lot (true) and that she likes it, and predictably also asked why I talk to Charlie when I should be paying attention to her.
When it came time to talk about Teddy, Sonya also said some interesting things that gave me pause. She asked me to tell her about the time he slept on my bed, which I suppose could just be an open-ended "fishing" question, but actually he only slept on my bed one time ever, when my Mom was in the hospital recovering from a minor surgery (I didn't mention the "minor" part). After I said that, she said he replied, "Yes, but Mum was ok and she came back home after that," which was true.
She also said he was asking about a silver car and a white car, and while it didn't occur to me at the time, my parents DID each have cars that color that Teddy traveled in. He also said that when I moved out of the house, things were never the same, which in itself is a generic statement, but how did Sonya know I moved? (Although she did ask me his age at one point, and looking at me I suppose she could have surmised there was a high probability that I would've moved out of my parents house in his lifetime.)
The session lasted about 15 minutes total before someone came in and told us to wrap up. I didn't feel rushed whatsoever, and Sonya let me stay a few extra minutes to answer any final questions I had.
Now, did I receive any earth-shattering revelations from my reading? No, but it was fun and insightful, and made me feel strangely closer to the cats having heard what Sonya had to say. I've always felt in my heart that Charlie was abandoned, so to hear her confirmation felt "right", and it's pretty amazing that her reading of Priscilla's personality was so spot-on, considering she's never met her, or even seen a picture!
So, is Sonya Fitzpatrick the real deal? I'd say that's something you'd have to decide for yourself, but I left the session (mostly) a believer, and would jump at the chance to meet with her again given the opportunity.
by Kaori Tsutaya and translated from Japanese by Amy Hirschman, is not a book about starting a craft circle with the neighborhood felines, as much as it's about dutifully brushing your kitty until you produce enough hair to decorate a small box used for storing knick-knacks. 
to see if harvesting the hair in sheets yields better results.
