I've long been curious to know what my pets are really thinking when they're curled up on my lap or chasing after a particularly exciting stick.
Hoping that getting a better insight into their thoughts would ultimately make me a better owner, I recently sent their photos over to pet psychic Beth Lee-Crowther, who claims she can 'read' pets from a single pic.
As well as snaps of my 10-year-old all-around good boy, Pip, I also sent Beth pics of my sister's mischievous three-year-old French Bulldog, Peggy, and my boyfriend's majestic 18-year-old cat, Holly.
I was stunned by how well Beth, without knowing any other information about them, captured their quirks and personalities and found some of the messages rang eerily true.
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Holly
Holly recently worried us sick after suffering a bad UTI.
Without knowing this, Beth picked up on some sort of blood loss, and also knew that Holly had thyroid issues.
She captured Holly's surprisingly young-at-heart personality, picking up on her playfulness and quite rightly remarking: "She doesn't necessarily view herself as like an old lady".
Intriguingly, Beth also revealed that Holly was well aware of an upcoming house move - as indeed there will be in the coming weeks - and could smell "fresh paint" and see new furniture being moved around.
Holly apparently has been watching us closely, giving a positive assessment of our relationship overall. She also summed up my caring better half quite well.
Beth said: "She makes me feel like your boyfriend is very committed to you. There's a lot of loyalty there.
"She says that it is quite a solid relationship, and picks up that his feelings are very genuine. He's a very 'if he says he's going to do it, he's going to do it' type of personality.
"You know where you're at. He's not somebody that's going to mess around or let you down. So she speaks highly of him in that way."
Peggy
Beth picked up on Peggy's comedic, loveable essence particularly well.
She said: "She's a little bit clumsy and uncoordinated at times, but full of fun and full of amusement. She has that energy and she gets people laughing. She knows that they think she's funny and she'll do it all the more. So she enjoys that."
It also emerged that Peggy is somewhat of a furry agony aunt on the down-low and her words of wisdom rang true to a certain extent.
Regarding an old, and undisclosed, heartache that has previously given me "a bit of hesitation about the future", Beth said: "She's reassuring you that for you, lightning won't strike twice. So she's trying to just put your mind a little bit at ease."
Peggy apparently also had a bit of legal advice to dispense, urging my family to be careful when it comes to any dealings with solicitors.
I wasn't aware of anything myself, but, through Beth, Peggy urged us to make sure any legal documents were "read very well" and overseen by a solicitor.
Explaining that Peggy was giving her the symbol of scales, Beth continued: "I feel like there is something that's either not included or is worded not to your favour or worded wrongly".
Beth also mentioned sugar issues and asked if any members of my family were diabetic or watching their sugar intake. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't the case, although I am on a bit of a health kick after an Easter egg blowout.
Pip
Pip is a sweet boy who likes things a certain way, and Beth picked up on this in a way that felt familiar to me.
She said: "Pip to me is a very different personality to Peggy indeed. I got much quieter. I did feel as though this dog is a happy dog, but would like to take themselves off often to be on their own."
According to Beth, Pip has predicted that an upcoming trip to the Cotswolds will prove particularly meaningful for me and that I should go if the opportunity presents itself.
My sister is about to head to that part of the country for a wedding, and we recently discussed it. However, I'm not sure how she'd feel about me gatecrashing.
Like Peggy, Pip had some worldly advice to share, advising my family not to worry about car troubles, which we have indeed recently had.
Astutely noting that sometimes it's better to trade a vehicle in, Beth passed on Pip's thoughts on the matter, emphasising, "you have to remember, you can throw good money after bad".
At this point I did have to stifle a giggle at the thought of a fluffy little mechanic, standing over a lifted bonnet.
Beth correctly noted that Pip suffers from arthritic aches and pains and advised me to invest in some pressure-relieving memory foam padding for his bed.
He is apparently also aware of some recent happy news in our extended family, rightly predicting that a baby was on the way.
I chatted with Beth mere days after learning that one of my relatives was expecting, with Pip in earshot of the conversation.
Beth also rightly remarked upon my long-neglected passion for drawing, advising that Pip wanted me to channel this into an illustrated book about him, Peggy, and Holly.
Having no idea of my old artistic endeavours, Beth suggested: "It would be actually a very healing thing to do. You'll like literally lose yourself within that.
"You can make some fantastic stories because you've got a really vivid imagination. You could really make that into something really, really special, really wonderful."
Bizarrely, Beth mentioned that Pip knew someone was having knee problems, and indeed my boyfriend was hospitalised with a knee injury last year.
Of course, as with any reading, there were some bits that didn't make sense.
For example, I didn't recognise certain names and don't have any chats about IVF on the cards. Pip also doesn't suffer from cataracts, despite Beth getting snapshots of blurred vision.
Despite this, Beth told me to watch out for such things going forward, so I'll be sure to check back on the list of names in a year or so.
I'm well aware that anyone looking at dogs and cats of a certain age could make an educated guess that they may have a few achey moments here and there.
However, overall, I found Beth's reading to reflect my pets' unique characters and concerns surprisingly well.
Perhaps I will write that book after all...
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