You told us that my client’s dog owned by [name withheld] would handle her health problems and would be getting better soon, yet she appeared to be going downhill today and her owner called me hysterically before heading to the veterinarian because the dog appeared to be visibly suffering. What is going on and what will happen now?

Believe it or not, this is another false alarm. The dog will end up surprising her in the end, just as we predicted. So, stay calm and this will work its way out. She is making things worse with her histrionics because the dog is keenly aware of her energy, and her feelings, and responds with her tremendous inner effort and resolve to assist her and save the day. This is quite a strain on her and is a confounding factor that is resulting in difficulty for the animal and some confusion with interpreting the reason for her behavior. This cannot be helped at present, because your client is very unstable and has quite extreme emotions. This is what gets her into trouble and causes trouble for her beloved pet to some degree as well. In a sense, the dog is mirroring her, and it is not that she suffers so greatly, as that she is empathizing and wanting to share the experience, thinking of this as only being fair, not understanding it will cause greater distress for the owner to see her in an apparent state of suffering, when it is almost a kind of mimicry, wanting to please her and to show solidarity with her. Few would understand or believe their animal is capable of such behavior, but we assure you it happens and is not at all infrequent. It is little-recognized because in almost all cases, the behavior of the animal is responding to the deep subconscious layer of the mind of their owner, to which the owner is blind and will often not have any appreciation is a very active source of inner conflict and suffering, because it may be walled off from conscious awareness. The loving pet will know full well there is a battle being waged and may reflect the turmoil itself in its own behavior and health status. The inability of the conscious level of the owner’s mind to realize their own dilemma, leaves them unable to appreciate what their pet is going through, and will see no connection whatsoever. This, too, shall pass. So you need not worry unduly.