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A 6,000-mile expanse of ocean is no obstacle for one Tunbridge Wells-based pet psychic, as reporter Juliana Cruz Lima finds out.
Yes, you read that right - a pet psychic. Actually, the correct term is animal communicator, but we'll get to that later.
Let's start by introducing who matters the most.
Meet Oliver: my 10-year-old Scottish terrier who is anything but Scottish, as he lives a very spoiled life in sunny and tropical Brazil.
Oliver is really quiet most of the time, but every once in a while he gives you that slightly judgmental look as if he knows all your deepest secrets.
At home, my dad is his "master", as we jokingly call him. Oliver is basically his shadow. Wherever my dad goes, Oliver follows.
They sleep next to each other, spend the entire afternoon chilling in the hammock outside, and both love a good NFL game on Sundays or watching the golf channel 24/7.
Other than my dad, Oliver's other big love is food. He used to only eat dog food, but since having some issues with his belly now only eats a mixture of rice, mince, and mandioquinha, which is a Brazilian root similar to sweet potato. He also enjoys some roast beef slices as occasional treats.
But what else does he like? Does he actually like us? After all, we took him home when he was just a puppy - it's not like he had much choice.
That's where Samantha Milns comes in.
Sam lives in Tunbridge Wells and has been an animal communicator since 2009 after leaving a corporate job at a wealth management company.
Her main role is to act as a bridge between us and our pets by communicating with them through energy.
When I first heard her describing the job, I actually found it quite interesting, as I do believe in the power of energy.
But I wasn't quite sure that talking to animals through telepathy was possible. I needed to see it with my own eyes.
And I did.
I was a bit sceptical – and to be honest, scared – about the whole thing. I didn't want to raise my hopes too much.
But that didn't stop my curiosity.
What if I found out he didn't love me? Or that he was getting ill?
Sam starts the call by telling me how Oliver was feeling that morning.
She had a few pictures of him in front of her and would go silent - looking down at them - whenever she was talking to him.
She said things like "he's missing you" and "he really loves you and worries for your family", which is fair enough, but I wanted the specifics!
I wanted to see if she could find out personal details that nobody apart from my family knows.
Out of nowhere, she burst out laughing, and said: "He's now put on a doctor's coat and a stethoscope."
I thought: "What on Earth am I doing?"
But I decided to embrace it and see what answers I would get, no matter how unusual this entire experience was.
After a batch of what I though to be generic statements, she begins bringing up some more interesting information.
Bear in mind all I'd given her was Oliver's name and a few photos and any questions I did ask were really broad – I didn't want to make this easy!
She starts off by describing each family member's connection and relationship with Oliver.
At first, she said my dad and Oliver have a "faint" bond, as there were many "obstacles" for Oliver. Instead, she said, he was extremely close to my mother.
My sceptical side was stirring and my resolve broke – "Actually," I informed her "dad and Oliver are the closest in the family".
To correct herself, Sam asked me if my dad was a sensitive person – he very much is.
She then confirmed my dad and Oliver were indeed the closest.
At first, I saw nothing but a rushed attempt to correct herself and not let "the magic" of the session fade away with her potential mistake.
But then her eyes started watering and she was close to crying - I was surprised and a bit confused.
"Now I've connected them, he's starting to feel quite emotional," she said "They are just totally connected and they've been together for many lifetimes. Wow.
"Their bond is incredibly strong. I've learned from animals that we can change species in each lifetime. And in a past life, your dad was Oliver's son. And that's why he is always so protective of him.
"In another life, they were also colleagues, and worked together alchemically, as in they were probably wizards."
It was all fairly "normal" until I heard that my dad was my dog's son, although that does explain why Oliver protects him so much.
Was my dad Oliver's son or a wizard? I have no clue. But is my dad a chemical engineer in this life? Yes.
I'll just leave it at that before I go insane.
But then Sam left me genuinely impressed.
Oliver has a pain on his left hip which affects his back paw. He does tiny jumps so as not to put that paw on the floor whenever he walks a bit faster.
So I asked Sam if he had any sort of physical pain - doubting she was going to even get close.
She looked down for a bit, closed her eyes in deep concentration and after a few seconds said: "I'm picking up on a slight left hip pain. Just going down that left behind leg a little bit."
Sam added, correctly, that Oliver was feeling s slight tingly feeling at the front and back of his top jaw.
I was speechless.
The session carried on with Sam getting another couple of things right, such as Oliver's obsession with birds and his passion for mandioquinha (the Brazilian root I mentioned earlier).
Sam wraps up by passing on a message from Oliver for my sister – who insists on calling herself his mum.
"Oliver tells your sister to eat less ice cream. Her diet has way too much sugar at the moment," she said. And with that our time was up.
I left the session far less sceptical than when I went in.
But I wanted to make sure I hadn't gone mad or been caught out by an adrenaline rush.
I immediately video called my parents and my sister.
My parents pick up - both in the kitchen having breakfast, about to start their day of endless meetings and plenty of espresso.
I tell them everything, starting with the pain answers.
I also tell them that for some reason Sam said Oliver picked up that someone had a fever, which I didn't make much of during the session.
That's when I remember my dad had been feeling ill for the past few days.
Laughing, I told my sister about her bad diet.
Slowly and shocked she said: "I was actually talking about that with mum a couple of days ago."
Lastly, I tell my dad about his connection with Oliver.
Despite the crazy wizard bits it was really sweet to hear how strong their bond is.
Just seeing how happy he was to hear that made this entire experience completely worth it.
So there we have it, folks! That was my experience with an animal communicator.
Sam did make a few mistakes here and there at the start, but the accuracy of some of her answers was incredible.
She mentioned something out of the blue, without me asking or giving any hints at all.
I'm glad to hear how those judgmental looks are actually harmless. He's probably just trying to tell my sister off for all that sugar!
But above all, I was so happy to see my dad's reaction to everything, and how Oliver feels - and always will - feel loved by our family.