MONMOUTH – Katherine Murphy studies the photo – a close-up snapshot of a reporter’s brown, floppy-eared rabbit – for a few seconds before she starts to get impressions.

The rabbit’s left nostril is plugged up, Murphy says. She really enjoys the scruffiness of the living room rug. She’s got some thoughts on her diet.

“I get, ‘Lay off the broccoli,'” Murphy says.

The rabbit is 40 miles away from Blazing Star Stables in Monmouth, but Murphy, an animal communicator, says the animal’s thoughts are coming in loud and clear.

“Each one comes across different. Each one has its own personality,” she says. “And they all show up.”

Murphy, 28, has always been able to understand what animals need. She talked to her own pets and to the pets of friends and family. Two years ago, she began to offer her communication services to the public.

Murphy says she can communicate with both live and dead pets, through photographs, over the phone or in person. She believes she’s only one of a handful of animal communicators in Maine.

“It’s an intuitive ability. It came from learning to trust yourself and listen,” she said. “People just ignore these real subtle signs and unfortunately the animal is the one to suffer.”

Murphy gets calls every week from pet owners anxious to know why Fluffy’s suddenly peeing all over the house or why Fido seems so sad. Some people call her once or twice a month to keep tabs on how their furry family member is feeling.

She once talked with a 700-pound pig whose owners wanted to know why he kept escaping. (“He wanted more ‘out time,’ Murphy says. “And his litter box was not cleaned to his specifications.”) She once talked to an African grey parrot who seemed down. (“He was sad because his owners never got to see him hunt,” she says. “He was adamant. ‘I am so good; you should see me.'”)

She gets the sentiments in images and feelings, but there’s one kind of pet she doesn’t connect with.

“I don’t do well with fish,” she said. “Maybe dolphins would be different. But goldfish? No.”

Murphy won’t communicate with a pet if the request comes from someone who isn’t the animal’s owner. But sometimes animals approach her on their own.

That’s how she got Moony, one of her seven horses. She and her husband were visiting a tack shop and horse trading post in Vassalboro. They had planned only to check out the tack shop. Until Moony spoke up.

“She immediately said, ‘Take me!'” Murphy recalls. “I said, ‘OK.'”

Murphy charges $25 per person in group sessions. She charges $30 per half hour or $60 an hour for individual readings, and owners can ask her to connect with as many animals as they want in that time.

So how did Murphy do with the floppy-eared rabbit in the photo?

She does have a breathing problem. And the living room carpet is a bit scruffy.

But she’s never had broccoli.

Have an idea for a pet feature? Contact Lindsay Tice at 689-2854 or e-mail her at [email protected]