‘I’ve asked animals before, “Are you gay?'” – in conversation with animal telepathist Ditte Young (EXCLUSIVE)
From sassy cats to pregnancy-predicting ponies, the clairvoyant opens up about her most surreal animal conversations and why queer people ‘get’ their pets more than anyone
Ditte Young was a sensitive child. Adopted from Korea and raised in Copenhagen from the age of one, she grew up feeling different – she looked different, felt different, and, as it turns out, sensed differently too. Indeed, growing up is hard enough without having to field unsolicited conversations from birds and dogs. She didn’t yet have the language for what was happening, but her extraordinary sensitivity would go on to shape her life’s work.
As LGBTQ+ people, many of us know the feeling of being “other” – of existing slightly outside the expected frequency. But for Ditte, that difference came with a connection to another realm entirely. By her late teens, her psychic abilities had intensified to the point where she sought formal training at a clairvoyant school – not to harness them, but to shut them down. “I told them: stop this shit,” she laughs. “I felt schizophrenic.” Yet, her mentors saw something else: a gift that could be refined, not feared.
Decades later, Ditte is now one of Europe’s most recognised animal telepathists, with clients across continents and an expanded audience through The Telepathy Tapes podcast. Her work explores the profound ways humans and animals communicate – the silent, emotional language that sits beneath words. Whether she’s decoding the collective consciousness of elephants or the eye-rolling disdain of a cat who’s “fed up with your shit,” Ditte’s stories reveal something essential about empathy, energy, and connection.
And perhaps it’s no surprise that LGBTQ+ people, in particular, resonate with her message. We over-index on pet ownership, spend more on their wellbeing, and often find in them the unconditional love we weren’t always granted elsewhere. As Ditte explains in our conversation, our animals don’t just reflect our emotions – they mirror our identities. So if you think your cat might be a little bit gay, well… maybe they’re just a little bit you.
How would you define animal telepathy?
Animal telepathy is a nonverbal communication where you sense your pet’s energy. You can do that using three modalities.
The first is images: I might receive an image of a ball, and then my job is to ask the animal, “What about that ball?”
The second modality is emotions – clear sentiments like empathy. When I receive that ball image, it’s important to know: do we like the ball or dislike it?
The third modality is sentences or thoughts. From time to time, I receive a sentence like “Do you see me?” or “I do like the ball.”
If you have cats, dogs, horses, budgies, hamsters – whatever you love – you feel and speak to them, as if you know they understand. Maybe you sometimes wonder, “Am I sure?” or “Am I just talking to myself?” But I don’t know any animal owner on this planet who isn’t in dialogue with their animals.
We suspect they understand our words, emotions, or vibrations. The task is to trust what comes back – whether it’s an emotion, a sentence like “yes,” “I’m hungry,” or “I love you too.”
Are there any interactions that have particularly stuck with you?
Many years ago, I was asked to help confirm a horse’s pregnancy and determine the gender of the foal. The mare told me, “It is a stallion, Ditte. I am pregnant with a stallion – and so are you.”
I thought, what? What do you mean? She said, “I feel a third heart. I sense a different soul in here.” I thought, a fourth soul? That doesn’t make sense – I don’t want to be pregnant. I went home, took a pregnancy test, and discovered I was pregnant with my son, Philip.
Once, I received a call regarding a runaway cat. This cat told me it had run away because the woman had moved several times and it was tired of it. It was a sensitive, princessy cat that was sick of its human not having its shit together.
Then it told me, “I’ll come home if she unpacks the three boxes on the ceiling. And also, she’s pregnant.”
I told the cat, “We can’t undo the pregnancy – I’m sorry. But if she unpacks the boxes, will you come home?”
The cat replied, “I’ll come home on Tuesday.”
It was Monday. I thought, how do you know what Tuesday is? That’s when I started to learn about how animals understand time.
The third story that comes to mind is of a pony called Alex – a very touching one. Alex kept throwing his rider off. She was a schoolgirl, in the seventh grade, far too young to be in danger like that. Her mother called me and said, “Please help him stop. This is dangerous.”
When I asked Alex what he was doing, he said, “I think I’m doing the girl a favour. She’s isolating herself. She has trouble socialising at school and only focuses on me – Alex, Alex, Alex. If I throw her off, maybe I’m forcing her to make friends.”
It still makes me emotional telling it. He said, “Maybe I’m helping her.”
I told him, “That’s the sweetest thing ever, but what you’re doing is very dangerous. Please stop.” Two days later, he stopped throwing her off.
Do you think as LGBTQ+ pet owners, our emotional awareness or experiences of marginalisation create a special connection with our animals?
From my experience with LGBTQ+ clients, yes. They’re often very spiritual and very respectful toward their animals – just as they are with other humans. They don’t create a hierarchy like, “I’m worth more because I’m human.” They tend to equalise the relationship faster and more completely. I think that’s because – and maybe I’m projecting here – they too need a voice.
Does the telepathic process ever reveal anything about an animal’s identity – their gender, sexuality, or relationships with other animals?
Definitely. I speak the language of energy – and so do they. I’m not focused on whether it’s male or female, though out of respect for the pet parent I’ll always check the gender when I can.
For LGBTQ+ clients, they’re not that concerned either – it’s simply their cat or their dog. Because animals have mirroring neurons, they often reflect their owners’ energy. I often understand the gender or sexuality of both the animal and owner through that mirroring. As we say in Denmark: “Like father, like son” – or in this case, “like dog, like owner.” It’s literally the same thing.
I’ve asked animals before, “Are you gay?” and they’ll say, “Why are you asking that?” Their instincts are very primitive. In my view, sexuality is less important than love. And animals speak the language of love. You can see it energetically: a male animal might say, “I’m very sensitive.” That’s a feminine energy, and it could belong to a “sensitive prince.” Instead of saying, “Look at my ass,” he might say, “I’m beautiful, and I love my home – my home is my castle.”
So yes, I notice energies that could be considered feminine or masculine, but ultimately, animals speak through love, not labels.
Ditte Young is featured in The Telepathy Tapes, The Talk Tracks podcast Episode 2, and will be returning for Season 2. Her episode drops 3 December 2025.