I recommend any magician who has pets learns to communicate with them, it can be really important when they’re ill, I’ll be lazy and copy in something I posted before here:
One very useful thing is to form a working relationship with the Higher Self of the animal - you may not be able to converse with their daft everyday self, but their Higher Self will be able to communicate with language, symbols, and/or gestures, and understand concepts.
You will also, in my experience, save yourself a small fortune in vet’s bills for tests, because the HS can usually tip you off on what’s wrong with the animal, and then you tell a small white fib that an out-of-town vet had diagnosed X as the problem, and suggested starting treatment, or at least testing, there - I see this small deception as more positive and benevolent than making a sick animal undergo what are often invasive tests, with general anesthesia and a night in a cage at the vet’s, when you can just ask the HS what’s hurting and what systems are affected.
We did that with our dog and it helped him get the care he needed… vets are fumbling round in the dark and we can help them with that kind of knowledge. 
