All Creatures, Living and Dead

That kid from “The Sixth Sense” sees dead people. John Edward, the host of “Crossing Over,” purports to talk to dead people.

Sonya Fitzpatrick outdoes both as host of Animal Planet’s “The Pet Psychic,” which premiered June 3. Fitzpatrick chats telepathically with animals dead or alive--or so she would have us believe.

Fitzpatrick counsels creatures in their habitats, then wows members of her studio audience who bring their pets (or photos of those that have moved on to the “spirit world”) by doing her routine.

Tonight, Fitzpatrick meets an iguana who has issues with the family cat, an ornery bat who lashes out at his keeper and a mini-horse with no appetite. This is a rebroadcast of episode two. New shows air Mondays at 8 p.m., repeating Fridays at 9 p.m.

In a style reminiscent of Edward, the British-born Fitzpatrick mostly relays vague ideas and lets the pet owners fill in the details. A dead cat reveals that “most of his life he was healthy, until the end.” The sessions often involve the color blue (Fitzpatrick will turn and ask a dazzled pet owner, “Where is it that you have something blue?”).

Occasionally Fitzpatrick scores an impressive hit, like tonight when she asks a dog owner, “When is he going to have some more French fries?” But you have to wonder whether Fitzpatrick, like the street magician David Blaine, benefits from judicious TV editing.

Still, she has a rapport with animals, and she taps into the undeniable bond between pets and their owners. Animal lovers may relish these sessions without sweating their veracity, just as pro wrestling fans delight in scripted mayhem.

Skeptics may be reminded of Mike Myers’ succinct review of the movie “All Dogs Go to Heaven” from “Saturday Night Live” in 1989: “As if.”