I have to agree that animals have souls, and some even hang around us, if only for a little while!
I can remember when I was 4, we had a dog named Major. He would "make the rounds" at night, several times a night, to check on my sister and I, and Mom and Dad! We would hear his toenails on the floor and his tags jingling! One day, I woke up from my nap and heard my Mom on the phone with my Dad, telling him that Major had died! For several months after Major died, we would hear his toenails and tags as he made his nightly rounds!! Loyal and protective, even in death!!
I have worked with animals for about 30 of my 50 years, in shelters and vet clinics. I am a Vet Tech at an animal hospital. Sadly, I have seen TOO many "fur-babies" pass away, both naturally or with gentle, loving assistance. There is a poem called "The Rainbow Bridge", that describes a place where our pets go when they die. There, they are happy, healthy, and they play again like youngsters, while they wait for us to join them! What a wonderful place it must be, and what joy to be re-united with our pets!!
On August 30, 2011, the wonderful Doctors I work for, and I, had to help my 11 1/2 year old Golden Retriever, Little Bear Heart, cross the Bridge. He had a condition that causes the loss of use of the back legs. He was in pain and he was suffering, and he no longer had the happy "spark" in his eyes. It was tough, but I couldn't let him live in pain!! About a week later, I had just gone to bed, was listening to the radio, and had just closed my eyes. In my mind's eye (like a dream, but I WASN'T asleep) I saw Little Bear (standing on strong legs!) at my bedroom door! He was wagging his tail, with bright happy eyes, and had his favorite toy in his mouth as if ready to play fetch! He hadn't been able to play for a few months because of the weakness in his legs! It was as if he came to tell me, "Look Mom! I'm healthy and happy, and I can run and play, and I will be here waiting for you to come play with me again"!! I miss him and think about him every day, but I know that we will be together again at The Rainbow Bridge!!!! So YES, I believe with all of my heart that they have souls and even stay with us after death, even if only for a little while!

Thank you BriteSun for sharing that beautiful and touching story. Being an animal lover, I too have had to say goodbye to many of my own fur-babies and several of them have remained close by or come back to visit me at times and made their presence unmistakably known.

Also thank you for the reminder that I will be reunited with all of them again one day, because I dearly loved and miss each and every single one of them. They weren't merely animals or pets to me, they were my furry family members.

(Love that term fur-babies btw, I usually call them my furry toddlers but I think I'm going to adopt your term instead)

My Beloved "Knuckles" who passed away on October 3,2010 still sleeps or jumps on my bed while I sleep. I can feel something shake and walk around the bed. I keep my two pets that I have now in crates at night while I sleep. He also used to bump my desk while at my computer. Once in awhile I can feel my desk jerk when I know nothing is there.

I have read things other than people or animals. I have heard a "voice" when I touch things, especially rocks, that just tell me things about where my life should head....

That is why my main divination tool is Rune stones. I also have a collection of rocks of various shapes and sizes that I kept in a bowl on my altar when I had one. I was always going to make a bag for them, because when I worked with my altar I would get vibrations from them, and when I would pick up the one that "vibrated" the strongest I would get visions of what the rite I would do that night should focus on....

The "universal energy" as you term it is what I tune into when I do my magick and send it out to help whomever or whatever.

Tapping into that

Animals very much so have souls. They come just like a family memeber or any other human spirit back to you for reasons they feel they need too. The animals especially dogs seem to return for a protection purpose or just to feel the love they felt while alive. It is funny that Romans used to believe that cats were evil. I don't have a cat anymore but i feel it was far from evil. There were times it made me sense things coming in under my radar. Animals are loyal even from beyond so don't think them dying is goodbye forever.

My oldest kitty Floyd (I have 3) came running in the living room like a bat out of hell wrestling something invisible. I couldn't help but to LOL and asked him, "What do you see, Floyd?" He's the smallest of all our cats and yet he beats up all the time on the bigger ones. I call him Floyd "Meowny" Mayweather. So definitely not surprised if the ghost kitty came to visit again that Floyd wouldn't be too happy.