Animal dreams can have several different meanings, depending on the specifics of your dream: Wild animals, especially if threatening, mean you feel out of control in a situation.

If you tame a wild animal in a dream, you achieve success through expressing yourself honestly.

If you are attacked by a vicious animal and you manage to kill it, you will triumph over your rivals. Dreaming of domestic animals (such as pets), if unfamiliar, can mean you feel pressured to be something you’re not.

The same meaning applies to dreaming of wild animal babies (of any type of wild animal). Dreaming of farm animals suggests that you are ready for growth.

It’s time to start exploring your potential.

Also see “Cow” and “Chickens” for more specific meanings.

If you dream that you kill a gentle animal (example: you’re driving and you run over a deer), something you are doing in real life goes against your values and you are “killing” a sweet part of yourself. You must change your behavior and stop acting against your instincts or a part of yourself will be lost or damaged.

Talking animals in dreams serve as messengers of the unconscious. Pay attention to what they say, for they are trying to help you to trust your instincts and intuiton, and possibly warning you of dangerous or negative emotions that you have absorbed from others.

Animals attacking other animals in your dream means you are feeling a deep conflict with someone you are close to.

This dream may also suggest that you are scared of showing your true emotions and desires, because you think they are too powerful for others to deal with.

If you dream of being an animal, it could be an expression of your primitive desires, physical characteristics or even your romantic longings.

Animals in dreams symbolizes the untamed and uncivilized aspects of yourself.

Think about how you felt in the dream, and how you acted, for clues to your dream’s meaning.

Also look up the specific type of animal you were, for further analysis.

If you dream of lab animals, you need to experiment with your fears, choices and beliefs.

Try not to limit yourself by what others think you are capable of.

If you dream of a dead animal, an aspect of yourself is being repressed. You feel that you are not able to fully express your desires and emotions.

If you dream of experiments being done on animals, you will encounter difficulties in carrying out your goals and plans. However, if you rescued the animals from the experiments, you are successfully facing emotions and characteristics represented by the animal.

If you dream of hybrid animals (half one creature, half another), this symbolizes that you are beginning to incorporate different sides of yourself as you grow and mature into a fully-formed personality. Look up the animals that the hybrid was made of, for additional meaning about these sides of yourself.