Animals in dreams can be lots of fun, unless you're being chased by some wild animal such as a lion or a pack of hyenas, but the thing to remember, as with all dreams, is that the context plays an important role in deciding whether an animal is represented in a positive light or in a more negative one.  Most animals can be one or the other, except perhaps for creatures such as snakes, alligators and tarantulas who rarely appear as "human friendly".  However even a snake was a positive symbol in the Numbers 21:8-9 account where Moses - at God's command - made a bronze serpent and raised it as a standard to heal his people.  That being said, very few people will have a dream where the snake appears as a blessing.  Of course, in God's original plan as we see it in the book of Genesis, animals were created good, but because of Adam and Eve's disobedience, all of creation was impacted. This is why most animals can appear with positive or negative traits. 

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Over the years, I've had many dreams with animals and I've seen that God has used the symbols in their positive as well as in their negative attributes.  I've had a purposeful squirrel come charging at me with fierce intent in his eyes, and yet had a fox who very peacefully let me stroke its head in peace and friendship.  In another dream I was sitting on a very friendly lion who helped me up some stairs to visit a building.  In yet another dream I was looking out a large window at a beautiful squirrel who had leapt out of a very high tree and was riding the air currents to land safely on the ground far below.  I had marvelled at the amount of intelligence and wisdom in his eyes and also at his fearlessness!  I've seen cats flying, some drowning, some tame, some wild, and I've held goats and chickens in my arms.  In all of these dreams, God was communicating His intents and purposes into my life through the use of His creation.

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Much of the interpretation depends on the context of the dream but also on how you may literally feel about the animal in question in your waking life.  For many people, a dog would be a very positive symbol, but for some, it may be a completely negative one due to some kind of traumatic encounter in early childhood.  Some people may hate cats and others may love them and this is where interpretation can become tricky.  We may have had cats as beloved pets in our home so we can be biased in our interpretation because the Lord may not always use them in a positive light.  In using the symbol of a cat in a dream, the Lord may be telling us, for example, that He will protect what is dear to us, but in another dream He might be saying that we are too attached to a "pet project".  It really all depends.

 

As always, there is also the possibility of God using popular phrases to convey his symbolic message such as an eager beaver, to soar like an eagle, quiet as a mouse, the elephant in the room, sly as a fox, cash cow, a bear hug, gentle as a dove, monkey business and busy bee to name just a few.  

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Genesis 1:24-25

God said, 'Let the earth produce every kind of living creature in its own species: cattle, creeping things and wild animals of all kinds'.  And so it was.  God made wild animals in their own species, and cattle in theirs, and every creature that crawls along the earth in its own species.  God saw that it was good.

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Romans 8:18-22

...the whole of creation is waiting with eagerness for the children of God to be revealed.  It was not for its own purposes that creation had frustration imposed on it, but for the purposes of him who imposed it - with the intention that the whole creation itself might be freed from its slavery to corruption and brought into the same glorious freedom as the children of God.  We are well aware that the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labour pains.