How do you know when an animal is your spirit animal? Ive alwats liked cats, but I feel such a connection with cows. Is it possible you think to have a cow as a spirit animal?
Something to consider is why you believe you must have a spirit animal. A lot of these teachings are based on a conglomeration of unrelated traditions, most of which are only skimmed from the surface, and combined under a white-light-fluffy-bunny new age mentality.
If you follow a Native American tradition which incorporated animal spirit guides, then your elders will guide you in the right direction for that specific tradition, as every Native American nation has differing beliefs about spirit guides and totem animals. One tradition was picked, and the concept of a spirit animal guide was very tersely brought into use. This very limited understanding is often presented as universal among Native Americans, though that is quite far from the truth of the matter.
There are also some European traditions among others which might include the use of spirit animals, though some of this falls in the realm of, again, generalizing and misrepresenting ideas to fit into a newly-made belief. One of these is that of misrepresentations of witches as having animal familiars. What could those cats, toads, owls, and demons be, after all, if not spirit animals, right? So it is shoehorned into the system. In reality, Those superstitions had nothing to do with either, and the idea that witches have animal familiars is another misunderstanding passed down through those who do not know better than to believe fairy tales.
Yes: Many people believe we have spirit guides, but that belief varies widely from one tradition to the next. That said, there is nothing wrong with believing in guides. However, it is better to approach with understanding of what it is you believe, and expect.
In some traditions, one's guardian is not a separate entity, but an aspect of one's self known as the 'higher self.' is falls into the realm of intuition. Some traditions even call this facet of one's own mind or spirit as the Holy Guardian Angel.
Some traditions hold that one's guides are separate entities, whether angels, ancestors, separate spirits, Saints, or gods. Again, it is something to be approached with understanding of that culture and tradition.
Some people are less concrete in their belief, and reach out in general for their guides, which may not even respond. But some people's guides, they believe, represent themselves as they see fit -- whether it is as an animal symbolizing some aspect of the guide or the person, or that of a person, angel, or abstract idea.
