Forgive this potentially obviously newb question, but I have Critters, Paranormal Animals of Europe, the core, companion, magic in the shadows, man and machine, and bug city books, and either I am missing it or it isn't there, but I am curious as to if it is possible to get animal (or paranormal animals) as companions possibly through metamagic or something. I heard a friend mention it and he seemed convinced it was possible just a matter of how. Any help will be appreciated, and I tried the search function a couple of times to no avail.

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

As to books you need SOtA 64 and its a adept metamagic.
You, of course, can take a trained animal or raise and train an animal/para critter by working out the roleplay details with your ref if you just want a pet/animal buddy with out a magical bond.

Just create a new skill called Animal handling, roll those dice against the complexit of the task you're trying to get the animal to perfrom, with modifiers coming from the social modifiers table on p 94 of the bbb.

Excellent guys much appreciated.