Monster, back before we started meditating together and he was still relaxed.

Meditating with My Cat, for Fun and Stress

So, this didn’t work.

My cat has issues.

He’s a healthy, beautiful orange tabby, nine years old on my birthday (July 7, and we’ll both accept greetings and salutations) because I didn’t know exactly when his birthday was, only that he was three months old when I met him in 2010 in October.

Monster (named that because when he was a kitten I kept calling him “You little monster” because he was and after awhile he responded to it) has hot spots or skin issues where he licks and scratches off fur. One patch between his shoulder blades has been raw for four years now. It doesn’t infect, it gets bigger and smaller, it bleeds which is tiresome for all of us.

We’ve been through $50 a bag prescription cat food, through diet trials, through various bizarre drugs, through a nasty veterinarian who was a dermatologist (bedside manner of a troll) and acupuncture with the greatest holistic vet in the world (who retired — boo!) I’ve smeared fruit acids and coconut oil on the cat which make him smell like a summery salad but fix nothing. I’ve smeared industrial solvent on him (who the hell uses DMSO anymore? The nasty dermatologist vet, that’s who) and given him antibiotics.

For a while Monster wore a onesie in a turtleneck which was cropped, no sleeves, no bottom to it, so he’d stop tearing at his neck and back…