We'll Prescribe You a Cat

“It is an actual cat. Grey, unremarkable, ordinary.”

Be prepared for six imaginative and whimsical stories about the animal-human bond. These stories need telling.

If anyone is feeling anxious and sleep-derived, it is expected that the doctor prescribes the usual sedatives or sleeping pills. But when you enter the Nakagyo Kokoro Clinic for the Soul, the prescriptions for curing the soul are quite unexpected.

Shuta had been to several psychiatrists to no avail. But when he entered the Clinic for the Soul, it was his last hope. The doctor placed a carrier in front of him. “It is an actual cat. Grey, unremarkable, ordinary.” He left with a prescription for feeding bowls, cat food and instructions, thinking it was a scam. “Name: Bee. Female. Estimated to be 8 years old . . . feed moderate amounts of cat food in the morning and at night . . .”

Follow the hilarious escapades of Bee and Shuta as she escapes from her carrier. Finally, he finds the cat on top of the roof of a new car and scratching the top of the hood. Shuta, having just been fired from his hated job, was scared when the owner confronts him. To his surprise, Jinnai professes his love of cats. “What the hell is this? Did you even look at the nutrition label? It’s loaded with carbohydrates. Don’t you know an adult cat needs more protein?”

Jinnai hires Shuta to help the other laborers outside in order to repay him for the damage to his car. Jinnai also allows Shuta to bring his cat to work and feeds her. Soon, Shuta sees that Bee is basking in the attentions by the staff. She stays on a box, plays with cat toys, and is fed. Shuta enjoys the hard labor although his muscles are rebelling.

Each time Shuta feels angry or anxious, he visits the doctor at the clinic and tries to return Bee but ends up with taking her home again. When the cat begins to rub its head against Shuta’s leg, he starts sleeping at night until Bee wakes him up because she’s hungry. Eventually, Shuta begins to understand the strong bond between animals and humans. “When Bee closed her eyes, it looked like she was smiling. For a long time, he struggled to do something even that simple, but now, Bee brought a glow to his face every day.”

Shuta gets a shock when the doctor wants Shuta to return Bee to his clinic permanently, since the cat was instrumental in healing Shuta, then her role was fulfilled. She is to be euthanized with other cats whose therapy was successful. He explains that there too many cats in shelters and pet stores who are trying to find homes.

“Shuta felt something hot surge and fill his chest. It was so intense that he found it hard to breathe.” The doctor replies that a cat can be adopted if it is able to develop an emotional connection with its owner. He has five days to bring her back. When Shuta tells Jinnai and his wife Satsuki the bad news, they find a solution. “Fate works in mysterious ways. Not long ago, he’d been aimlessly wandering the streets of Nakagyo, and now here he was.” A few days later, Shuta decides to visit the clinic. He wanders through the same streets, finds the building, but the clinic is not there. “But the clinic was no dream or illusion. The weight of the cat was very real.” What do the readers think?

Koga was skeptical of psychiatry. “Koga’s doubts grew when the curtains flew open and a doctor in a white coat appeared, a slender man of about thirty.” Koga tells him that he is sleep-deprived due to his anger and jealousy at work. He is the only male at a call-center when a woman was hired as his supervisor. The doctor will make an exception although he does not have an appointment. Suddenly, “the doctor thrust the cat at Koga. Hey, hey, hey. What is this?” The doctor replies that he will prescribe a cat. The nurse, Chitose, hands Koga his prescription, containing instructions for her care and supplies. “Name: Margot. Female. Estimated to be 3 years old . . . feed moderate amounts of cat food . . .”

However, Margot meows all night, and Koga can’t sleep. When Koga gets home, his wife and daughter are playing with Margot, but the cat continues to cry all night in his room. He is so sleep-deprived that he falls asleep on the train going to work and misses his stop. He visits the doctor again. He begs the doctor to allow him to keep Margot for a little longer. His home life is better. His wife and daughter become closer to him. He shows the photos of the cat to Hinako, his supervisor, and she laughs. Since Margot is a therapeutic cat, she is on loan. Koga gives back Margot and the doctor tells him that he could pick another cat from a shelter. “Shelter cats?”

The shelter houses rescue cats who were abandoned or abused. Emira, his daughter looks at the vet. She is sure that he is the same the doctor at the clinic, but his name is Kajiwara. He tells Emira that he knows about the clinic. However, he tells her that the clinic is called the Suda Animal Hospital for Animals, in Nakagyo ward. “Their conversation wasn’t quite clicking. Even Kajiwara looked troubled . . .” Koga and his family take home a cat.

The rest of the stories are about a teenager who is shunned by her classmates, a geisha who also is a nurse, whose cat, Chitose, jumps out the window and spends all her spare time looking for her and adopts Mimita. The story continues with the adventures of Mimita and Abino’s emotional turmoil.

Each story begins the same. A patient enters the Nakagyo Kokoro Clinic for the Soul and leaves with a cat, which solves their emotional problems.  But when they look for the clinic weeks later, they are told that the flat has not been rented for several weeks. Was it a dream?

This story leaves the reader to ponder these questions. Does this clinic really exist? Are the people in the stories the same ones? Is the vet at hospital the same one as the doctor in the clinic? Is Chitose a person or a cat? Cat lovers must read this heart-warming book of the power of pets to heal and to achieve self-discovery and hope.