“My Cat Helps Me With My Depression”

It’s been tough for Yash Pandit. The artist from Mumbai, India has been battling mental health issues, and even though he’s worked really hard to get everything under control, he still needed a little help. A special someone to support him. A cat.

“I chose Bagheera because I always wanted a dark-colored cat,” Pandit told Bored Panda. “There’s always this stupid superstition surrounding dark cats about them being bad luck, so not many people wanted him anyway. But mostly because out of all of the kittens there, he was the one I connected with, he was very calm. loving and always looking to cause some mischief. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him.”

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Image credits: anlyin

Yash said Bagheera is a true weirdo. “He will convince you that he’s sweet and calm, and then pounce on you when you look away. He’s the most friendly cat I’ve ever seen, has no problem in loving and greeting anyone new. He’s smart enough to pretend that he’s fallen asleep but also thinks his shadow is another cat and starts pouncing on it. He loves to watch Fresh Prince of Bel Air with me, and won’t fall asleep until I put on Frank Ocean songs, in which case he will hug my phone and go to sleep. I love him with all my life.”

Pandit was diagnosed with Type 1 rapid cycling bipolar disorder, along with depression and anxiety. “The latter were only by-products of my primary disorder,” he explained. “I have a therapist and a psychiatrist, and I have a strict regime of therapy and medications that I follow religiously to keep my disorder under my control.”

“It is absolutely important to seek proper health for mental health disorders. A lot of people mistook this comic as my cat being the sole reason that I’m out of my depression, which is not true. I had to work hard, get therapy, take my medication on time. My cat helped me get out of my bed, have a workout routine, eat healthy when I feed him, wake up on time, etc. But I attribute my getting better largely to the strict regime of medication and therapy.”