Her cat hates her brat

"I need help with this situation...I feel so clueless as to what to do. My cat is 14 years old and hates (is scared of?) children. I got him when he was 6 months old and as long as he has been with me, no child has ever harmed him, so I don't know where this fear came from. He has never liked children and always would hiss and growl and go hide when a child would come to our home.:yeah

He stays away from awake DS, but has liked to snuggle up to sleeping DS, so I thought that he was going to tolerate or learn to like DS. Now DS is walking and wants so badly to make friends with the cat. We have successfully taught him how to be gentle. He will walk up to the cat and sit down next to him, reaching out his hand slowly to pet the cat. What's the cat's reaction to this? Before this week, he would just walk away, but suddenly, he's gotten more aggressive and has swiped his claws at DS and scratched his hands twice. A few minutes ago, he swiped DS across the face. I can't tolerate this and DS is being super gentle. I don't know what to do.

I feel like finding him a new home is the right thing to do, but everyone I know already has a pet and I really think kitty needs a home where it's just him and someone to love him...no pets or kids. He's also so old, that I fear that finding a decent home for him will not be easy.

What should I do? Any advice?"


The cat only "liked" to snuggle up next to DS when he was sleeping in hopes of getting an opportunity to lay across his little breastmilk stained face. I can't believe these people with 14 y/o pets they have had since kittenhood and how they can just give them away, or worse, because of an asshole kyd.

I just love love love it when I read yet again that every single goldarn parent on the face of this earth has children who are "gentle" with animals. All of them! Think of the odds!

Bull. Kids are some of the meanest, nastiest, cruellest beings around when it comes to animals. Mommy isn't there all the time.

One obvious solution is for ds to *not touch the cat*. Maybe DS did something to it when Moms wasn't looking, and the cat resents it, or mebbe it just wants to be left alone. Leave it alone! Of course, that would be telling Junior he can't do something (*gasp*)

This bitch doesn't give a damn about finding the cat a home. She planned to heave it into the shelter from the get-go. She just wants to salve her conscience with her fellow moos before dumping the cat in the shelter, where, as an old cat, it will certainly be euthanized. Then the next time she has coffee with one of the other internet mommies, it's all "Well, you might remember that message I sent out--I triiiied to find it a home" (she didn't) and the other says, "I know--it's so haaaaard! You really did all you could!!!" Conscience salved. Case closed. Cat dead.

Stuff like this really incites my anger.

Bitches.

Cat needs a new home, end of story. Cat will never be ok with the kid, and she needs to get the cat out of there now before the cats reacts to the child in way that justifies her putting him down.

I doubt DS's gentleness. If he's at the stage where he's learning to walk his movements are still jerky and unpredictable to a kitty. Moo probaby hasn't even thought about all of the freaking noise that the little fucker makes. I've noticed that babies and toadlers tend to make screeching a squealing noises for no good reason. This can also scare the shit out of a cat.

I would opt for getting rid of the kid. I don't know how she could sleep at night sending her elderly cat away from it's familiar surroundings, especially when the poor kitty will soon be approaching the years when it needs the most love and care. Fucking heartless bitch. Pets are not disposable.

Yeah, clematis and bratBgone made me think about the high probability that the kyd is NOT the least bit "gentle". I have heard people say that before only to later witness a toddler pick up a cat in the middle of it's stomach and walk around with it while the kitty grimaced. There is no telling what torture this cat has endured while moomie wasn't watching. I have seen whiskers pulled, tails pulled, kitties and doggies picked up in painful or uncomfortable ways, not to mention the countless acts of wonton squealing that could unnerve the most lethargic of cats. When cats get this old, they likely have lessened senses and possibly even artritis, like one of my senior cats does. They are startled more easily and will growl, scratch, and bite if they are picked up, because of their arthritis probably. I would NEVER allow any kids around either of my two older cats, for both of their sakes (cats and kids)

It is doubtful anyone would adopt a cat this old. So, other than putting the cat to sleep I see that her only option is to teach the kyd to NOT TOUCH KITTY, and for punishment to follow if he continues. Eventually, this kitty WILL retaliate and little snookums will wind up with a corneal abrasion from the scratch, or possibly a chunk of his fingers might turn up missing. Old cats and new kyds don't mix.

Yeah, my aunt tried to tell me her toddler daughter knew how to be gentle with animals. Then during an instance of forced babysitting, I heard one of my cats howling. I found out my little cousin was carrying the poor cat around by the skin on her back. Gentle, my fat ass. Needless to say, the cats got confined to the basement when Cousin came to rampage...and usually a lot of crying ensued because she wanted to play with the kitties. I hated imprisoning them like that in their own home, but if I didn't, they'd get lugged around by their skin or their ears or what-not and I didn't want to deal with the fall-out from family if I had to kill the kid. And then my aunt bought the kid a kitten soon after because she just luuuuuvvved kitties and just haaaaaad to have one of her own. I have no idea if said kitten/cat is still alive or not.

On one hand, I kind of would like to see the cat in the OP to get re-homed. Chances are very highly likely the kid is not being gentle with the cat, and a cat at that age does not need pain or stress in its life from a brat. I also would really not want the cat to get de-clawed (at 14 years old, I think there may be a chance it does not wake up from the anesthesia), nor would I want the poor cat to get put down if one day it smacks Junior in the face and snags the kid's eye. Fuck, I'm shocked Moomie hasn't put the cat down for scratching Snookums already.

BUT, on the other hand, like someone else had already said, being re-homed would freak the cat out too. Young cats take a long time to re-adjust to new surroundings...how would an older cat respond? And older cat aren't all that desirable in terms of adoption, sadly, so if the cat got left at a shelter, it's almost a guarantee that the cat would rot in the shelter and then get put down anyway due to lack of space.

I think the best this idiot can do is keep the cat and the kid separated as much as possible, since she most likely would be too busy doing TMIJITW to teach her kid to not manhandle the cat.

Yea, I agree. Poor guy needs to go to a CF home where he won't be pestered and harrassed by a fucking brat.

I doubt the kid is "super gentle" with the cat. He probably tantalizes the poor animal every chance he gets.


Rose Red Wrote:
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> Cat needs a new home, end of story. Cat will
> never be ok with the kid, and she needs to get the
> cat out of there now before the cats reacts to the
> child in way that justifies her putting him down.

Gawds, what a crazy, evil, cruel bitch!

Finding a new home for a 14 YEAR OLD cat? Seriously? Next to impossible. It's not just the stress and trauma to the poor kitty - at that age, that's when they are likely to get sick and require expensive vet care. Cats are considered "senior" at 8.

Why can't she keep her fucking brat away from the kitty and let the poor creature live his last few months/years in peace? Argh - breeders make me sick.

What chaps my ass is when the fucktard breeders get their cat declawed for whatever assanine reason, then a brat comes along. Now the cat realizes there is a threat and it's got no means of defense so it results to ultra-high-alert defensive behavior such as biting, raking with it's back feet, and peeing around.

None of our 5 cats are declawed and I say if any brat is stupid enough to be in our house and fuck with our cats, our cats wouldn't hesitate to open a can of whoop-ass on said brat and show it who's boss.

I adore my nephews but they tantalize our cats - or they used to - until our big black cat had enough and stalked my older nephew and chased him: jumping, claws flailing and hissing. Now neither of them bother the cats.