Wife Demands Husband Give Up His 18-Year-Old Cat Because It Is Aggressive

Oct 07, 2021 by apost team

The moment when a couple moves in together and truly unites their lives is always special. Most couples and newlyweds can't wait to finally spend their lives together in this very simple but final seeming way. It's completely normal that some of our routines and habits will have to change as soon as we cohabit with another person. This is true not only for romantic couples but any kind of roommates. Unfortunately, every now and then we find out that what we assumed would be a harmonious life together is much more complicated than we expected.

One woman realized this after she and her husband moved in together. The couple had found love and even had a baby on the way, so moving in together seemed like the last and most logical step. The wife brought a dog into the relationship, while the husband brought along his quite old housecat. At first, things looked good. The couple took precautions to try and familiarize the animals with each other. As some animals, and cats especially, can be quite territorial, this was important.

At first, it seemed like the couple's work paid off. Then, the old cat decided it didn't like the canine interloper after all and turned aggressive towards the wife's pet.
The situation turned to the worst when neither wife nor husband could find any way to deescalate the fights and attacks between their cat and dog. Finally, fearing how the old cat would react to her as of yet unborn wife, the wife demanded that her husband give up his beloved old cat. This turned into a full-blown argument between the couple, and the woman took to Reddit to find out whether her demand was unreasonable or not.

In her post, the unnamed and anonymous woman explains that she and her husband have been living together for one year by now. She also explained that both she and her husband brought their pets with them:

"When we moved in together, I brought my 3 year old American Bully, while he brought his 18 year old cat."

Knowing that their beloved pets would have to get used to each other now that they were a family, they tried several ways of letting their pets acclimatize to the new situation - to no avail:

"We tried to introduce them to one another by initially separating them, then by introducing them to each other's smells, followed by letting them see each other whilst at a safe distance. They appeared to get along, but after a day, the cat began making it's dislike for the dog VERY clear."

This situation would be a horror for any owner of a beloved pet. Having another animal attack or harass your pet can be extremely traumatizing for the animal and the owner. But in a case like this, where the owners have moved in and started a life together, this can be even worse, as the attacked pet has nowhere to retreat to.

The couple decided to separate their pets as best as they could via gates within their homes and being around to supervise them as often as possible. They also splashed the cat with water whenever it would make a move against the dog, but the cat soon became used to this and would ignore their attempts of deescalating the situation.

In the end, even a visit to the vet to see whether something biological could be the cause behind the cat's behavior didn't bring any results. 

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The wife, already fearing for her dog's safety, started to wonder whether the cat might also reject her soon to be born child:

"Another issue that we have to consider is that I'm pregnant. While I'm not saying that the cat would definitely be nasty towards my baby, the way it has acted towards my dog has caused me to worry."

With this worry in mind, she came up with the idea of giving the old cat away to a cat sanctuary:

"I brought up the idea of taking the cat to a cat sanctuary, where it would hopefully be able to find a new home, in a relaxing environment and without fear of being euthanised, since we can't take it to any family members, since his family is refusing to have the cat, and my family is in the UK."

After arguing about this proposal for days, the husband finally caved and gave away his 18-year-old cat. However, even though he gave in to his wife's demands, he was still extremely angry at her, which caused the wife to seek advice online whether she had handled the situation correctly.

Most commenters quickly agreed that the wife had not handled this correctly. One of the most liked comments reads: "It's an 18 year old cat. Not only is it incredibly unlikely to find a new home, but think about how stressful that would be for the poor thing."

And some even went so far as to say that they would have dissolved the marriage rather than give the cat up if it had been theirs: "Anyone so heartless that they think that a cat with probably less than a year to live should be rehomed, isn't somebody that should be trusted with love."

What do you think about this wife's demand? Would you have given up your cat? Tell us what you think and pass this story along.