Are they kidding??? A family was ‘terrorized’ by their cat? The cat had been aggressive with (whatever that means; they did not say what the kitty had done) their 7-month-old after the baby pulled its tail, and so the owner gave the kitty a nice kick and guess what? The kitty got mad! Well, who wouldn’t? Mama wouldn’t even think of kicking me, much less yelling at me or doing anything mean to me. Mama would have removed me promptly from the baby’s presence and put me somewhere for a little time out, while she gently started baby training: DO NOT PULL A KITTY’S TAIL—EVER! Or any animal’s tail.
The family was held hostage by their kitty in the bedroom and everytime they opened the door, the kitty hissed.
Animals are not humans, and animal training is not simple. Animals can become jealous, for example, which perhaps this kitty was. To get to 22 pounds, this kitty must have been in the family for quite a while, and when a new baby is introduced to the family, the pet of the family often feels threatened. Just like first children when second children are born.
Frankly, I would not let a kitty around a small baby until the baby has learned the ways of the kitty and they give one another the proper space!
Animals have instincts, just like kids, and it is not simple to change those instincts. Sometimes the animal will react instinctively to a sudden unintentional motion or nip the feeder when it is hungry and sometimes the nip is more nippy than it should be. Mama says “no, no” to me in the morning when I am slithering all over and wanting my breakfast and very tempted to give a little nip along with my charming nudges but I am not allowed to do that now. Sometimes I forget, when I’m hungry, that nips can be hurtful and so I slip a little, but I’m learning.
The family made a call to 911 and the firemen came and put the kitty in a cage and eventually everyone calmed down enough to deal with this poor kitty in a sane manner and they took the kitty back instead of letting the rescue team do whatever they do to kitties whose tails are pulled and fight back by hissing at the puller.
The first thing my mama’s mama taught her about animals is that you do NOT pull tails.
Hey,you think we’re bad?
Just try it on a doggie one day.
Make sure it’s a small one.
You’ll see some action…
We heard about that. We’re just hoping that kittie doesn’t wind up in a shelter over it.
But really, held prisoner by a kittie hissing at them? A kittie clawing and biting we can kinda see (kittie bites can get nasty), but HISSING? The whole family needs a little kittie training.
We gotta think there is a bit more to the story than the reports we saw included.