For the most part, little kids aren’t very smart, as a developing brain typically results in naive yet poor choices. That said, a 4-year-old boy learned the hard way that you don’t pick up a cat by the tail. A woman in Iowa let her neighbor’s son come up to her cat to pet it. However, when the preschooler grabbed and lifted the poor kitty by the tail, he got bit, plus a good scratching. The Karen neighbor was naturally furious and said she’d have the cat put down.
Going by the username FlowerFaerie13, the Iowa cat owner posted her story and worries about her neighbor going after her pet’s life to r/legaladvice. “He’ll be fine,” she states, claiming that the 4-year-old only suffered a few minor scratches and a shallow bite, nothing serious. “But his mom is f***ing pissed, and she’s threatening to have my cat put down for “aggression,” and I’m freaking out. Can she do this, or is she bulls***ting?” she questions with concern.
There’s Very Little Chance the Cat Will Be Put Down
OP clarified that her pet is “in no way aggressive or dangerous” and only meant to let the neighbor’s child pet him as any normal person would. “I didn’t expect him to do something like that,” she protested. The top comment of the post pointed out the most important thing to check on before anything else: “Make sure your cat has proof of a current rabies vaccination.” In later replies, the Iowa woman stated that her cat was up to date with vaccines and her rabies booster.
Plenty of Reddit users believe the boy to be at fault for provoking the cat, not to mention the Karen neighbor not watching her kid properly. However, some did mention that the Iowa cat owner should be prepared to deal with legal troubles since she was the one who gave the 4-year-old permission to pet her cat. “Sometimes being nice f***s you over I guess,” she grumbles.
While there might be some complications regarding the boy’s injuries, it’s far-fetched anything will come of the incident, based on several shrewd replies. And it is very unlikely that the Karen mom can have the cat euthanized, of all things. After all, “they don’t even put pit bulls down for this,” as one user puts it.
