Cats vs brats

First, I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!
Now to my story. I had a family for dinner last night and they are good people except for their two children (5 and 9). THEY CHASED MY CATS, AND PULLED THEIR TAILS. My kitties (except for Skinny) ran away from visitors but even Skinny hid from these kids. At first to discourage them, I warned them my cats scratched. These fell of deaf ears. I was able to put the cats in my bedroom but these children when I was not looking barged in my room and caused the cats to ran out. All their parents did was call them and found these antics amusing. I DEFINITELY DID NOT. Well, to make my story short, I ended up raising my voice to the kids. The parents apologized and they left soon after (thank God) I do not regret doing this but maybe you could have handled it differently. I appreciate any comments you have.

I've never liked kids. I like cats way better. My little nephew (who I do love to) hasn't met Emmett yet. I wonder how that will go. Em has only met one child in his life and hissed at it. What a good kitty

I would have handled this situation in the same manor. Parents should make their children understand that a cat or any animal is a living breathing being and should not torment them. They should be respected as a living being.

I don't know I might have gotten on to the children a little worse than raising my voice at them depending on the level of torment to my cats It is amazing to me at how some parents will let their children do anything and think it is "cute" or funny. That makes me want to beat the cr@p out of the parents for letting their children behave that way.

Those kids would not have had a chance to do anything with the cats after the first "incident" at my house. I would have given the parents one chance to stop them, and then would have spoken directly to the children, firmly, politely, and told them in no uncertain terms that they are not allowed to do that. Not a warning "if you do that the cats with scratch you", but a firm, "you don't behave like that in my house with my cats, thank you very much". And if the parents leave early because of it, thank goodness.

My cats ARE my kids, and if your kids are fighting with my kids, there will be hell to pay.

I'm sorry, but I would have told the parents that if they could not control their children then they and their children were not welcome in my house. I would have put my cats in the bedroom before they came over and when the kids got into the bedroom I would have said that and at the next instant of something happening I would have asked them to leave.

Originally posted by Creepyowl
I've never liked kids. I like cats way better.

Click to expand...

I feel the same way. And I hope no one would hate me for this, but I cant stand kids. I never want them.. ever. My cats are my kids and I love them more than pretty much most humans

Yayi, that's horrible. You would have had to seriously hold me back because my first instict would be to want to pull their hair or something back to see how they like it Kid or not, when people mess with cats, and my cats specifically.. you better run and fast.

I also want to add that the parents are also to blame here and obviously not cat lovers.

I would have handled it the same way you did, Yayi. I have had friends and associates get miffed at me for correcting/scolding their children in situations like that, when the parents were standing by doing nothing. How are the children supposed to learn the correct way to behave if their parents don't enforce proper behavior?

I also don't want children, never have. I helped raise my 2 cousins, they're like baby sisters to me, and I love them dearly, but I have done my tour of duty and don't want to go there again.

My cats are my kids. I tell people quite frankly, "We don't have kids, we have cats." I call the cats my kids and my babies, they know that's what they are.

I think Tamme said it best!

I don't dislike kids in general, but they certainly don't get to mess with my cats, i.e. my kids.

I would not shut my cats in a room that they had not chosen, but I would forbid the kids to follow any cat that chose to hide. I would frame it in terms of territory: This is the cat's home, not yours, please respect him when he says he doesn't want your attention. If you corner him, he may strike at you to make his point, and if you are hurt, it will be your fault, not his.

If there were ANY repeat of the offending behaviour, I would ask the parents to require their kids' compliance. I would hope that that would settle the matter, but if it didn't I would make it clear that if their kids could not respect EVERYbody who lives in my home, they would not be welcome to stay.

I hope I never have to do it, because hospitality is one of my passions, and it would hurt a lot to turn away people I had invited. But it would hurt a great deal more to see my babes treated disrespectfully.

Everyone who walks through the door of our house know we adore our cats and that they are my babies.

I have no qualms of telling the kids directly that it is rude and unacceptable behavior, and to stop immediately. Playing with my cats is a privilege, and household rules are respected.

Usually the parents are very good about reprimanding them instead of me, because they know I am very serious about my cats. Only once, I had an out-of-control boy trying to pull Mozart's tail; I told him he could not play with him any more, and put my kitty in our guest room. He kept screaming and trying to get to my cat, but he was restrained by his mother, then distracted by a movie. (I have many toys and DVDs just for the kids to get them out of the way).

I have to say.... i absolutely adore children, and plan on having many in the future
If a child isn't respectful towards a cat i'd have to say i'd try and teach them how to handle an animal properly, more often than not the child just may not have encountered an animal before and may simply not know how to treat or react to it.
i've never ecountered a child behaving badly with my kitties though, infact my cats love a certain five yr old and always rush to headbutt him when he comes
I have to say i am a bit suprised about the number of people here who aren't keen on kids.... maybe it's a cat lovers thing??
Just want to add, we were all kids once

You have my sympathy!

I get REALLY frustrated with people who don't teach their kids to respect animals. I have a dog that is afraid of some children - she's scared of kids that are loud & aggressive, but is fine with quiet & gentle kids. She came from a shelter, so I don't know what her background is, but I figure she must have had a bad experience. I had my other dog who loves all kids at the pet store once & a little boy ran up & kicked him! And the sad thing is, if he had bitten that boy, it probably would have been seen as MY fault! He didn't bite the kid, but I would have liked to slap that little brat!

I have to be careful where I take my shy dog b/c I can't be sure if kids will behave around her or not, and I'm trying to teach her to trust children - it's hard though, with so many around who have no idea how to treat animals. I had her at a cousin's house recently, and their kids chased her behind the couch. And they just completely ignored me when I told them to leave the dog alone, and their parents didn't even seem to notice what was going on. I don't think my dog would bite anyone, but you'd think the parents would be a little more concerned about their kids cornering a frightened 60 pound dog!

I just don't get it - we were taught from the beginning to respect animals. So many parents just don't seem to care - you'd think they'd at least teach their kids not to terrorize big dogs, just for their own safety.



* I do not hate children, actually I like many of them. I'm just appalled that so few are taught how to treat others (animals and people too) with respect.

I know where everyone is coming from.About 5 years ago before I moved here I only had one cat(I still have him and he's my baby) and a friend came over and her daughter at the time was around 2 or 3.She cornered my cat and picked him up and bit him on the jaw so hard she was shaking. OMG.I was livid.Her mommy just told her to stop.I looked at her little girl and told her that if I EVER saw her even go NEAR my cat I would bust her @ss!!
She tried to get ahold of him again and I told her when she so much as touched him I was going to whip her butt.I don't know if I made her mad or not,but I really didn't care.


I do have a child(he's almost 4)and I do have to keep an eye on him with the cats.Only 3 inside will let him near them.He does try to get a little too rough sometimes and I have to get onto him.He has gotten his butt whipped over my cats before.
He has gotten a lot better with the cats now though.I guess where he is getting a little older and plus he knows mommy and daddy will bust his butt for aggravating the cats.


I don't blame you one bit for what you did.I would have done the same.The way I am is that if I was visiting someone and my child was tormenting their animals or doing something he wasn't supposed to and if I wasn't in the room,I would want them to go ahead and correct him.But I would not just sit there and watch my child aggravate someone's animals and not do anything about it.That's just irresponsible parenting to me.
My cats are like my kids,too.

I would be highly ticked off , if any child would do that to any of my cats . I am very protective of my cats and dogs . I also don't care much about children myself and my son was a little shock to me . I thought I could not have any children . Of course I would not want to miss him now , he is 15 going into 16 . How ever , I would have rased my voice specialy when they would have gone into my bedroom . They had no bussines going in there what so ever . I would make sure the parents would be aware of me being absad about that . And for sure I never would invite them again in my home . I knew somebody like that , she never corect her children and I never invited her over to my house . Every once in a while she come over and was glad when she and her children left .

They woulden't do it my house that's for sure cause woulden't
put up with it and i would tell them to leave my cats alone!
I teach my kids to respect animals and they both LOVE them as
much as i do

these kids are acting very normal for kids that are not taught anything, i think it falls back to the parents, i know kids that are very well behaved when they go places because they have been taught, but i also know Brats!!! and they havent been,,,, my husbands great nephew came here one time and started chasing Blackie and stipey and i told him 1 time to stop and Bobby, his dad never said a word and he kept it up so i got mad and smarted off and they left and hasnt came back,,, dont really care either, hubby didnt like it very well, but agreed the kid is a brat....... so no i dont blame you at all for getting upset, they wouldnt like it if you went to their house and started making their kids cry now would they and those kitties are your kids so i say GOOD FOR YOU!!!!

yayi, you did well. In my opinion, you don't have anything to apologise for. I'm inclined to think that the blame falls back on the parents as well as their children. It seems that they haven't been taught to respect other living beings or other people's homes either. I was taught not to go into other areas of someone else's house unless I was invited. Though the toilet was the exception.

I'm not sure how I would have handled it. I know that everyone who enters my house know that we adore our cats and know not to harm them or make distasteful jokes about them. Anyone who enters my home for the first time is watched closely by me. If I don't like something, I'll say it and that's their first and FINAL warning.

So far, we've only decided that only one person is not at all welcome in our house. He's a friend of our housemate but we made it quite clear that he was not welcome. He's allowed in the yard but that is it. He used to be our neighbour but thankfully he moved out. He moved out and left a dog behind in an empty house and offered to punch the lights out of my fiancee after the subject was brought up politely. We went on the attack and offered to call the local ranger and police for him and the matter was sorted out in 24 hours and the dog was placed in a new home.

Basically we don't let anyone who doesn't like animals in our home. It doesn't have to be cats. To us, any animosity towards animals is potential for disaster.

MY house, MY cats, MY rules. Fortunately, most of our contemporaries' children are grown and the twins are too young to chase cats.

If people do not make their children behave, someone needs to make it clear that they are not welcome.

Fizzy and Izzy will be raised with pets and will know how to treat them, just as my kids were.

Good for you! I would have probably been tougher, I am not a huge fan of children at the best of times and parents who can't control their kids and teach them to respect living creatures really burn my butt. My nephew I am sure is somehow the offspring of Satan and anytime he visits he thinks its hilarious to torment my cat Gus. Luckily Gus is very confrontational and always fights back on his own. Gee, it's hard to feel sorry for the little brat when he's been told in no uncertain terms that kitty is off limits. Sometimes a good scratch is the best lesson.

Originally posted by Gus's Mom
...Sometimes a good scratch is the best lesson.

Click to expand...

To be sure, it can be quite educational. Too bad, though, that the creature defending himself is so often blamed for any damage. There's a wonderful little wirehaired terrier in my childhood, who decided not to tolerate a neighbour child's poking at him. She got bitten, he got put down. He was not a vicious dog, but he wasn't a wimp, either, and he paid the price. Why can't parents teach their kids basic respect for other creatures?