When family came to visit, a tender moment of connection between his beloved cat and his nieces quickly turned into chaos. The joyous reunion was shattered by fear and misunderstanding, exposing the fragile line between acceptance and rejection, and testing the bonds of love that held them all together.
I (m27) have a cat named stargazer. I adopted her around 3 years ago and she’s truly a little survivor. She was abused and as a result has no eyes and only 3 three legs. Nobody wanted to adopt her because of hes deformaties and she’s also a black cat so i did bc she was gonna be euthanized otherwise.
My sister moved into my city this week and her and her husband (both 43) needed someone to watch the kids since they were gonna have a grown up celebrate party. I agreed. Both my nieces are 11 so they’re not too little for me to handle and i’d also be great enrichment for my cat since she loves children and women (i’m the only man she trusts).
My nieces loved her and while they first were a little scared they thought she was cute after a while. My sister went to pick them up and as the bell rang my cat went running also to the door and when my sister saw her she freaked out and started screaming.
My cat ran away due to the noise and my sister started yelling at me that i let my cat around her kids and saying she’s demonic. The next day her husband called and said unless the cat goes i’ll never have them over again.
AITA?
Conclusion
The original poster (OP) acted out of compassion by rescuing a vulnerable cat, establishing a loving home environment. The central conflict arises when the OP’s sister, due to intense, immediate fear or prejudice regarding the cat’s appearance, demands the removal of the beloved pet as a condition for future family interaction.
Given the sister’s ultimatum, the core question is whether the OP should prioritize accommodating their sister’s extreme reaction to the cat, potentially sacrificing their own pet and emotional bond, or stand firm in their commitment to the cat, risking estrangement from their sister and nieces.
Here’s how people reacted:
Let them leave, be honest and point out that they are toxic and your furbaby has seen far too much of that in its short life already. Point out that you hope their children don’t gain their puerile attitude in life. They are using your love for your neices to try and emotionally blackmail you. That’s messed up on many levels.
I know it sounds harsh, but If you let this slide and destroy your _Family Member_ to appease them, it will get far worse in future. Draw your line in the sand here, while you can.
Good luck with your furbaby 🙂
You love her and your nieces love her, end of story. Just remember your BIL and sister came to you for help. THEY asked YOU to babysit your nieces, you are doing them a favour and they are being r/choosingbeggers.
If Reddit has taught me anything they will come crawling back the next time they need a babysitter and that is when you tell them stargazer (love that name btw) is a non-negotiable part of your babysitting package. Take it or leave it.
I’m sorry you have such close minded family. Your cat sounds awesome and good on you for the reacue. I love black kitties and my mom’s cats both are missing one eye, I’ve had cats with three legs and a deaf cat. They were all super awesome kitties.
NTA
Edit: thanks for the gold!
Oh my, I hate these people. I’m sorry.
These people are absolutely insane; never do stuff for them again. If they do not acknowledge how fucked up their thinking is, I’d really never have them over.
Absolutely 0 tolerance towards them, gosh. I’m so infuriated.
Also, Stargazer seems like an absolute baby. Please ask your sister and her husband to back off!
Your kitty sounds adorable, btw.
I feel bad for the cat. People treat it so badly over something it has zero control of. You and the cat did absolutely nothing wrong.
They want you to babysit for free, they have no say in this.
Give a cuddle to Stargazer for me.