My ex was constantly picking on my animals even before we were married. I had two orange cats named Marmalade and Tidbit that were father and son. My future husband hated Tidbit and the feeling was mutual. I remember being on the phone with my then boyfriend as a teen and he would be mad if I was petting Tidbit or talking to him. He once said “You love that cat more than me” which was true at the time. I was 14. Tidbit would hiss and hide whenever my now ex would come over. I should have listened to my cat. They sense things we, as humans , tend to ignore because we don’t want to know.
During our 32 year marriage we had several cats. One, Tigger, was especially vocal, and would meow a lot. Whenever my ex was frustrated or angry he would hit Tigger or even pick him up and throw him across the room! He always said, “He’s going to learn not to meow like that.”
Of course poor Tigger never “learned” and in the end neither did I.
When I finally left I took Tigger and the other cats with me and I can rest easy knowing that at least the last years of his life were filled with love and catnip.
The moral of this story is: if your significant other is abusing your pets, there’s a problem.
