There are many questions for which, after careful consideration, there is no certain answer. There are others, like the question raised in the tragedy below, in which there is greater moral certitude. Consider a tale from Reddit in which a cat owner’s girlfriend mistreated his cat, leading him to evict the girlfriend from his house:
So I have a cat named Raven who’s 3 years old.
My girlfriend of 2 years moved in with me a few weeks ago and it was clear she didn’t like my cat. I didn’t think it was really a big deal until one day I got home and he was just gone.
He’s not an outdoor cat and he never goes outside.
He was gone for hours and I was worried sick until my buddy came to my house and returned him, saying he found him 2 blocks from my house.
I asked my girlfriend how my cat, who has never tried to go out before, ended up that far from my house and she admitted to kicking him out.
I was furious, saying she had no right to kick him out and told her that since she thought she had the power to kick my cat out, I wanted her out of my house by the end of the month.
She cried that she had nowhere to go and that she would have to live on the streets. I said I didn’t care and told her to leave by the end of the month.
My friends think I’m being too harsh, but my cat could have died because of her and I don’t want her trying anything else.
One always hopes for a fair outcome and, happily, a fair outcome unfolded in this case: the cat was restored to safety, the boyfriend will be able to find a new, more considerate girlfriend, and the miscreant former girlfriend will now have the needed solitary reflection, one hopes, to turn from the dark and sinister path she was on.
Well done, Cat Owner, well done.
