A man has received widespread support after evicting his girlfriend who booted his indoor cat out, saying his beloved pet "could have died."
The owner shared his dilemma to Reddit's popular Am I The A****** forum, which has amassed more than 24,000 upvotes since being posted on Monday.
Posting under Astonished_Hound, he revealed he got Raven three years ago, and had been dating his now-ex girlfriend for two years.
He claimed his partner moved in a couple weeks ago, and he revealed: "It was clear she didn't like my cat." The owner thought nothing of it, until he came home one day to find his black cat had mysteriously vanished.
He wrote: "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."
Things got ugly between the pair, as he said: "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."
In the comments, he confirmed she "picked him up and put him outside to wander off," and Raven is now staying with his cousin until his now-ex moves out.
"She knows he can't survive outside... She didn't seem to have any regrets about her actions and no, she never lived with cats before.
"She said she couldn't stand cats and that she couldn't live with one," he added.
He confirmed the relationship was over, saying: "We're not together anymore."
His decision has received widespread support on the platform, as Justpickit wrote: "And change your locks when she's out. She could have made another key and will come let kitty out while you're at work or something. Gotta protect the kitty at all costs!"
Proud_Azorius pointed out: "Oh damn, so the girlfriend threw out an indoor BLACK cat during Halloween season?? Shelters don't even let people adopt black cats this time of year because people can be sick superstitious fucks. Raven is lucky to be alive!"
Thetrashagenda commented: "Exactly! Pets are family, she kicked out his cat to fend for itself on the streets."
And Nagiton reckoned: "NTA. If she thinks it's acceptable to do that with something as important as a pet, then she thinks she can do that with any aspect of your life she doesn't like. The cat is important, but almost irrelevant in the scope of red flags she's throwing out."
The American Humane Society states there are numerous dangers to cats outside, including disease, parasites, cars, trees and toxins.
While not specifically referencing black cats on Halloween, they noted pets can sometimes be the target for abuse.
They said: "Roaming cats may be at risk for animal cruelty. Sadly, some people have been known to shoot cats with BB guns or arrows, while some cats end up being trapped, abused and killed in the name of 'sport' or 'for fun.'"
Newsweek reached out to Astonished_Hound for comment.
Update 3/11/21, 8:36 a.m. ET: A Reddit link was updated in this article.
