When you’re in a tough place mentally, pets can really be the shining light that help you come through a dark time.

The love of a furry friend can make all the difference in recovery, as many people around the world will be well aware.

And for the kid in this story, one of the family pets is helping him through his own struggles.

That is, until his jealous step father is thrown into the mix.

Read on to find out how his stepdad is putting his kid’s and his cat’s happiness at risk.

AITA for keeping the only cat who loves me in my room

My family have a lot of pets (4 dogs and 5 cats).

While I (male, 18 years old) love them all.

I love cats a lot more and I have really grown attached to one of them.

Her name is Peachy.

A week before Christmas she decided to stay in my room and sleep with me all night.

It was the best feeling of my life.

She was purring, making biscuits next to me and cuddling me the entire time.

Let’s see how this adorable situation took a turn for the worse.

However there is one other thing.

My stepdad always used to sleep with Peachy, but since she’s been sleeping with me he’s acting all hurt about it.

At first I thought it was a joke and shrugged it off, thinking he was just surprised that one of the cats liked sleeping with me.

Eventually it got to a point where my mom started telling me to kick her out of my room.

I’m living with very bad depression right now, and love that I have a cat to hold at night when I feel sad.

Read on to find out why it is this cat, rather than all the others, that the family are squabbling over.

I also want to point out that my stepdad and my mom sleep with two other cats in their room (Gary and Kimchi).

Of the other cats we have, one mostly keeps to himself and another who does love me and will actually come if I call her, but she’s got her own issues.

She’s very old and has little control of her bladder and is very stubborn about using the litter box.

This means that when I wake up in the morning, if she has slept in my room, it reeking of cat urine.

Uh-oh. Let’s see how the kid is feeling about all this.

Peachy is the only cat who’s actually been affectionate toward me.

I want to keep her in my room but my mom is telling me to kick her out.

I just don’t know what to do because I did try kicking her out but she meowed at my door for an hour on end until I got fed up and let her back inside.

I’m trapped in a box now and need advice.

AITA?

This is a really tough situation.

It’s clear that the whole family are attached to this cat, and that Peachy is really helping this boy through a hard time.

Let’s see what the folks on Reddit thought about this.

This person agreed that Peachy’s agency should be respected.

And others thought that where Peachy sleeps was the least of the parents’ problems.

While this Redditor thought it was time for a change for this kid.

Honestly, it is heartbreaking that this kid and Peachy clearly love and give a lot of support to one another, and their mutual comfort is being disrupted by a sulking adult man.

These parents need to consider their priorities before their kid and their pets come to truly resent them.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.