I’ve done a lot of pet sitting in my day, and let me tell you, at best, the pets will respond to you about as well as they do to their owners.

Usually, they don’t trust you nearly as much. So if a pet PREFERS a sitter to their owner, something seriously weird is going on.

AITAH for refusing to take my neighbor’s cat to therapy because it’s “emotionally attached” to me now?

i’m not joking.

It all started with some kind of retreat. For everyone, apparently.

so back in march my neighbor went on a 10-day yoga retreat or silent meditation cult or whatever and asked me to feed her cat. fine.

cat’s named marmalade, she’s orange and dramatic, we got along okay.

The love grew over time, however.

but then she starts hanging out more. shows up at my window.

waits outside my door.

Cat has made up her mind at this point.

the neighbor comes back, cat won’t go home.

scratches her. sleeps on my couch.

i ignore it, assume she’ll get over it.

fast forward to now: cat still here, neighbor’s mad, says i “trauma bonded” with it (???) and now marmalade needs therapy to “re-establish trust” and i should pay for half.

A “trauma bond” is a bond formed through a SHARED trauma.

Even if the cat had been traumatized by the sitting (which it does not appear she was), what trauma was sitter supposed to have endured?

i laughed. i thought she was kidding. she wasn’t.

apparently her “pet psychologist” (i wish i was making this up) thinks i disrupted the cat’s “emotional processing cycle” by being too calm and attentive (???) and now it has abandonment issues.

like it’s a victorian orphan.

i told her i didn’t ask to be part of whatever feline soap opera she’s got going on and now she’s telling people i’m emotionally manipulative.

If you’re gonna gossip about your own pets I’m not listening to you.

i think she’s unwell. the cat is fine.

it’s currently asleep in my sink.

am i the [jerk]?

Here’s what the comments had to say:

Like, I DO want to know what happens next.

There’s a pretty obvious explanation at play here…

Though maybe, legally, you should try to return her.

My money is on owner feeding the cat food it hates (cats are obligate carnivores and trying to get them on meat-free diets, as many do, is harmful) and this guy not doing that.

But I’m not a licensed cat therapist.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.