One man says he and his wife regularly feed a neighborhood stray cat who’s become part of their daily routine.

When his visiting 8-year-old nephew got too excited and scared the cat off mid-meal, the uncle decided not to call him over the next time feeding rolled around, figuring it might spook the animal again.

Now his sister says he hurt her son’s feelings, and he’s wondering if trying to protect the cat made him the bad guy.

AITA for not calling my nephew when it was time to feed the neighborhood cat because he scared him off the last time?

There’s a neighborhood cat who roams around our house (no collar or anything) whom my wife and I feed twice a day regularly.

The cat (not quite sure if its a male or a female but we’ve assumed male) even responds to a name we made out for him, Messy.

He knows to come to our kitchen door when its time for his meal.

A stray, but trained, cat! Magical.

My sister and her kids have been visiting for the past few days.

My nephew (8), whos a great respectful kid, was excited when we told him about Messy.

When it was time to feed him, I put his plate at the usual spot and kind of just had my nephew stand away near the door while Messy ate, and told my nephew to just watch him but don’t interrupt his meal and then I left.

Uh oh.

A few minutes later he had come back to the living room and grumbled about how Messy didnt like being pet because he ran away when he tried to pet him.

I told him he shouldn’t have interrupted his meal, my sister agreed. When I went outside, Messy hadnt finished his food.

So yesterday when it was time to feed Messy, I just fed him without telling my nephew. Later, when he asked, I said I’d fed him. He complained that he wanted to be there, I just said Messy might be spooked by him now and to we can see him later.

Just being truthful.

My sister didnt say anything then, but later when it was just us, she said he was really disappointed and he was 8 and made a mistake but he meant well.

I felt a bit bad too, I didn’t really mean it as a punishment but it might have seemed like one.

AITA?

Most commenters sided with the uncle, saying he wasn’t cruel or punishing, just setting a calm boundary for the animal.

This person says it’s fine…8-year-olds are resilient.

This person says the sister likely tends to the son too much.

And this person offers a solution for the cat in general.

Teaching kids compassion can be tricky, especially when the cat lesson comes with a side of hurt feelings.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.