Kids can sometimes be rough. They don’t always know their limits, and they are still learning right from wrong. That’s why you have to be especially careful when kids are around pets or other animals. The children might hurt the animals without realizing that what they are doing is wrong.

What do you do when a child does something mean to a beloved pet? The answer probably varies from person to person and parent to parent. In one instance, a neighbor decided to give the child a taste of his own medicine, and the internet has mixed feelings about it.

A Twitter user named Shannon shared that her cat was sitting on the fence when all of a sudden the neighbor boy, who looks like he’s 10 years old, decided to dump water on top of the cat. Shannon reacted by dumping water on top of the neighbor boy to show him how it feels. She doesn’t understand why the dad is upset.

My 10 year old neighbour just threw a cup of water over my cat who was sitting on the fence minding his own business n laughed so I threw a basin of water over him from the window and now his dad is at my door going mental but I don’t see the problem, don’t touch my cat

— shannon (@shannoncooperox) May 20, 2020

Some people are appalled by Shannon’s behavior. They think she was sinking to the level of the boy instead of acting like an adult. They also think she should have talked to the boy’s dad instead of retaliating.

I understand your outrage, it’s just a nicer world when we collaborate rather than retaliate. Have the conversation next time. Diplomacy should always be the answer.

— Patti Thompson (@PatriciaAThomp5) May 22, 2020

You’re going to have to be very careful. I’m in no way excusing the boy’s behavior, but dumping water on him qualifies as assault.A better course of action might have been to tell the kid’s father what he’d done. The kid’s father would then be on your side.

— Tales From SYL Ranch (@SYLTales) May 21, 2020

Not sure about this. 🤔 I can understand why you did it but you’re going down to their level. Better to sort of discuss it with them, having said that I would’ve been furious!!🙄🐈

— Kotty2🇬🇧🇵🇱🇨🇦🇺🇸🌍 (@krozzy2) May 22, 2020

Many other Twitter users feel that Shannon did the right thing saying things like “fair is fair” and that it’s important for children to learn to respect and be kind to animals.

With you 100% Shannon. Kids need to be taught boundaries especially when it comes to animal cruelty. Whilst the water didn’t cause any injury it would have caused distress to the poor cat.

— Claire Sandell (@ClaireSandell) November 18, 2020

Yeah I see no issue here. He uoset your pet for no reason, he’s lucky it’s all he got 🤷‍♀️

— ♡ 𝑫𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒚 𝑫𝒆-𝑳𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 ♡ (@DebayDeLux) May 20, 2020

 

Most people don’t value animals the same way they value humans. Some parents also don’t want to see their child’s behavior for what it is. I’m glad you stood up for your fuzz baby as they are as much a person as any human.

— button.cute (@buttoncute1) May 21, 2020

Shannon later tweeted that the neighbor boy is actually 13 years old and that the dad didn’t know what his son had done to the cat when he showed up at her door. It seems that after the fact, now that the dad understands what happened, he’s not mad about Shannon’s actions.

people r so mad over this, the kid and his dad were laughing about it today, we r friends (also might I add the dad never knew what his son done which is why he was mad to begin with) also the kid is 13 he rlly looks fkn 10 lmao

— shannon (@shannoncooperox) May 21, 2020

Do you think Shannon did the right thing? How would you react if a child poured water on your pet?