The boy was 13 but looked younger, and he was the cat’s neighbor. So should the owner have just told the kid’s parents?

It won’t come as a surprise for you to learn that people disagree online.

But one disagreement has revealed just how different our approaches to discipline really are. It all revolves around a cat, his owner and their neighbors’ child.

It began when a 13-year-old boy saw a cat sitting on a fence in his backyard in Edinburgh, UK.

The teenager knew that the cat belonged to his neighbor.

Then the boy walked up to the cat and threw a cup of water over him.

Naturally, the cat hated getting wet, hissed and ran off. The boy started laughing.

But what the boy didn’t know was that the cat’s owner, Shannon, was watching the whole thing.

I dyed my hair n got a tan pic.twitter.com/2sCKXrEYQJ

— shannon (@shannoncooperox) June 8, 2019

So she filled up a large basin full of water and threw the water over him from a window.

The boy was absolutely covered in water.

Shannon believed that she had taught the kid a lesson. Then she picked up her cat and brought him inside to dry him off.

But then she heard an angry knocking at her door. The child’s father was there, and he was pissed.

Shannon didn’t give the dad any time of day initially. Instead, she posted about the series of events to her Twitter feed.

She was shocked when her tweet went viral (In that tweet, she mistakenly listed his age as 10 instead of 13.)

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

To date, it has gained over 600,000 likes. It also has more than 74,100 retweets and 4,500 comments. People have been divided in their responses. Some say that Shannon absolutely did the right thing in giving the boy a taste of his own medicine:

The thing is some parents need to teach their children to respect living creatures.

— Olivia (@SenioritaGuille) May 21, 2020

I’d just throw the 10 year old 🤷‍♀️

— abbie (@xAbbieCredidiox) May 20, 2020

I love this! But I’m worried if they’ll hurt your cat next 😩

— ☽ ηat ☾ 🦇 (@b0nelessivar) May 20, 2020

But others have criticized her strongly:

Idk if someone threw water at my child i would be pissed off too. There are other ways to teach kids to be nice to animals lol

— o ᗜo (@nekogiruu) May 21, 2020

Its v childish how you handled it you should had told the parents first so that they could punish their own kid… Like no that wouldn’t hurt a kid but at the same time as a parent myself ID LIKE TO HANDLE MY KID because no its not right the kid did that but its also not yours

— Luna (@GhoulEmpress) May 21, 2020

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

It is fair to say that both sides have a point here. Yes, perhaps Shannon’s reaction was a little strong. But then again, the boy was old enough to know that what he was doing was wrong.

Let’s face it, the boy is not going to have any long-lasting trauma from this event.

If the water that Shannon threw ower him had been boiling hot, or if the boy had been aged around five-years-old, then maybe her actions would have been plain wrong. But a 13-year-old boy should know to not harass an innocent animal, let alone their neighbor’s pet!

And despite the father’s initial reaction, it turns out that he agreed with Shannon.

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

Initially, the boy went to his father and only told him his side of the story, meaning that he omitted the part where he threw water on the cat to begin with. When the dad heard the truth, he completely agreed with Shannon.

Shannon also added that she and the dad are friends, and that the next day they were all laughing over the story.

So sure, if you think that Shannon was awful in teaching the boy a lesson, then that’s what you think. But the boy and the boy’s father both accepted it as right in the end.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: Shannoncooperox, The Animal Rescue Site