To be a bit freaked out by DPs behaviour..

[Meanderer]

There's a cat that has been coming into our garden and even our house occasionally and frightening our two young cats. They are getting braver at hissing at him but he still dominates them and we think has sprayed scent on them. Today while I was out DP found this cat in the house so shut him in, chased him around shouting at him, then put him in a bath of cold water, all to frighten him off. He'd mentioned before that he was panning to do this and I asked him not to, because it seems really cruel and excessive and also I thought about how I'd feel if someone did that to one of ours..he's an aggressive cat yes but just doing what some cats do. My question really isn't whether he was unreasonable to do it, because I think he was and have told him so..but I'm feeling really uncomfortable that he could do this at all, even though he believes it was right to defend our young cats that way...I feel a bit creeped out by it. Am I being soft and should I be grateful on our cats behalf? I was hoping they'd just eventually be able to defend themselves.

Your post has just sent shivers down my spine op. My brother worked as an RSPCA inspector and it has reminded me of a particularly nasty case he had to deal with once.
I could not be with someone who could be so cruel to a cat or any animal! Deal breaker for me.

If it worked and the cat has stayed away, I'd be quite chuffed with my DH for doing what needed to be done.

Cats are bloody horrible, and while I'm not completely comfortable with the idea of one being soaked in a bath, it's not actually going to do it any harm. It would be quite hypocritical of me to get upset about a cat getting wet while looking forward to my steak and chips, cats are no more deserving of protection than any other living thing that is capable of feeling fear or pain.

If people don't want to take the risk that their pet will be harmed by someone who doesn't like it on their property or in their home, then they should keep them in.

Getting a cat soaking wet then putting it out in this weather is cruel.

'no more deserving of protection'? Dont you mean no less deserving?
To quote the philosopher Emmanuel Kant 'we can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals' and 'for he who is cruel to animals becomes hard also is his dealings with men'.
Animal and child cruelty are very closely linked amd just like with humans abuse does'nt have to be physical. Causing an animal mental distress is illegal and punishable by law.

"I would be concerned and I have fished and hunted, but there is something very different about a person that can knowingly cause distress to something unable to defend themselves, for no good reason."

Is this meant to be a joke birdsgottafly? Surely the fact you have fished and hunted means you have done exactly this?

I feel sorry for the owner...he's going to be a bugger to bathe in the future and they won't know why.
It's mentally cruel though and just because it's a cat doesn't make it right or ok. What happens when the cat comes back op? Will your husband actually dunk it's head under the water for a few seconds? Maybe it'll escalate and he will get an air rifle to scare it away. You think I'm being silly and over the top well I'm not I've heard the awful stories first hand from my brother the RSPCA inspector who had to be discharged from his job because the stress of all the animal cruelty was too much to cope with!
Seemingly normal people being cruel to their own animals even let alone other people's!
It all starts somewhere and I think in your case op it could be just the beginning.
The cats are too scared to go out so get some litter trays and keep them in from now on and lock that cat flap. The stress of being bullied won't be much fun for them either and as 'responsible' pet owners that is the 'responsible' thing to do, obviously torturing cats is not.

Do you have DC, OP? Is he very protective of them?

I don't like the sound of your DP and I wouldn't feel safe living with someone who could premeditate such a cruel and unusual "punishment".

I don't agree with what he did BUT can we get a grip about a wet cat being outdoors please!!! What on earth do you think happens when they go out in the rain!!??

I think some people need to get a grip

No one has raised any objection to cats being squirted with water while they are already outside, in fact many cat owners will recommend doing that to neighbours that are being bothered by their cat.

Get a good aim and the end result is the same - wet cat outdoors.

I think it would be more cruel to cat-kind to allow one cat to continually bully and terrorise two smaller ones.

I think Red that reason tends to stay on their outer cost, they don't generally get soaked to the bone.

Reason= rain

Cost= coat

My exp threw my rabbit across the room with great force. It was that which finally made my 'see' all his other abusive behaviours.

Putting a cat into a bath of cold water is awfully cruel. It's a cat doing what cats do.

What a nutjob!

Squirting cat with a water pistol to make it run away & hopefully be put off returning - yes.

Trapping & dunking it in a cold bath (before, presumably kicking it out into the cold, soaking wet) - no!

And I don't even like cats that much.

I've squirted my cat's bully with a water spray before. We now have a magnetic cat flap.

It's the premeditation and prolonged nature of what he has done, that doesn't sit right with me WooWoo:

Shut cat in.
Chase it around shouting for a bit.
Run a bath.
Catch cat
Dunk the cat in

Whereas the other scenario is: Pesky cat in garden, quick squirt with water pistol, cat fucks off (ours wouldn't; he loves water).

It's ott. Can't see why that experience would make the cat leave your garden alone. He might give dh a wider bearth now though.

There was a bbc prog on domestic cat routes recently in a village. They go miles in very specific territories. Expect there's just some readjustment to a new cat.

Try google. Was interesting.

i had an exBF who did stuff like this during the two years I was with him. He 'overreacted' once when walking his dog by booting another dog with his size 11 boots and he took on some local youths who were just messing about by threatening them with a bloody great rock in his hand. These are just two incidents of his aggression.

I found i was on edge all the time about how he would 'react' if something upset him - I wonder if you ever feel like this - best thing i ever did was walking away.

I think it's disgusting behavior, fucked up to do that to a cat. Horrid.

My OH isn't keen on cats - he would never do that to a cat. Like a form of torture. Weird. Mean. Cruel. Nasty.

Cats go outside in the rain all the time - they won't die from pneumonia!!!!

If I knew who your husband was and where you lived I'd be reporting him.

Rain is not a bath!! One should the whole fur down to the skin, the other sits on top.

Will stop going on about the bloody rain now! not the same, not the same, not the same

Tis the same - animals get as wet from standing out in the pouring rain as they do in a bath!

He's a horrible bugger, I'd be mortified.