Husband threw cat after scratch

[Friarclose]

Tonight while trying to hold her still for a flea treatment, our cat severely scratched DH, drawing blood. DHs immediate kneejerk reaction was to throw the cat to the floor, hard. She missed the corner of a wooden table by about 4 inches.

DH is fuming that my only reaction was to scream at him for throwing her and not caring that he was bleeding. I know he was hurt but to throw her like that???

AIBU? was it just a reaction to being hurt or would other people put the cat down carefully regardless of being hurt? I'm really upset 😡

Nope, I’d probably drop the cat. If I’m honest I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t drop a child.

Its a jerk reaction to pain- I think you’re being quite hard on him.

Unless he’s usually impatient and cruel around her, which presumably would have been an issue raised before now, I’d accept that it’s just an involuntary reflex to pain. If you touch a hot surface you don’t actively “think” about recoiling; your hand just reflexively does it. I suspect this was much the same. The cat will be fine, they’re hardy creatures.

He’s an asshole. I have nothing else to say except that my husband would be shown the door. Violence towards animals is Never acceptable. She must have been terrified.

Sounds like an instinctive reaction to the pain to me.

What a wuss, you would put the cat down and not throw the cat on the floor.

No, I don't think that's a normal reaction at all. Swiping your hand away, maybe pushing the cat off your lap? As knee jerk reactions.
But to physically throw a cat hard on the ground? Nope. I wouldn't say that's a normal reaction. His instinct was to hurt the cat because the cat hurt him...

Cat scratches can be really painful, it sounds like a knee jerk reaction.

I would say , you know your husband. Is he the type of person to be deliberately cruel, if not then although I might be upset and feel it was an overreaction,I'd try and get this in proportion based on what I know he is usually like.

Nope, throwing a living creature, hard, onto the floor is not an instinctual action. Dropping the cat, maybe. Throwing down is anger and intention to hurt. I would be fucking raging.

It's an instinctive reaction to the shock of pain. Cats can be nasty buggers.

Honesty if my cat severely scratched me to the point of bleeding - I'd probably reflexively drop them!

You say "throw" though not "drop" - did he pull his arms back and put some force behind a throw? Or did he just reflexively let go of his grip and drop the cat? That's the key difference to me, immediately letting go and dropping the cat is a reflex to a painful injury. Pulling your arms back and putting power into actively throwing the cat isn't a reflex and that's not someone I'd be happy to have around me or my pets!

Yanbu if he forcefully threw her towards the floor. If he just let go and she dropped to the floor then that would be an instinctive reaction. To being hurt and totally understandable. Throwing her hard is angry and trying to hurt/punish.

Not the point, but why were either of you holding the cat in the air in the first place? That's just asking for windmill legs and claws. It's much easier to kneel on the floor with cat between your legs, feet together behind their bum so they can't reverse, and hold them still that way.

Dropping and throwing are two entirely different things.

It was definitely throw, not drop. That's the upsetting part. Drop of course, understandable. But he forcefully threw her to the ground.

Drop - instinct, throw - cruel. Only the two of you know which it really was.

Our cats turn into demons with a thousand claws when anything like flea drops come out , I know DH has released his grip so she can jump free but that’s not the same as throwing her . She wants free, he sets her free.

I did read a horrific news article about a Dad who threw one of his kids guinea pigs at a shed door and it broke its back. ( died)
Now my hand would break before I got sick of punching him.

There's always one 🙄
So predictable that the cat haters come out

In future you need to get the Dreamies out and have the flea treatment ready. Cats only seem to concentrate on one thing at a time.
Poor cat - though probably quite an instinctive reaction from your DP. Cat scratches hurt a lot!

If he forcefully threw her to the ground then absolutely not - I wouldn’t let anyone treat any of my pets in that way. Throw him on the floor and see how he likes it!

Flea treatment is a 2 man job here. He holds her and I put it on. Saves the violence from the cat. Just get a few swears then.

It’s up to you what you do with your DH but if you have to hold/pin animals for medical care at home, always do it on the floor. That way whether you drop them, they wriggle free or they scratch or bite you, they don’t fall.

YANBU. Throwing a cat forcefully is animal abuse. Nasty bastard. I wouldn't want him anywhere near me.

He threw her to the ground, not across the room. That leads me to think it was instinctive and the force was because it hurt! The table being there is irrelevant because he didn’t have a chance to consider it. If he hates the cat, he wouldn’t have been helping with flea treatment.

Ah, based on the update I know what I’d do. I can’t stand cruelty to animals.

I've never lashed out in anger, but some people really do think it's normal. I would worry that someone who lashes out physically is going to do that in other ways. If you can't control your anger and stop yourself hurting someone or something then that's concerning surely.

I've had cats scratch and bite the shit out of me. Had a rat bite my hand so severely I needed surgery, I dropped it onto the sofa, then gently picked it back up and put it in its cage so it wouldn't run off. Christ my toddler doesn't half hurt me sometimes. If you can't stop yourself throwing an animal how can you stop yourself hitting a child?