BIL hit their cat on the head, should I do anything (and what?)

[Bananaketchup]

My nephew is 7 and a pfb, he can be aggressive to the cat and has been known to grab the cat by the neck, pull his tail etc. Last week (according to the pfb) he accidentally sat on the cat's tail, and the cat turned on him and scratched his face with both front paws. BIL then hit the cat on the head as punishment.

Now to be honest I don't really believe the story as the cat has put up with worse without attacking, but BIL and SIL seem to think this was an acceptable 'punishment' for the cat, SIL said 'he'll get worse if he's scarred my son's face'.

The cat's a sweet little thing quite small and skinny, he came from Wood Green, do you think they would take the cat back if I reported it? Or am I being a big softy, do people hit their pets to punish or teach them things(?)

Thanks Valhalla, I don't know if they would try to get another cat or not but if they did I would definitely know about it as I see them a lot and my mum goes to their house at least once a week so that would give me the opportunity to find out that's it's happening and get the word out as you suggest. Hopefully they will be too lazy to bother. It sounds like you do a great job btw!

My nephew is not really a bad kid but he's just so spoilt, and now he's got away with whatever he did to make the cat attack him I think it's safer to keep him away. It's really sad as he has a lovely relationship with my mum's cat who is not the most trusting but will run to him for strokes and eat out of his hand. From now on they will not be left alone together

I wouldn't think for one moment the rescues have the time to share info like that, so I think you'd probably have to ring them all I hope it all goes ok - you're sooo doing the right thing

Carseat, it's less about having time and more about data protection and privacy/risk of being sued ime and imho. As I said before, there are some rescues in the independent sector which value such advice and will share it with other likeminded rescues. I recently received an email about a man who is known to be taking dogs from rescue and then they "disappear", with lies told about their welfare and also health and welfare concerns. Maybe we shouldn't be sharing this info but we were all glad to be told. The big rescues would ignore or throw a fit at such advice but the independents, which are more pro AR and which work 'on the front line' taking dogs which the nationals won't touch are concerned more about the animals than politics.

To update: the cat is now in his new home. He seems to be settling in happily, is sitting on laps and having lots of strokes etc. He was caught trying to get his head out of the bathroom window so I think he is keen to explore outside too! The flatmate is not allergic, which is just as well as the cat has decided to sleep on his bed. He is getting lots of fuss and attention and will be well looked after. I have been phoning every day to see how he is, think I might need to back off a bit now lol.