24-year-old woman bans roommate's pet from common spaces; Reddit reacts: 'Cats need space too, it is cruel of you...'

Woman opens up about not wanting her roommate's cat in common spaces, but Redditors believe that it is an unfair request.

Roommates are often considered to be part of the extended family, and so are pets. But one 24-year-old woman refused to see it that way and ended up banning her roommate’s pet cat from common spaces. Also Read | Woman wonders if it is wrong to want husband to take care of her without asking; Reddit reacts

Cats do not usually prefer staying confined in a room. (Pexel)

Tensions heightened as a result, and doubting her course of action, she opened up about the incident on the popular subreddit, r/TwoHotTakes, seeking advice.

Trouble with the pet cat…

The OP was living with her roommate Jess for eight months. The latter owned a cat, Mr Pickles, who moved in with her. Before they signed the lease, Jess insisted that the cat mostly stay in her room, to which the OP had no objection, as she was not allergic to the furry animal.

Before signing the lease, the OP had expressed her desire to have the living room and kitchen as a shared, neutral space. There was no trouble for the first few months. However, Mr Pickles then apparently started to expand his territory.

AITA for telling my roommate her cat isn't welcome in the common areas anymore?
by u/VantaCircuit_2 in TwoHotTakes

The cat “has basically claimed the couch as his own, and twice now I've sat down on a wet spot that I really don't want to think about too hard,” wrote the OP on Reddit. “Last week I woke up at 3am to the sound of him knocking things off my desk in my room because Jess left her door open.”

“I texted her about it in the morning, pretty calmly, I thought, and said I needed her to keep him out of the common areas like we originally agreed,” she added.

This apparently made Jess defensive of her cat, and she called the OP for being “cold” and not understanding that Mr Pickles is “just a cat, he doesn't understand boundaries." The Op claimed that she did, but insisted that it was her roommate’s job to manage her cat, not hers.

“She hasn't spoken to me properly in four days and told our mutual friend that I'm making her feel like she's not welcome in her own home, which honestly felt like a huge leap to me,” the OP wrote of Jess.

She went on to insist that it was not about the roommate personally, just about the cat and the agreement that they had made. The reaction that she was met with made the OP second-guess herself, because she considered Jess to be a “genuinely” good person and did not want things to be weird for the rest of the lease.

Redditors call out both roommates

People on Reddit believed both roommates were at fault, but especially the OP for making such a demand where a pet cat is concerned.

“You guys should have never moved in together if you don’t agree with the cat being in common areas,” was the opinion of one person. “It’s reasonable to not want the cat in YOUR room. It’s unreasonable and can quickly shift into animal abuse for a cat to be kept solely in one room.”

“You can't keep a cat cooped up in one bedroom; it's cruel. If you don't want it in your bedroom, learn to close your own door,” wrote another.

“Just close your door when you sleep at night? It’s an animal, it's not like she can sit it down and give him a stern talking to,” echoed a third.

“You're incompatible as roommates. That doesn't make you bad people, it just means that you both should have been more reasonable and open before entering into this situation,” pointed out a fourth.

Yet another person stated, “Cats need space too. It is cruel of you to expect this poor cat to be confined to one room. Where is your empathy for another living creature? You SHOULD BE second-guessing yourself. If you don't want him in your bedroom, close your own door.”