Person Asks if They’re a Jerk for Not Wanting to Walk Their Cat Anymore

Believe it or not, some people do walk their cats.

In fact, I even have a good friend who likes to walk her cat around her neighborhood.

And this person wants to know if they’re wrong for wanting to walk their cat.

Hmmm…let’s take a look at what’s going on.

AITA for wanting to walk my cat?

“I trained my cat to walk on a leash. He’s a good boy.

But it’s basically impossible to walk him around here. My city has leash laws but it seems like no one obeys them. There’s a little grassy park across the parking lot from me that would be perfect for us to hang out in but there’s always dogs running all over it.

It’s not a dog park, there’s a playground right next to it and no fence so it definitely wasn’t intended for off leash dogs. But every day, they’re there.

I’ve tried to take him out very early when I don’t see anyone else out there but most of the time, someone ends up bringing their dog out and I have to scoop Kitty up and rush away. I’ve just stopped trying – no matter how much he enjoys it, it’s not worth the risk.

Most of time, the dog owners acted like it was my fault – cats don’t belong outside, I was provoking their dogs, dogs are expected outside, etc. Pointing out that I was following the law and they were not did not help my case, ever. Or telling them that there’s a huge off leash dog park just a few blocks away, why can’t they go there if they’re so anti leash?

I’ve started taking pictures of the unleashed dogs with their owners and sending them to the complex management. After about a week, I started seeing posts on Nextdoor about the complex issuing fines to the people who don’t leash their dogs and I’m seeing far fewer out there.

I almost feel comfortable enough to start taking my cat for his walks again. But there’s a big fuss about it around our complex and people are complaining about the nosy b**ch who started this.

I told my friend about it and I was surprised that she agreed with my neighbors. She said dogs always take priority over cats in outdoor spaces because it’s a need for dogs and an extracurricular for cats so I should just sit with him on my porch if I want to take him outside.

For the record, he is not afraid of dogs – he was raised by two and usually wants to make friends with them but an unleashed dog is still overwhelming (and dangerous) for him.”