'[He said] that me kissing my cat is disgusting': 25-year-old boyfriend says his girlfriend is "unhygienic" because she lets her cat sleep in bed with her, she stands up for herself and her feline and dumps him

Cats are like kids - you and your partner have to align your expectations about them as early in the dating process as possible.

And we're not just saying that. In our time writing for ICHC, we have seen one too many relationships end because of improperly aligned expectations about cats. We have seen an 8-month relationship end because one of them couldn't stand living with the cat, leaving in the middle of the night, even though he never explained having a problem in the first place. We have seen a relationship end because the vegan girlfriend claimed having a cat is immoral, and instead of leaving because of that right away, she waited until the two of them were already considering moving in together. The worst one might have been a 9-year relationship ending because the girlfriend cuddled her cat at night and her boyfriend didn't like it.

All of these relationships shouldn't have been given two dates, let alone two months, let alone two years. Wasted time, wasted potential and so many feelings hurt, for what? Just because things were left unsaid or ignored. The sooner you see the red flag, the better. Talk about it, and do something about it if you need to.

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"[Am I wrong] for standing firm on my “lack of hygiene” and choosing cat over bf?"

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We think that people who don't have cats, or pets in general, truly don't understand the bond that we have with them. Yes, we say that we rescued them, but so often, they also rescue us. They rescue us from sadness, from loneliness, from ourselves. They give us purpose. Their love, at times, is the best thing in our lives, and we do everything that we can to keep them happy. Us kissing them on their little foreheads is something that we do about 300 hundred times a day, it is our privilege, and we will not stop doing it for anyone. Anyone.
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The only thing that we can say to this situation… was that you did the right thing, and we are happy that it happened two months into the relationship instead of two years in. Too many times, we see the latter story online. People who stuck around and made compromises when it comes to their pets, despite those compromises never being enough. We know that breakups are hard even after two months, especially when it feels like they happened over something that they shouldn't have happened over. And yet, they are much easier after two months than two years. Good for you for standing up to yourself and your feline.
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