No issues here

As a parent, if my kid did that, I'd likely side with the neighbour. I would put it (very loosely) in the category of "natural consequence" punishments.

It fits the crime, it discourages the crime, it forces empathy with the cat, and it does no real harm.

My neighbors daughter had one of those water guns. I told her if she shoots at me, I'll get the hose and retaliate. She grinned, shot at me, and ran away laughing.

I talked to her dad, he nodded, and when she came back for more mischief, she got wet.

Like, I agree with the tit for tat. But don't let your cat outside.

If it was funny to do it to the Cat.... It was hilarious doing it to the kid.

That the risk you take with an outdoor cat. It's not even like water is harmful to it.

I used to have an outdoor cat and if that happened I would have shrugged it off and expected him not to go there again.

If my kid did that, I'd let you splash them again.

i think i still remember where i was the first time i saw this posted

If my neighbor did ANYTHING to my pets, they'd be lucky to only get sprayed with water.

Idk,

Shouting “Hey, don’t do that” loud and clear may be more effective.

• kid may have thought they where alone and will get jumped from getting caught.

• May alert the parents their kid is up to mischief.

• Doesn’t potentially start an escalation war with neighbors

• Doesn’t carry the small risk of the child falling or otherwise getting hurt with you as an easy blame.

Think of it like this: Does the kid now understand the “evil” of their actions to try be better next time. Or will they feel vindicated by their parents support against your “evil”

I’ll take things that never happened for 200$

plot twist: kids a radical ecologist, keep ya cat indoors.

How DARE you interact with my poor, helpless cat, who I lovingly toss outside to slaughter songbirds, pick up parasites, and maybe get flattened by a car. I don't generally give a single solitary shit what happens to it out there, but this splash of water is TOO FAR.

Edit:

Please stop letting your cat out. It's not good for your cat or the local wildlife.

https://daily.jstor.org/environmental-danger-outdoor-cats/

https://www.bbc.com/news/scienceenvironment-21236690p

https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380

https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/cats-responsible-for-driving-many-species-to-extinction/all/amp.html

ESH. Kid shouldn't have done it, but also the lady shouldn't let the cat outside

We've a lot of cats coming through the garden. I wouldn't mind if not for my dog, who does and goes insane when she spots a cat. So I've been thinking about getting a super soaker to chase them away. I think that's pretty harmless, and perhaps they learn to skip our garden after a while... What do you lot think?

Throwing water at each other, the way people used to throw eggs...

You can tell the people in here thinking it's ok to retaliate like that are people that live alone with cats or in their parents basement with cats. I have cats and children. Y'all this isn't the way to go about this.

"Next time it won't be water".

Time to splash the father

Speciesism

Cruelty met in kind.