Many of us who have pets find ourselves relying on them for comfort when we've had a bad day, as we all know there's nothing better than a cuddle with a cat or playtime with a puppy to help bring a smile to your face.
But one man has criticised his wife for needing the support of their pet cat during her pregnancy - as he believes she should be relying on him for "emotional support" instead of the moggy.
The dad-to-be said he's never been a fan of the family cat, Puff, and is livid now that the feline "refuses" to leave his wife alone and is always licking, snuggling, or pawing at her pregnant stomach.
The man also claimed to be worried that his wife's stomach might get scratched accidentally by the cat, but his wife has accused him of "making her pregnancy more difficult" by adding another layer of stress over their pet.
In a post on Reddit, he said: "My wife of three years is pregnant with our first child. My wife has a cat named Puff. I don't like cats, so the whole four years we've lived together I never bothered paying him much attention. This got more difficult the more my wife became noticeably pregnant. She's around seven months pregnant and Puff refuses to leave her alone.
"For some reason, my wife is convinced that the cat can sense her pregnancy, which is nonsense to me. But the cat refuses to leave her pregnant stomach alone. The cat just licks it, snuggles on it, and puts his paws all over it. This worries me because he might scratch my wife's belly but she doesn’t care.
"I keep telling my wife to stop getting the cat so close to her to prevent allergies, and so her stomach won't get scratched. I already have to clean the entire litter box due to her pregnancy, I don't want to deal with any other cat-related issues.
"My wife keeps defending Puff and saying I'm just biased because I don't like him and she wants him around because he helps with her stress and back pains. I just told my wife to go to therapy if she needs a cat's comfort that bad. Admittedly I was p***y because she always relies on Puff for emotional support instead of me, her own husband.
"She's really angry at me and accusing me of making her pregnancy more difficult."
Commenters were firmly on the mum-to-be's side, with many of them accusing the man of being "jealous" of the cat and telling him to "grow up".
One person said: "If I was your wife, I'd rather get rid of you than my cat."
While another added: "If you are having this sort of issue with your wife and a cat, you are in for a huge surprise and a lot of grief after the baby is born. Grow up and figure out how to be a good partner. The next 20 years (if you make it that long) are going to be miserable if you don't."
And a third wrote: "Why on earth would you think the cat is going to suddenly scratch your wife? And why on earth would allergies all of a sudden be an issue? It does not reflect well on you that you are seemingly jealous of your wife being comforted emotionally by her long-term pet."
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