My mom has this cat who used to attack my dog.  Like, this crazy ass cat would charge my dog and chase him in the yard and hurt him and cut him open.  And then, one day, my dog started fighting back.  And now my mom's cat has been attacked by something outside of our house (like a year ago) and he hasn't left my mother's room since.  This experience changed that cat and now he's a sweetheart who doesn't go after anyone anymore (he used to bully the other cats, too).  But my dog?  Still hates him to the point of wanting to hurt him every time he sees him.  That makes it dangerous for the cat to leave my mother's room when the dog is roaming the house.

It's been over a year now and the cat is getting restless and wants to leave my mother's room.  And he does, in the middle of the night and early mornings, when our dog is sleeping, which is okay.  But now he's been wanting to go out of her room during the daytime, too.  And today?  I heard the cat by our door, crying to go back in her room and she was ignoring him.  So, I went out there, freaked out because he was out of her room in the middle of the day, and opened her door to let him in.  I thought maybe she was outside smoking and forgot he was out of her room.  Which still isn't okay, but it's worse that he was crying and she was hearing him and ignoring him, knowing damn well he's in danger if my dog were to leave my room.

"Ma, what the hell?  Why is he out here?  You know he's not allowed out here."

"I know."

"So, WHY ON EARTH DID YOU LET HIM OUT?  The dog will hurt him!"

"You hear that, cat?  You're not allowed out there," she says in a silly sing song voice as she pets him, making a joke out of the whole thing.  

"MOM!!!  You KNOW he's not allowed out there!  Do you even care about his well-being???"  

"Oh he will be fine.  He has been before."  She says nonchalantly, while ignoring me and playing her video game.

She's basically smirking the entire time, as though it's a game and she has zero respect for me.  

It's not like I am making arbitrary rules here, the rule is in place to keep her cat safe from my dog (even though it's the cat's fault--we have 7 other cats that my dog loves).  

Now I am making her dinner, and she comes out (for what reason, I do not know, since she's only down to four cigarettes, I don't get how she still has any left) and starts babbling to one of my cats, like she always does, just to annoy me.  I said "Please be quiet, you are being noisy.  And the cat is deaf, yet I am not."  She said "Well, I am deaf and dumb".  And I almost said "Yeah, I know".  But I didn't.  She does this daily to me, and rather than apologize to me for her shitty little meltdown the other day, she has to annoy me, because it's fun for her.

The issue here is if she's not going to take this seriously, the cat is finding a new home.  He's a goooood cat (now) and I need to keep him safe from her stupidity.  She always puts her possessions (whether they be animals or people) in danger.  Always.  She gets to a point where she stops caring and just does whatever she likes.  And supposedly this is her favorite cat...well, if she cares that much about her favorite cat, she will be down one less cat.  If that happens, I will find him a new home and I won't even tell my kids.  That way nobody can tell her anything or feel like they are having to lie to her, I will just say he must have gotten outside.  That way they won't have to lie to her.  If I told her the truth, I honestly fear what she would do to my pets.  She has ZERO conscience, esp. when she thinks she's been wronged (and if I take her cat away from her, she will feel VERY wronged).  Once, she tried to put her best friend in prison because her BFF forgot she was going out to dinner with her (the friend ended up going out with someone else that night). So, my mom called the police and reported her for selling drugs.  I mean...that was her best friend who she liked more than me.  I can't imagine what would happen to me, or my family, if I had to find her cat a new home.  When she was angry at me before, she called and turned off my LINK card (foodstamps) so I couldn't have access to my benefits.  So yeah, I fear her retaliation.  I do have my cleaner cabinet locked up, but she has access to medicines and other things.  

Yes, I sound paranoid, but I have every right to be.  As she's an unpredictable crazy person who is capable of most anything.  And she could hurt my cats or my dogs (or us!).  So let's hope she just keeps the cat in her room until I can get a catio for them to use out her window (which is coming this spring).  

Sigh.