If you're an animal lover, then you know — your pets are like your babies. (That is, after all, why we lovingly refer to them as fur babies.) A woman who wrote into Reddit this week says that's precisely how she feels about her many dogs, whom she's had since before getting married. But recently, she's grown concerned, after learning that her husband not only beat one their dogs but also broke its hip.
In the post, the anonymous woman said she's a big-time animal lover.
"I work in the pet care industry and have recently lost my job due to the shutdown," she explained, adding that she's been spending a lot of time at home lately. That includes caring for several dogs, reptiles, frogs, and other small animals.
All this time at home has made her realize something lately: All of the animals are a lot more attached to her than they are to her husband.
Initially, she didn't think much of it. After all, she's had many of the animals since before they were married, so some of that could be natural.
But then something happened that made her think twice.
"Yesterday I went to let our dogs out and our 5 lbs. Chihuahua mix was limping and putting no weight on his leg," she wrote. "My husband jokingly said a few minutes before I checked on him, 'I got Rufus to stop scratching the door.'"
It wasn't long after she spotted Rufus limping that she started to suspect something.
Before long, the dog was unable to move, so she took him to the vet — where an X-ray showed that Rufus's hip was broken.
"They said being so small it could be because he jumped off the furniture and hurt himself, as he's rather old as well," she explained, which is why she didn't suspect her husband.
Until she got home, that is.
As soon as she told her husband what the vet had said, the truth came spilling out.
"My husband later admitted that he lost his temper, picked Rufus up the the scruff, and beat him," she recalled. "He feels incredibly guilty and wants nothing to do with any of the pets now."
Making things even more tense? The Reddit poster just learned she's pregnant — and now she fears her husband "may lose his temper" even worse after their baby arrives.
"What do I do?" she asked Redditors. "I love this man and we've been married half a decade now."
A lot of people were disturbed by the husband's behavior.
"Troubling that he would beat a small animal and then make a joke about it," one person wrote. "Have you talked to him about your worries over his temper?"
To that, she admitted she hasn't.
"He's never shown any sort of anger or violence in the entire time I've known him, unless provoked, so this is all very shocking," she explained. "He'[d] been in one fist fight in high school where another lad was making horribly racist comments and he snapped. But other than that, he is typically the sweetest guy around."
She went on to describe him as "very kind," and said he even spoils the dogs when she's not around.
But now, she's starting to second-guess everything, and admits she's worried about how her animals are treated when she's not around.
In fact, a lot of people agreed that there's probably more going on than meets the eye when it comes to her husband's behavior.
"This is not a single kick, or a swat to the hind that could maybe be moved on from IF he takes responsibility for his actions, goes to therapy, and never repeats this action again," someone wrote. "He beat your dog hard enough to break the dog’s hip, which is not easy even in a 5 lbs. senior. I would separate at a minimum."
"I will guarantee, 100 percent, that he has PROGRESSED from swatting the dog to kicking the dog to beating the dog," another person added. "That is how it works with people like him."
In the end, the strongest comments were those that put it to the woman plainly: She should leave now, before anything gets worse.
"He beat an elderly dog that weighs as much as his foot," one person wrote. "You should be terrified. This is shockingly abusive. The fact that he owned up only after he was caught is even worse. For me, I wouldn’t stick around to see what line he draws in the sand for a child."
We'd have to agree.
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