AITA for refusing to buy my roommate new meals after my cats knocked them off the counter?

A Reddit user shares a story about a conflict with her roommate, Rose, over food ruined by her cats. Rose often meal preps for the week, leaving her food out overnight to cool before putting it in the fridge.

Despite warnings from the user that her cats might knock over or eat the food, Rose continued to leave her meals out. One morning, the cats knocked several containers of food off the counter, ruining half of Rose’s meals.

Rose became upset and demanded that the user replace the food, but the user refused, arguing that she had already warned Rose about the risk. This led to ongoing tension, with some friends siding with Rose, believing that the user should pay for the ruined food since it was her cats that caused the damage.

‘ AITA for refusing to buy my roommate new meals after my cats knocked them off the counter?’

My 23F roommate Rose 24F meal preps for her entire week of lunches and dinners. She always waits till late Sunday night to do all the cooking so often she’ll leave the containers to cool on the counter overnight, because it is too hot to put in the fridge right away before she goes to bed.

Two months ago I moved my two cats into the apartment, now in my household I don’t allow them on the counters but if there is food left open they will try to get into it. I explained that she should be aware that the cats might try to eat her food or might knock it over if she leaves it out all night, but she brushed me off saying it was fine. I told her that it was only a matter of time before it happened.

Well, it finally happened, I woke Monday morning to the kitchen in a mess because the cats had knocked over several containers onto the floor. I cleaned up and put the rest of the food that still looked fine into the fridge. Overall out of 7 lunches and 7 dinners, about half was ruined.

When Rose got up I explained what happened and apologized. She flipped out on me, because she can’t afford to buy more food for the week. Rose demanded that I buy more food because it was my animals that caused this, but I also can’t afford to buy her more meals out of my own food budget.

I told her I wouldn’t be replacing anything because she was being irresponsible with her own food by leaving it out and I had already warned her that this might happen. She’s still furious with me and some of my friends have said that I’m obligated to replace her food since it was my cats that did the damage.

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

Sylvurphlame −  YTA. Keep the cats in your room Sunday nights. They are animals. You are the human. You’re responsible.

sandiercy −  YTA. Your cats caused the problem, you are responsible for your cats, therefore you are responsible for this. Also, pissing off your roommate is never a good idea, you have to live with them, you don’t want them pissed at you all the time.

ThrowRAzilla −  Both are TA . You are indeed responsible for anything your cats damage…also your roommate is an i**ot for leaving so much food out . Gross …but also irresponsible. I’d offer to pay a portion of the lost goods, and remind her that if it happens again that risk is on her or she can move .

KronkLaSworda −  NTA. She left food out, overnight, in a house with cats in it. She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.

NotCreativeAtAll16 −  NTA. Honestly, she shouldn’t be eating anything that’s been left out all night unrefrigerated.

StatisticianFar7690 −  YTA – whether you warned her or not. YOUR cats did this. I can’t even believe you’re asking this.

annawhowasmad −  I was ready to say otherwise based off the title, but NTA based off the post. She was warned and disregarded that warning.
Also, there’s a big difference between leaving something out for half an hour and your cat knocking it off the counter, and leaving it all out ALL NIGHT. Apart from anything else, she needs to go on a food safety course.

mencryforme5 −  This could go everyone sucks but I’m going to go with NTA. Cats are notoriously not trainable. OP doesn’t allow cats on counters but I’ve had cats and if there’s no one around of course they will knock anything they can off the counter for sport.

Leaving food unattended overnight is virtually impossible to get a cat not to be interested in investigating. OP’s habit of leaving hordes of food out all night is weird, and isn’t great roommate behaviour, preventing OP from using the kitchen for about 12hrs.

OP was fine with this, but warned roommate that cats and unattended food on the counter will have a predictably bad ending. OP continued with the bad habit, with the predictable bad ending. OP actually cleaned and salvaged food which I would not have done because the roommate is responsible for having left it unattended.

Now the roommate wants to be paid back, but has not mentioned changing their habit, which is unsustainable. OP’s roommate fucked around and found out. Could have been worse being food poisoning. OP’s roommate needs to plan better instead of making the kitchen a “no go” zone for a day.

Jazzlike_Humor3340 −  NTA. She’s being foolish. She’s cooking food for an entire week, and starts by leaving it out overnight at room temperature?. Hello food poisoning! You don’t leave food out overnight with cats in the house – but if you’re smart, you don’t leave it out overnight at all.

It needs to be divided up into smaller portions, to cool more quickly, and then promptly refrigerated, with the food for later in the week perhaps being frozen.

dwells2301 −  NTA. You can’t leave food on a counter overnight and expect cats to leave it alone. Leaving food out all night is a good way to get sick.

Was the user right in refusing to replace her roommate’s food after warning her about the risk, or should she take responsibility since it was her cats that caused the damage? How would you handle a similar situation with a roommate? Share your thoughts!