AITJ for demanding my cousin pay the vet bill after she shaved my double-coated dog bald while pet sitting?
So I went away for a three-day weekend and paid my cousin seventy bucks to house-sit and feed my rough collie. He is a show-line dog with a thick, healthy double coat. Before leaving, I showed her his brushes, his exact food portions, and specifically mentioned that he pants when he sleeps because that is just how collies regulate heat.
sunday evening I get home and my dog meets me at the door looking completely unrecognizable. She literally took him to a random groomer down the road and had him buzzed down to the pink skin with clippers. She smiled and told me she did me a favor because he looked hot and it was ninety degrees outside.
Anyone who owns a double-coated breed knows that shaving them destroys their undercoat, ruins their temperature regulation, and exposes them to severe sunburns and heat stroke. I rushed him to the emergency vet because his skin was already bright red and irritated with razor burn. When I sent her the three-hundred-dollar vet bill and told her she ruined his coat for years, she started crying to our family.
Now my relatives are messaging me saying I am being an ABSOLUTE monster over "just some dog hair" that will grow back anyway. I should of known better than trusting her with basic instructions, but am I really the jerk for refusing to talk to her until she pays for the vet visit?