Run Jimi Run

There was a major power shift in our home almost 3 years ago. Three years ago our home was ruled by the fur people that we served. But of course that changed when we had the kiddo. I feel for the animals. We have 3 cats (Jimi, Snoopy, Ginger) and 1 dog (Zsa Zsa). As often happens, when children are born the pets usually become secondary concerns, we still feed them and love them but their concerns aren't as pressing as they once were. What's worse is that Jacob loves, loves, loves the cats. So much that I'm scared that he will love them to death if we don't keep an eye on him. Jimi seems to be the main recipient of this overly zealous affection. Jimi is an former pet shop cat who is exceptionally sweet tempered who has never hurt a fly.
The other cats will scatter the second they hear Jacob heading in their direction. JImi gets this dear in the headlights look and becomes a statue. It's as if he's thinking if I don't move, he won't see me. Unfortunately, there is nothing wrong with the boy's eyes. He sees Jimi and is like a magnet to steel. There have been a couple of instances when I'm in one room and I hear something being dragged across the floor (we have no carpet in the house), when I go to investigate I find poor Jimi being dragged across the floor by the tail. I can't figure out why he won't run. When we see Jacob lock on to the poor cat, we try to get Jimi to run and if that doesn't work we are trying to teach Jacob to be gentle and it works for a while. But then he gets excited and wants to hug Jimi or have him sit in his lap and the poor cat just sits there waiting for his torture to end.
Hopefully this torture will end soon for Jimi.