Do people really drive round / get a taxi with dead cats ???

There is a value to being in nature both for cats and people. I don’t think most cats would be content being indoor cats. I’msure there was an ONS study on the value of nature and people who spent time outside were measurably better off emotionally and physically. I’d argue it’s the same for most cats too.

Our council will come and collect dead pets, they have a scanner so can contact the owner and they can come collect from the depot, or someone will drop it off in their own time.

You can't know because you never tried. It takes weeks or longer to train an animal, or for it to adjust, not days.

If a cat is used to roaming, I don't see how it would ever settle permanently indoors. I had a cat 50 years ago, who was literally feral outdoors but a sit-on-your-knee pet indoors. Now I accept that spaying would probably have calmed her down, and resolved her hormonal issues, but back then, rurally, spaying wasn't a thing. You could have shut her in for days but she would still end up disappearing for days on end when she was let out, or escaped. Her mum was our cat, so we had her from a kitten, and she could also be really affectionate. When I moved away from home to go to uni, she used to sit looking for me at my bedroom door (she wasn't allowed upstairs!). She just had that wild streak that couldn't be tamed. Her mother didn't have it, her granny didn't have it, and none of her siblings did either. I spent a lot of my teens out looking for her to bring her home!!

There is no way, although she spent many happy hours asleep in our home, that we could ever have totally confined her!

I think so - it just requires more work. Lots of enrichment, perhaps an outdoor enclosed area.

They may "get used to it" but are they happy and fulfilled? I live in the UK where there are no coyotes. I'm sad when the neighbours' cats kill birds in our garden, and while I try, I can't prevent them. However, after a lifetime of having cats, I've had some who would have lost their minds if they were confined indoors all the time!

When DH and I were first married, we adopted two kittens. They were wholly indoors. We then acquired a boy who just appeared on our windowsill one day, and another boy whose family moved and left him behind (bastards!) Both of them would have been miserable without some outdoor access, and they were only allowed out when we were at home to keep an eye out for them.

Same as our last old boy who came to us as a stray. His life was outdoors, and it took years before he started to spend spells of time in the house, eventually moving in fulltime when he lost the sight in one eye.

The are places where cats can't go outside - either to protect wildlife, or due to things like coyotes. They get used to it.

That's harsh! I never have found, and hopefully never will find, myself in this position, because I would really be on the horns of a dilemma! I am really squeamish about dead creatures and I don't know I'd be up for handling it even though I know it's the right thing to do, and I am a massive cat lover!

I'd definitely try to contact someone to pick it up though.

The idea of a fox taking it away is deeply abhorrent! That's most likely someone's pet!! Have you ever tried to keep a cat indoors that has a strong instinct to be free? I guess not. I am thankful that my current three cats are content to be indoors. However, all three prior to rescue had been used to being out, one as a stray, another neglected, and the third was indoor/outdoor, so I could have had a dilemma!! You can't restrict a cat that's not happy indoors. It's not fair on them. You don't appear to know a lot about cats, do you?

We have a hedgehog rescue where I live and people get VERY cross if one gets run over, on an unlit road at night as if they're expecting drivers to be spotting and then swerving round these small animals.

Of course I'd never deliberately run a hedgehog over but the amount of blame when I bet the driver had no idea it was there at all.

Some people very unrealistic expectations of others who randomly find a deceased cat.
Of course it is sad for the cat and owner, but the cat is not suffering.
I know that vets will treat emergencies at any time, and I would hope that anyone finding an injured, but still living animal, would make every effort to access treatment. Would a vet even be willing to scan a deceased animal outside of normal opening hours?

I think you should ask on the local fb group if anyone is able to take the cat to a vets to be scanned because you are unable to do this. Maybe shut up some of the people criticising you for something they're not prepared to do either.

The vets is one minute walk away from me (or less) so that's easy.

But in your case you did a good thing by putting it on FB and sorry you got loads of shrieking people. Like pp just ask them to take the cat as it's not possible for you at present.

Well yes I would get a taxi to the vets in this case
Or see if neighbour or someone can drive me.
Maybe not straightaway if my child was sleeping obviously

This creased me up! People are bonkers.

I think people do this if they have a car with a blanket in the boot they can wrap the cat up in. It is an incredibly kind thing to do for the owner's sake, someone did it for me/my cat once.
I completely understand why you wouldn't want to get a taxi especially with a toddler and no spare blanket to hand. Posting on a Facebook page is better than nothing.

How many of the ones posting giving you abuse actually volunteered to help you out and take the cat themselves? I bet there wasn’t many. Ignore them @Isthisreallyathing! In an ideal world, yes, it’s a nice thing to do if someone is able to take the poor animal to the vet to allow the owner to be identified. But it’s just not practical for everyone!
I don’t drive, have a pre-school aged child, no family nearby and my husband works away at sea for months at a time.
If I found a cat within business hours and had something to carry it in then I could realistically walk it to our local vet within 20/25 mins,which I would do.
Outwith business hours I’d have to take the cat home and have a taxi meet us there to install DSs car seat, then take a 45 min taxi each way to the out of hours vet in our area which I couldn’t afford to do!

Yup. I'm not terribly bright...I was thinking that someone somewhere had a taxi containing fine examples of the taxidermist's art.

Ugh, it's easy for people to berate you online, but if they aren't prepared to drive over and take the cat themselves, they can get bent.

It's sad for the cat, but with regards to the owner "knowing what happened" - if they let the cat roam, and it doesn't come home, it's usually been run over. That's the risk of letting your cats out.

The cat groups on Facebook are something else. They expect the world to stop if there's a dead cat or missing cat. I made the mistake of finding one on my way into work, people then commented saying how selfish I was for continuing with my day and not picking up the dead cat and taking it to the vets.

This.

Your mistake, OP, was to engage with bored people whose grip on reality is tenuous.

Hmm. I drive so I've actually picked up two dead cats and taken them to the vets. For both reasons it was so they wouldn't get 'eaten' overnight by foxes etc as they were both in good condition facially so to speak. I lost my cat to a car and I'd have been devastated if someone had posted but hadn't actually done anything

BUT i wouldn't expect someone to pay for a taxi.

Just ensure you give details of where it is, say you have no way of taking it to a vet, is anyone else able to.

There are angry and judgemental people sitting on every locality's social page, just waiting for an opportunity to behave badly.

I love you.

This is probably the best group to post in as there's a network of volunteers
Posting in case someone comes across the thread in future

Yeah I will often go and collect and take to the vets
If you can't then advice is to move it out the road, and post on a local group and someone (like me) will usually collect and take to a vets where cat can be scanned

Councils don't always scan so it leaves an owner not knowing what's happened. I use donations of big bath towels to collect so the cat doesn't have to be put in a bin bag like rubbish