To send the person who ran my cat over the vets bill?

[RaaRaaTheLion]

Last night, my beloved cat was run over; We arrived home moments after it happened to find a crowd of neighbours in the street around her. The driver had sped off and was nowhere to be seen.
The nieghbours were fantastic and had already called ahead to the vets, even offering to look after DD if needed while we saw to our cat. We rushed her to the out of hours vets, where we were told 2 of her legs were broken, one of which would need amputating and the other setting in plaster, never mind the internal damage which had occurred. She had to be put on oxygen and have a catheter fitted. Had we proceeded, the cost of this would have been £800, plus rehabilitation for her learning to walk again. We decided the kindest thing to do would be to have her put to sleep, as she would have been miserable and myself and DP did not want to put her through more pain - for this, we had to pay out £135 for the treatment she had, the euthanasia and the cost of an out of hours very. We also had to take her home with us and ask my DM if we could bury her in their garden as we are currently renting; cremation would have cost another £100.

This morning, one of the neighbours stopped by to check in on the situation, but also to tell us that he had found the car who hit her, and the road name they live on which is less than a minute from our house.

Would it be unreasonable of me to knock on their door and present them with the vets bill, or at the very least leave a note on their windscreen? Be gentle with me, I loved the daft kitty and really wish we'd kept one of her litter, the last of which left us on Sunday.

I'm so very sorry about your cat. I lost my much loved boy to a car just over two years ago and am still devastated.

If your neighbours are sure about the way it happened then definitely contact the police and ask about criminal damage prosecution. If everything's a little fuzzy then perhaps let things lie. The driver is either a callous bastard who won't give a damn, or is in shock/upset and is punishing themselves.

I very much doubt the money will do anything to make you feel better and that's the most important thing at the moment. Be kind to yourself, grieve for your girl but it's unlikely that chasing the driver will help.

FWIW some insurances will pay for the cost of putting pets to sleep.

The person is not legally/financially liable, as people have said, but if it was me I would certainly be letting them know in no unceratin terms how awful I thought they were for driving off.

Just wanted to send hugs and warm fuzzys to the op

Losing a pet is terribly sad. 'Specially a cat

Sorry about the cat OP

Until anyone can give an account of what actually happened this is anyone's guess though.

Anyone's guess weather the driver was a Cat Hating Wanker and drove up on to a pavement to hit it () or

... something else.

There are millions of possible 'something else''s and they all make the incident an accident.

Assuming the driver knew they'd hit a cat in this accident then yes, it would have been good of them to have stopped, but that's as far as it goes really. Cats are classed as having the right to roam, and they roam into roads and across pavements (where cars also are sometimes. driveways for eg.)

(driver and cat owner here)

It's bloody hard to deliberately hit a cat - let alone a cat on a pavement! I'd be dubious that this was the case.

Are you sure you're not over egging the tale to try and get some cash to cover the fact that you didn't have the animal insured??

That's awful for you, and very callous of the driver to drive off.

Unfortunately, as has already been pointed out, the law says that as cats are free roaming animals the driver would not be liable.

Don't get me wrong, he / she is an arse for not stopping but legally you have no recourse with respect to making them pay. That is what pet insurance is for, if you don't have it then that is on you.
An apology would be nice though.

Sorry about your cat I have four and I dread them being run over

While YANBU in being upset legally there is nothing you can do - cats do get run over :(

Your insurance should cover your costs

Cats can live happily with three legs btw x

It is bad timing that you have just re homed all her kittens, did any go to friends who might consider returning them?

YANBU for being angry and upset OP

But the driver is not legally liable, so I would think there's little point in asking them to pay.

Also I wouldn't think you could ring 101 to report dangerous driving on hearsay.

Read this: It's an excellent resource for the law relating to cats, and has a section on car accidents.

www.thecatgroup.org.uk/pdfs/Cats-law-web.pdf

I would forget vets bills and ring 101 to report them for dangerous driving.

Unfortunately Plod won't do anything. I've reported people who have nearly killed me on my motorbike & they're not interested.

Unless something happens and there is evidence of dangerous driving they won't/can't do anything.

The cat on the pavement means nothing as they tend to crawl off the road if they can.

YABU unfortunately cats do run into roads-it's happened to mine. Not sure the law would be on your side either.Pet insurance is the way forward definitely. On the other hand if i (knowingly) hit a cat I would be distraught and stop and do something immediately! Put your time and emotions into poor pussy

Great weblink, Collaborate!

I'm sorry for your loss.

It seems unlikely that a driver would mount the pavement in a deliberate attempt to run over a cat.

oP, were they parking or starting up from parking? Did they even know they had hit the cat?

It's a shame, but if you allow animals to roam, this is what may happen.

Ouch there are some cold responses on here! "Fortunately it's only a cat", "are you over egging things to get money"... Someone's just lost their beloved pet, whatever you think have a heart!

OP I'm really sorry about your cat. I found my old cat run over and badly hurt a few years ago. Nobody had stopped then either. I was lucky in that he wasn't quite as badly hurt as yours (broken legs and dislocations, but he didn't lose any so was fixable).

I can't seem to find the posts where the car was seen on the pavement. Are we 100% sure? I was near a driver when a cat ran into the road right in front of him (trying to cross the road too late). He couldn't have helped but hit it. It was writhing around on the side of the road. The car carried on. I have no doubt at all that the driver knew. I stopped and took the cat to a vet's, then put posters up to try and find the owner. Luckily the cat was ok, just winded and the owner was found. One of my own cats came in a couple of years ago with a bloody mouth and rubber marks on his face. The vet thought he'd been hit by a car, and we thought he'd have broken his jaw, but he'd just snapped a fang. It's made him extremely wary of cars, so he runs if he sees a car now (godsend). We only live on a quiet lane. His sister is not so wary.

My initial question about him being on the pavement is because in both the above cases, the cat had run into the road and bounced off the car back to the side (we presume anyway with my cat, definitely with the one I saw).

OP I hope you're ok. I don't think a driver has to legally stop or do anything for a cat. (Morally they'd have to be pretty low not to, although I can excuse someone carrying on in shock and immediately returning) so I don't think it's worth persuing. However I would be inclined to pop a note through the door saying they were witnessed by several people hitting your cat, the cat had to be destroyed from its terrible injuries, and that the matter has been reported to the police and you are taking legal advice over sending them the vets bill. (None of which is true, but I'd give them a minute to sweat!)

The driver isn't responsible legally but he/she is an shit for not stopping.

However I wonder what they were doing driving on the pavement. Surely that is some sort of offence?

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou

"It's bloody hard to deliberately hit a cat"

Can't speak for your area but the cats near me seem to have a deathwish in terms of just casually strolling out infront of my moving car. On several occasions over the last few years I have had to slam on the brakes to avoid squashing Tiddles. I will try my best not to hit someones pet but with all due respect if someone presented me with a vets bill for an accident that I did not cause they will be told politely where to jump.

In her second post, OP says her cat was hit on the pavement, according to witnesses.

But that doesn't mean the driver mounted the kerb, at speed, and aimed for it. if they had, surely she'd have said.

If the driver was parking and hit the cat, well, no one is at fault, and the responsibility lies with the owner. That includes responsibility for the medical expenses.

So sorry about your cat btw xx

My last cat was killed this way but thank god she died instantly. The driver in this case did stop and was very upset and supportive to my kids who also witnessed it.

But that doesn't mean the driver mounted the kerb, at speed, and aimed for it.

I'm wondering if the cat was on the road, the driver swerved (as you shouldn't) onto the then empty pavement at the same time the cat moved on there? To me that's more likely than someone aiming at one when people are obviously present.

The witnesses should be able to say whether the cat was on the pavement the whole time or whether it ran there.

I'm sorry you lost a loved one. I've always had animals (never cats though) and they leave a void when they die don't they. However, when you chose to keep a cat, and allowed it to roam where ever it liked, the risk was always that it could come to harm. The law is not on your side from what I understand of it so, sorry, YABU to expect the driver to pay the vet's fees.

Incidentally, did you have insurance?
You mentioned she'd had kittens so are you a "breeder"?

I agree with FyreFly in that people are jumping to conclusions based on very little information!

Having had a cat who was deliberately run over by a taxi driver many years ago, it does happen and sadly the police don't want to know as a general rule.

My cat was sitting on the pavement washing himself when the driver mounted the kerb to hit him and then reversed before driving off again at speed leaving Paris dead.

OP. I am so sorry for the loss of your cat.

I'm so sorry about your cat. It's so hard to lose a pet especially in tragic circumstances.

Cats can act unpredictably around cars - there may have been nothing the driver could have done to prevent the accident, and been too shocked to deal with the aftermath (I don't condone this but understand it).

My husband accidentally killed a cat many years ago, and it still haunts him to this day. He did however find the owner and apologise - he was in tears I might add.

I doubt the driver is skipping round his front room with glee that he's avoided your vet's bill. I think the bill is your responsibility, regardless of the circumstances.

RIP Kitty.

Sorry about your cat OP!

But are people are really suggesting that some lunatic purposely mounted a kerb to maim/kill a cat?

Seriously.

Odds are it was an accident and this person is in no way obliged to pay your vets bill.

That's just how it is.