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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask what is the best thing to do if you hit a cat with your car?

140 replies

wasonthelist · 06/06/2016 15:53

Prompted by a pitchforks and torches posting on a local FB group. It made me (honestly) wonder. If I hit a cat and killed it (or didn't) what to do. There are a few things - I haven't had any pets for more than 30 years, so I have no idea where the vets are - I could Google of course, but can you just take any random cat to the nearest vet?

In the olden days I heard tales of people putting injured animals "out of their misery" with a wheelbrace or something, but aside from being too squeamish, I'd worry that the cat could have been saved and that I'd be arrested.

I guess checking the cat for some ID tag would make sense, but not sure I'd fancy taking the body to an owner - judging by the FB posting I could see it going badly.

Can/should you phone Police (I know it's not required) - or would they just say not interested?

I started off thinking it was heartless to run a cat over and just drive off, but then thought I am not sure what I would do.

OP posts:

BlossomCat · 06/06/2016 16:20

There's always a vet on call in our town. If you Google 'emergency vet' you'll find them

AlmaMartyr · 06/06/2016 16:20

Take it to the vets. Our cat was killed on the road recently :( Someone very kindly took her body to the vets, who were able to contact me because she was microchipped. It was so much better to know for sure what had happened rather than never knowing or being greeted by her destroyed body on the school run. DCs would have been much more upset by either of those possibilities. I'm so grateful to the lad that did that, he wasn't the one that hit her. I'm not angry at whoever did hit her, it happens.

ConfuciousSayWhat · 06/06/2016 16:22

If it was safe to stop and check the cat or move it to the side of the road I would but if the road were too busy and it was too dangerous I'd carry on my way

Togaparties · 06/06/2016 16:22

Wouldn't even stop to be honest, it's just one of those things.

SideOrderofChip · 06/06/2016 16:26

Please do not just leave it by the side of the roast

My nephews cat was hit by a car. Instead of taking it to the vet, or phoning our local RSPCA they threw it in a potato field.

My nephew found him when he was out searching for the cat and carried his body home in tears.

SideOrderofChip · 06/06/2016 16:27

ROAD FUCKING ROAD NOT ROAST!

TroysMammy · 06/06/2016 16:28

My cat was killed on the road. Well I hope he was because by the time I found his body he had been partially eaten by foxes. I still can't let it go that he wasn't killed instantly or by a car. It haunts me to this day.

clarrrp · 06/06/2016 16:28

If you kill a cat you have no legal duty to report it.

TheWhompingWilly · 06/06/2016 16:32

Have never hit one myself but I once stopped for an injured cat in the road. It was still alive when I got to it so I took it to the local vet. Sadly, it died in my car on the way but the vet was able to check its microchip and inform the owner. It turned out to belong to somebody I knew who was very grateful to know what had happened to their pet and was comforted by the thought that someone tried to save it.

If the driver who hit it had bothered to stop and had got it to the vet earlier, perhaps it might have survived.

Palomb · 06/06/2016 16:32

I ran over and injured my neighbours cat and knocked on their door to tell them and got a load of verbal abuse from her thug of a boyfriend who demanded I pay their vets fees after the cat had to be PTS. I'd have offered to pay had he not been such a massive cock about it. I'd probably do the same again however, or take the cats to the local vet. I'm sure most reasonable people understand that cats do get hit by cars.. They're generally pretty shit at road sense.

Legally you have no obligation to do anything.

ReginaBlitz · 06/06/2016 16:34

This reminds me of a story a neighbour told.. Him and a neighbour both had black and white cats, sadly he came back one day and his cat was dead on the road, they had a burial and everything for it. A couple of days later his cat came walking back in the house!...it was the neighbours cat he had buried.

YouAreMyRain · 06/06/2016 16:34

I think most cats disappear when hit by cars if they are physically capable of moving. They can leg it even when severely injured and in need of vet treatment. You would only be able to find a stationary cat, and that would be dead or very critically injured.

It's happened to me. A cat ran out in front of the car, big thump, looked in rear view mirror to see cat disappear. Got out, searched for ages, no sign of it.

noblegiraffe · 06/06/2016 16:38

You only need to legally stop if you hit a horse, cow, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog.

I learned that list when I was 14 and for some reason have never forgotten it!

dowhatnow · 06/06/2016 16:42

I took it to the nearest vet. They have a fund to pay for treatment of animals injured and not taken in by owners. I was relieved when I didn't have to pay anything.

BikeRunSki · 06/06/2016 16:43

I'd take it to the nearest. If I was in an unfamiliar place, I'd Google for a local vet. Chances are the cat would be microchipped, or the owners would ring round vets when they realised the cat was missing.

Foofoobum · 06/06/2016 16:44

Cook it and eat the evidence?

TrespassesW · 06/06/2016 16:51

My friend hit a cat and took it straight to the vet's - it belonged to neighbours but they weren't at home when the accident happened. The owners subsequently said it had been given emergency treatment without their consent and my friend was presented with a huge bill! We were students at the time - I think his parents stumped up for it.

I8toys · 06/06/2016 16:55

If someone ran over my cat 10 times - he wouldn't be standing.

Saying that I've seen a cat hit and ran to the nearest vets as it was flopping about. The vet came out but sadly it had died. I would have paid to have it put to sleep if it was a stray and in pain. My cats are not collared because they keep coming off but they are microchipped and I would like to know if something happened to them.

AnneElliott · 06/06/2016 17:01

I would take it to a vet if I 'd knocked it over. I have 4 cats myself and would be devastated if one disappeared and we didn't know what had happened.

One of Them went missing last year when we were on holiday. We got her back after a week but DS was so upset at the thought of not seeing her again.

HermioneJeanGranger · 06/06/2016 17:02

The nice thing to do is take it to the vet so they can scan it for a microchip and contact the owners.

Legally, you don't have to do anything, but I think you have to be quite cold-hearted to leave someone's pet dead on the side of the road and just bugger off.

LunaLoveg00d · 06/06/2016 17:10

Google to see where the nearest vet was, stick it in a reusable bag for life (always have some in the boot) and take it - BUT only if convenient to do so.

If the cat was injured I would still call the vet but would leave it - i'm not putting an injured and upset animal in my car. I'm very allergic to cats and am not prepared to spend a while driving around looking for the owner/vet. If the cat had a collar I would call the owner.

Sounds harsh, but I wouldn't be inconveniencing myself or my kids for someone else's cat. Usually when I'm in the car it's because I need to get somewhere in a hurry or am taking kids to dancing/Beavers/Scouts.

LunaLoveg00d · 06/06/2016 17:12

If it was evening/weekend I would leave it though apart from phoning a number on the collar if there wad one - the local vet isn't open in the evening and is closed at weekends, I have no idea where the nearest one is which is open for emergencies and I wouldn't be prepared to go out of my way to find out.

Querty12345 · 06/06/2016 17:18

This happened to me a year ago, it was so awful. I was in second gear going round a small roundabout and a cat walked out from behind a car parked at the side of the road and clipped it. It was outside a school at drop off time so there were quite a few witnesses. As an animal lover I was in tears and visibly shaken. A couple of the parents reassured me and said there's nothing you could have done/ you weren't going fast etc. However the cats owner came out and gave me hell and began shouting At me telling me she had seen me speeding (I was just off the roundabout so was going max 15 mph). It turns out the cat is partially blind and deaf and it wasn't the first time it had hapened. I was furious that they let the cat out at busy times as not only do they know the cat is blind and deaf... But the owner works in a bloody vets! I rang the police non emergency and they told me I had no responsibility.

clarrrp · 06/06/2016 17:21

My cats are not collared because they keep coming off but they are microchipped and I would like to know if something happened to them.

My cat's aren't collared either as I think they are dangerous - too much potential to get caught on things. But they are microchipped. I think all animals should be.

SugarBlossom92 · 06/06/2016 17:29

I know lots of people say stop and take it to a vets but people may not have time to if they have somewhere to be e.g work, school pick up or a meeting ect.

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