to think if you've hit and killed someone's cat in your car, you should stop and check for owner ID and contact them?

[Greensleeves]

My ds2 and his friends found a very recently killed cat at the side of the road yesterday. They contacted the owner and waited until she came to collect it. She was obviously very upset.

One of our cats was also killed on the road a few weeks ago. A pedestrian found him and took him to a vet, who contacted us (he was microchipped) but unfortunately he'd died by the time we got to him.

In neither case did the motorist involved stop and attempt to contact the owner of the cat they'd killed. I understand that cats running out into the road isn't necessarily the driver's fault, but if you've killed an animal, even if you don't think it's your fault, shouldn't you stop?

my cats don't have collars so unless the motorist was carrying a microchip scanner around in their car, they wouldn't be able to contact me.

They could, however, do a bit of doorknocking but I honestly doubt a lot of people would.

Freaks since where does the law say its ok to let your domesticated animals roam the streets?

If it's a pet, treat it as a pet. Look after it. Don't let it wander around in traffic.

If you found £200 cash in the street there's no 'obligation' to hand it in but morally that would be the right thing to do.

YANBU, however it would depend on circumstances - a lone woman may not want to go wandering around strange estates or dark rural roads at night looking for a cats owner, and that would be understandable.

There might literally be hundreds of houses on the street and the cat could have come from any one of them, or from one of the hundred + houses on the street two roads down, in which case going to a nearby vet might be better.

Sometimes contacting the owner simply might not be possible.

IT depends on the road, my ds did, well it was a dark windy road, it could have been a badger actually, there was no where to stop. awful situation.

Morally you are obliged to try and ensure an animal you supposedly care about and are responsible for is kept safe. This does not involve letting it roam freely around cars.

I would try hard to avoid hitting an animal and seek veterinary care for an animal I had injured (or found injured) but I disagree that my moral duty extends to reuniting dead animals with their careless owners.

Freaks since where does the law say its ok to let your domesticated animals roam the streets?

The law does not treat all domesticated animals the same: dogs are not allowed to roam, but cats are.
Partly because they are less likely to cause damage to others' property or to injure anyone; and partly because itself used that cats have a need to roam.

It's kind to, but only if the driver knows and can stop safely.

Barbarian. I would gladly keep my cat indoors if it didn’t mean a life of misery from him, keeping a cat indoors is the equivalent of never walking a dog imo and whilst I accept that letting him outdoors involves an element of risk, that doesn’t absolve drivers of their responsibility to act as decent and moral human beings and get help for the injured animal.
As a final note. I try to limit my cats time outdoors and I will be training any future cats how to walk on a lead, because there are too many intolerant and nasty arseholes out there.

*it is recognised that

I agree with Barbarian
I am not sure why we are supposed to treat them as wild animals when it comes to roaming, pooing in gardens etc, but as domesticated ones in other cases.
Deuxcaggages I understand what you are saying, but what is the difference with a dog? They would also be miserable indoors, which is why dog owners walk them and secure their gardens so they can’t escape. Most cat owners do not want to secure their gardens or follow the cat around.

Justtwomore. How do you suggest letting a cat get outdoor exercise if you are unable to pop it on a lead, or you don’t have a secure garden?

A cat was ran over outside my nans house recently. The person who hit it put it in a plastic bag and left it right outside my nans front door (must have assumed the cat belonged to her).

My uncle took it to the vet for her so the owner could be properly identified.

Yes absolutely I found a dead cat when out walking my dog. There is a vets just up the road so I called them and two of the nurses came down to pick it up.

It was a cat that had annoyed my dog for years and I stood there sobbing.

I couldn't have a cat and let it out again. It's heartbreaking.

I have pet tortoises. In the wild they would roam over an area of approx 1 sq kilometre. As its unsafe for them to do that in suburban S Yorkshire I've tortoise proofed my garden and they roam there. I believe this gives them a good quality of life.

With a cat you can:
Keep it as an indoor cat (common in other countries)
Cat proof your garden and let it roam there.

If you can't manage these, or think them cruel, then just don't keep a cat. You don't have a "right" to one any more than you have the right to any other animal you can't care for properly.

Barbarianmum. I got my cat as a 2 year old former stray from a rescue, he likes to go outdoors.
If I could train him to walk on a lead and exercise him that way, believe me I would.
I don’t have a way to secure my garden and I’m surrounded by farmland.
People that say ‘just keep em indoors’ know fuck all about cats and have obviously never actually tried living with one that wants to go out.

If you can't manage these, or think them cruel, then just don't keep a cat. You don't have a "right" to one any more than you have the right to any other animal you can't care for properly

You're presenting your opinions as facts here, as well as (bizarrely) appointing yourself the judge of how cats should be kept despite clearly despising them A cat that is allowed to roam is not being cared for improperly; just in a way that you personally disagree with.
You're mentioning "rights" but as I previously pointed out to you it is perfectly legal to allow your cat out.

I hate cats, and I'm also HIGHLY allergic. I can't even sit next to someone in a meeting who has a cat, as within 5 minutes my eyes are streaming. So, when a cat run infront of my car and was clearly distressed it was a bit of a conundrum. I got out of my car and it didn't have a collar. I found a jacket in my car and scooped it up, and took it to the nearest vets I came across. During that journey the cat was on my passenger seat making horrendous noises, and even though I hate cats, I found it terribly upsetting and the guilt was overwhelming. I found myself stoking it as I drove, trying to sooth it. By the time I got to the vets, my eyes looked like I'd done two rounds in the ring and were on the verge of gluing shut. A friend had to come with some antihistamines so I could get back behind the wheel.

I never rang to find out what happened to the cat. The guilt was awful. But I couldn't have just left it there even though legally, I was "entitled to". I don't honestly know how anyone could.

I think it's disgraceful that anyone could hit a cat (knowingly) and not stop, taking the animal to the vet at minimum if not trying to find the owner.

Legally it might be acceptable, morally it's not.

Did anyone see? If they did ,stop. If they didn't its time to put the pedal to the metal and the foot to the floor

Its legal to let it out Freaks but is it moral if you live in an area with a lot of traffic? The world has changed, pet owning needs to change with it.

I hit a cat once. It just ran out into the road. It ran off so I stopped and couple were walking past and we had a look round but couldn't see it (It was dusk)
I did put a post on our local Facebook group though saying what had happened where I saw the cat run off to and how sorry I was.
No one ever said it was their cat I hit so I'm hoping it was ok.

Meant to say if I had found it I would of taken it straight to the vets.

SIL once hit a cat with her car and killed it. Instead of taking it to a vet to find the owners, she buried it!!!! It upsets me to this day thinking that the poor owners probably still wonder what happened to their DCat who never came home.

Some people wouldn't stop for another human that they had hit so I wouldn't expect some people to stop for a cat.