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?

Isn't it just Saucery. All those imaginary scenarios to worry about.

I’m not sure what you want? There isn’t a definitive legal answer, but I’m damn sure she just pulled the omg and then someone had to pay THOUSANDS just for walking past a dead cat in the gutter!!!!! nonsense out of her arse.
To then insist it does happen is potentially putting off people from doing what they can for the welfare of an injured animal. Like Imsaid, that’s just cruel.

I have only sadly taken dead or dying cats to the vets after retrieving them from the roadside.
At no point have I ever been asked to pay anything at all towards whatever happened subsequently.

I wouldn't leave any animal to suffer, but there is no way I am messing about with an road damaged animal corpse at the side of a road to reunite with the owner. It's part of having an outdoor cat, one day it might not come home and you'll never know why.

I would always stop if I hit a cat, I could never leave an animal to suffer and die at the side of the road.

A few years ago my DH hit a cat, it was a country road and it just ran straight out in front of us. We stopped and searched for it but couldn’t find it anywhere, I was in floods of tears worrying about it. I still to this day really hope it was ok 😢

I don’t think I could leave an animal to die alone (and I don’t even like animal particularly). I suppose, ideally I would want to wait for the owners to come collect. But equally I might not even notice. The roads in Britain are so bad it’s an event if I drive a mile and dont Hit a disable bump.

Sizeable bump, although to be fair some potholes I’ve seen would easily disable my little car.

I wholly dislike cats, one very recently ripped the throat out of my beloved 12 year old rabbit when my DC opened the run when I wasn’t looking and he hopped away as he usually does when I’m present.
DC is too young to understand, and the rabbit was just being a rabbit and going off exploring.
I came out about 10 minutes later to a cat slinking out of one of the bushes looking pleased with itself, and it was only when I shooed it off I realised he wasn’t in his run with his mate.
I found him almost decapitated in the same bush the cat came out of.
Even with this I’d still take it to a vet instead of leaving it on a road if I’d accidentally ran it over.

@saucery...Who said anything about them doing everything pro bono? Fortunately, there aren’t that many cat injuries taken in by people who have nothing to do with the cat, per vet, per day, so they don’t have to spend all their time not earning any money. Phew.

You really don't know that though do you saucery. The article I read talked about all kinds of wildlife being taken to vets, birds, hedgehogs, cats...the list goes on. If you aren't talking with any authority, best you say that as you are potentially giving people false information. You said the majority of vets do it pro bono. That's not all vets, and possibly not even true.

"But I’m damn sure she just pulled theomg and then someone had to pay THOUSANDS just for walking past a dead cat in the gutter!!!!!Out of her arse....".
How rude! No need for that at all. But then you have just shown your true colours.

Vets have a duty of care to all animals (domestic and wild) they take a similar oath to doctors saying that they will alleviate pain and suffering in animals etc... they are bound by these professional guidelines.
I have been to vets with injured pigeons, pheasants and ducks etc.. and not once been turned away, or presented with a bill, because they are duty bound to alleviate suffering. I think they can claim some of their costs back from the RSPCA, but it is absolutely not the responsibility of the person presenting the animal to pay for the treatment.

I would stop if it was convenient and safe to do so. I don’t want to put my cat at risk of being run over, stolen, poisoned, injured etc so she doesn’t go out. Sadly cats are seen s independent, so a lack of stimulation/play time is a huge problem with some cat owners.

If you have a garden cat proofing is really easy and it isn’t expensive.

Yanbu.
But if I hit a cat I'd take it to the nearest vet, they could read the microchip. Surely the sooner it gets treatment the better. It wouldn't occur to me to find the owners house .

Absolutely you should.

My DGPs cat was run over and killed a few years ago. There was a man and a woman, the woman stayed with her and the man went and knocked on doors to find the owner. It's quite comforting to know someone was with her when she died. And also to know it wasn't deliberate.

I wouldn't know where the nearest vet is to my house, let alone if I was driving in an area I was unfamiliar with. Would I be expected to drive around with an animal on my passenger seat looking for a vet?

It would be pretty unprofessional of any vet to try and charge people who had brought in an injured cat (or any other animal) under these circumstances, not to mention very bad publicity for the practice concerned.

Vets are in business, yes. Yes, they need to make money. They are, however, also in the job because they are interested in and care about their animal patients. They will probably try to contact the owner if the animal is tagged or microchipped. Sadly, many cats or other small animals significantly injured in an RTA may well be beyond much help and euthanasia can be the only option. Most will do what they can within reason, though I guess a line has to be drawn somewhere in certain cases. I don't know how it is funded, but guess that insurance or charities are a possibility.

The number of full fee paying patients must outnumber the number of animals simply brought in off the streets. Vets surely must have developed some ways and means of managing costs for any random animals brought in by members of the public.

Most people are totally honest. Vets also have an important reputation to uphold and becoming known as the practice that refuses to help animals brought in in distress by concerned and distressed members of the public would not do that reputation any good at all

They will draw a line somewhere, but they will usually help.

MrsJBaptiste, you Google it on your phone. You will be given a list of local vets and can get in contact with them.

Haven’t RTFT but how did the cat get in the car?

A couple of years back while doing about 60, I spotted a cat in the distance just stood by the hard shoulder. I thought to myself oh for fucks sake, that thing is going to run out in front of the car isn't it, and it did. It was like a cat suicide. It was a toss up between slamming on the breaks incase it ran out and having a line of traffic smash in to us from behind, or swerving and crashing head on in to the oncoming traffic. The cat wasn't there when we looked back, and I did get extremely upset. Nothing I could have done though, however if it were to have happened in an area where stopping was an option, I would of course stop. And probably cry.

My cat got hit a couple of months ago, he ran indoors, hid under the kitchen cabinets. Tried everything to get him out, he then escaped back through the cat flap.
Spent hours rushing around the neighbours asking them to check their gardens.
No sign, he then turned up again about 5 hours later.
Got him to the vet, had xrays.
Lots of little broken bones in the head, but luckily none pierced his brain. Worst was the broken jaw.
Had to go to specialist hospital to fix it. Was tube fed and crated at home.
Thankfully he is back to his old self, but it was touch and go for a while. They didnt stop and try to help.

MrsJBaptiste

I wouldn't know where the nearest vet is to my house, let alone if I was driving in an area I was unfamiliar with. Would I be expected to drive around with an animal on my passenger seat looking for a vet?

There is no legal obligation to do so, but people on here are saying they think it would be morally the right thing to do. I asked the question would the vet bill you and I think there is a possibility they might. In reality, I think most cats run off after being hit, whether it's adrenalin or they arent that badly injured, and it would probably be tricky to catch them. In 20 years of driving, I've never hit a cat, but I've possibly been lucky. My own cat was hit by a car when I was a child, it never entered my head that the driver should have took him to a vet. Unfortunately these things happen. I do think another poster was right upthread when they said cats roam free, and you take that chance that they might get injured. Usually not the drivers fault.

Oh and I read that the rspca will only pay the bill if you ring them before you take animal to the vet and get their agreement to pay.

I can live with you finding me rude, TabbyMumz. It’s really not put a crimp in my day

There have been several other people saying that a vet demanding payment in the circumstances described (i.e. not wildlife or a cat rescue dealing with strays) would be extremely unusual.
I’ll be generous and assume you’re just misguided and unable to Google rather than actively trying to stop people helping injured cats. So now you can stop worrying about that enormous vet bill if it ever happens to you.

The RSPCA are as much use as a chocolate fireguard ime. Best avoided.

I wouldn't stop. Perhaps it makes me heartless, but I don't really care enough about other people's pets.

I'm certainly not putting an injured, scratching, hissing cat in my car and heading off in search of the nearest open vets, wherever that might be. Or trying to get a number off the collar while the thing scratches and bites.