Cats and roads

[AIMD]

There’s a post on a local Facebook group about a cat being run over on a main road. There are lots of comments from people about how cars drive too fast and people should stop to take the car to the vet/comfort them. Of course I agree with car drivers sticking to the speed limit and that people should help animals who are hurt. If I hit I cat I would obviously stop and try to find the owner or seek help.

However there is no mention on the thread about pet owners being more responsible and maybe choosing not to have a cat as a pet if they live in an area close to very busy roads. The road/area mentioned was very busy/city centre area, where it would be hard for a cat to go anywhere without going across very busy roads.

I wouldn’t comment that on the thread because the pet owner is obviously upset and it is not the right place for that comment.

AIBU to think cat owners/breeders are also responsible for cats being hurt On the roads when they buy/sell cats into homes that are surrounded by very busy roads?

There’s been an obvious increase in cats as pets in my area over the last 19 years (not sure if people notice that elsewhere too) and an increase in cats/traffic. It’s a recipe for cats being hurt.

@CandidaAlbicans2

All my cats are outdoor cats and none terrorise they local wildlife by the way

@ivfbeenbusy, how the hell do you know what they do!? Are you following their every move or do they wear GoPros?

Well considering one ran AWAY from a mouse the other day and the other just sits on the fence looking at squirrels I'm pretty confident they aren't responsible for mass wildlife murder. Also cats tend to bring back home what they catch so I'd find lovely presents in the garden which I don't .....you'd know that If you had cats.....

Unless you have an indoor cat, you can't completely keep a cat safe though.

I know an indoor cat that jumped out of the window. On the fourth floor.

@donttouchmyhair

My cats roam freely and I wouldn't have it any other way. Obviously I would be devastated if anything happened to them but that's a risk I'm willing to take as they're so much happier coming and going as they please.

What bothers me is people who hit cats and just leave them in the road to die/continue to be run over. If you hit any animal have a bit of decency and get it to the nearest vets, or at least move it to the side of the road if it's dead.

I explained upthread why your expectation that someone would always take a dead or injured cat to a vets isn't always reasonable or practical.

I choose not to have a pet cat. I don't know where the vets are.
When I hit a cat (travelling at about 10mph in an unfamiliar area) my choices were -
Do a google search for the vets, take the dead cat there and be late to collect my young DD from school.
Put dead cat in car, collect DD, then instead of taking her home for a meal, take dead cat to the vets.

I think it's an unreasonable expectation.

@hinge so what did you do?!

I think cat owners (servants) need to be more realistic that there is a high high chance their cat will die from a car than old age or anything else.

They also need to remember that it’s not always safe or advisable to stop or swerve to stop from hitting a cat.

They need to remember that with roaming rights people do not have to stop or report any incident involving hitting a cat.

I’m a cat owner (servant)

Also cats tend to bring back home what they catch so I'd find lovely presents in the garden which I don't .....you'd know that If you had cats.....

We find utterly disgusting and unhygienic presents in our gardens too. We don’t have any pets. And I don’t see why I should provide toilet facilities for other people’s. They’ve ignored the gentile methods so I’ve a bulk order of cayenne on the way.

@makingmammaries This happened to our family cat when I was 13 and I still cry about it to this day. There were literally 2-3 cars a day going down our road. I have had (and loved) many cats since that awful day. I hope you will too and it will help ease your heartbreak.

God I wish cat shit was my biggest problem

We keep ours inside. Both have been perfectly happy and have shown no interest in going out. There are too many in our town getting run over or disappearing and then being found dead at the other end of town, and there has also been a lot of poisoning on a housing estate not far from us. It's not worth the risk in my opinion.

My cat bites and scratches me far less nowadays and I think part of it is because I got a cat flap installed so he can come and go as he pleases. I did check with the cat home as I live near a busy road, but they said it was OK and he’s pretty streetwise. If I kept him indoors we’d both be miserable and stressed.

I didn't have a cat when we lived in a town for just that reason, but that's my personal choice:

I do think the "mine are perfectly happy indoors" and "they can live totally enriching lives indoors" brigade are kidding themselves. My female used to be indoor only and yes she had toys and platforms and we played with her. She also slept loads. Now shes goes outside to roam but she couldn't give a shit about any of her indoor stuff when shes locked in every night. Your cats will play with stuff because they dont actually have any choice, it's that or sleep all day. But it's pretty obvious that given the choice they would want to be outside. I find it difficult to understand why you would want a cat only to remove all the parts that make a cat a cat: independence, exploring. I find it cruel and yes: crueller than it being hit by a car. It's basically a very long prison sentence with a lot of affection.

[quote LST]@hinge so what did you do?![/quote]
I checked the cat for any ID, looked around - it was a quiet residential street but there was no-one about. So I laid the poor cat (once it actually died) out on the pavement. I really didn’t have much of a better idea of what I could do within the limits of what was practical. I think sometimes cat owners and cat lovers think we should all be forced to join them. I don’t choose to have a pet - I really don’t wish them any ill but I am not responsible for ensuring you get “closure” for your pet who just ran straight under my slow moving wheels. I am sorry, it’s sad but it’s also not my fault or my issue to deal with.

@GoldfishParade

I do think the "mine are perfectly happy indoors" and "they can live totally enriching lives indoors" brigade are kidding themselves. My female used to be indoor only and yes she had toys and platforms and we played with her. She also slept loads. Now shes goes outside to roam but she couldn't give a shit about any of her indoor stuff when shes locked in every night. Your cats will play with stuff because they dont actually have any choice, it's that or sleep all day. But it's pretty obvious that given the choice they would want to be outside. I find it difficult to understand why you would want a cat only to remove all the parts that make a cat a cat: independence, exploring. I find it cruel and yes: crueller than it being hit by a car. It's basically a very long prison sentence with a lot of affection.

My last one was but he was ancient and very ill.

We only let our cat out in the back garden, not the front because of cars. Our garden backs onto other gardens, so it's safer. I'm surprised that many of our neighbours let their cats out the front when they have (safer) back gardens.

Pfft you should see how annoyed people get if you let a two year old play in traffic, and they're smarter than a cat!

I'm a cat owner and your post completely makes sense. I live on a cul de sac away from a main road - our cat is relatively safe around here but sadly there is still the risk of her darting out in front of even a slowly driving vehicle. If we lived on the main road we would certainly held off on getting a cat.
However people should not be speeding, especially on residential roads. No excuse for it.

I get annoyed with the expectation that people who run cats over by accident should stop and find an owner to transport the cat to the vet somehow. There’s no way I’d pull over and deal with an injured cat that might want to scratch or bite me because it’s in pain when I’d have no idea what I was doing.

The only time this has happened to me it was late, dark, and I was much younger than I am now, I’m sure the owners were angry that their cat had been run over and then left, but then I was angry that someone else’s pet was allowed to run out into a road without supervision.

Cats are an incredibly selfish choice of pet, and cat owners can’t rely on both the right to roam and still expect other people to treat their animal like a pet.

When I got my first two cats

When I got my first two cats I lived in a quiet area. And when I moved the presence of busy roads did make a difference to my decision on whether to buy there.

However, when I moved here there was a relatively busy road a few streets away, but my cats always stayed close to home. After they died of natural causes as they got older I adopted a rescue from Battersea. Six months after I adopted her she wandered too far on to the busy road and was killed. . The upshot is that I will never own another cat while I’m living here. It was far too horrible to lose a cat in that way and I wouldn’t want that for a future cat.

The rescues often won’t rehome to people who live too near busy roads for that reason. It’s. Not unreasonable for people to consider how close a busy road is if they’re considering getting a cat.

Keeping a house cat is not cruel ffs!

I have predominantly house cats. They don't cry at Windows. Half my livingroom has shelves, trees etc. They also have their own room. I interact with them, play with them and they get access to a cat proofed garden. Keeping a cat as an indoor pet is not cruel as long as you meet their instinctive needs!

We have a perfectly nice garden in which my cat roams in happily. He goes into several neighbours gardens too, but they don’t mind. Ours is a very friendly road.

He knows he is not allowed out in the front which is quite busy with cars, so I go to great lengths to stop him. However he lies in wait and takes every opportunity to sneak out. The problem is that he is much more intelligent than me and has hours to plan his escape. It would be a cruelty in the extreme to keep him in and would make him very neurotic!

Not being able to contain your cat is a cultural issue, not a universal truth.

Pfft you should see how annoyed people get if you let a two year old play in traffic, and they're smarter than a cat!

My thinking exactly. A toddler who is allowed to roam outside and run into the road is very likely to come to harm too – and they’re slower to dart from a standstill like cats, are bigger and usually dressed in clothes that are easier to see than a cat’s dull fur.

Thankfully, people in charge of toddlers almost always do their job in protecting them and keeping them from harm. If you want to be in charge of a non-streetwise living being that roams freely without watching it at all times, you have to understand that you run the risk of its being injured or killed. As for those saying about keeping to the speed limit, a tonne or more of metal travelling at 10mph over a small creature who dashes from a hedge right at its wheels is probably not going to come off very well.

I held off getting a cat due to the road I live on. I now have two indoor cars partly for this reason.

@Hingeandbracket if you injure an animal and choose to leave it to die on the road because you don't want to be late to the school you are a shit person. Also I said if it's already you can at least move it to the side of the road.