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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not stop for a dead cat

247 replies

Myusername33 · 26/06/2021 21:37

I recently passed a very recently deceased cat at the side of a busy road when I was driving with my kids in the car, I didn’t stop because I wasn’t going to stop in a busy road and leave my kids sitting there while I picked up a dead cat. I later saw someone had put a post up about the dead cat on the local community fb page saying they had picked it up and taken it to the vet so the owner could be found but they were disappointed that not only had someone hit the cat and not stopped but also lots of people had driven past without stopping, the owner of the cat eventually appeared to say how devastated they were that someone had hit their beloved cat and not stopped.

Aibu to not stop and pick up someone else’s dead cat from the road? I actually think it pretty unreasonable to let your cat out to run around in the road and get annoyed at the person that hit it for not stopping, I’m sure they didn’t set out to run over the cat and it was an unavoidable accident. If I hit a cat I would stop if I could do it safely but my kids and my own safety would be a priority over someone else’s cat that shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 26/06/2021 22:03

@womaninatightspot

I wouldn't stop. Its awful I know but cats are wild. Its why they roam and poo in someone elses garden and the owners shrug and say well they're just being a cat.

The flipside of that is you cant expect people stop for a wild animal. I'd be concerned in case the owners were nutters and tried to hold me liable for vet bills.

Where to start...
Fleurty · 26/06/2021 22:04

YANBU not to stop with kids in the car if it wasn't safe. YABVU to start a goady thread having a go at the owner for being upset and saying it was their own fault.

Some cats roam further than you would think. Other cats get run over on quiet roads. You're clearly not an animal lover to even think the way you're thinking.

ItWasAgathaAllAlong · 26/06/2021 22:05

It's now illegal in Jersey (Channel Islands) to hit a cat with a vehicle and not stop to report it and wait till they get there. It's a recent change in the law, but brings dog and cat owners into alignment. Which is only right.

caringcarer · 26/06/2021 22:05

I would always stop for a cat. I love cats and have 5. I would have taken it to the vet as it may have still been alive but unconscious and the vet could check for the microchip. Someone would be devistated their cat was killed.

elfycat · 26/06/2021 22:08

I stopped and picked up a dead cat a few weeks back. Took it to the vet to be identified. Went to write on the local FB page about it and someone already had commented on it and said they were sorry they couldn't stop, but small children and it was too horrible for them to handle (I'm an ex operating theatre nurse so blood and guts don't bother me, but it wasn't pretty).

I don't blame anyone for not stopping. I do as a matter of course, wild animal or not if things look intact to see if they need to be taken to a vet. Deceased pets I will stop and recover as it's what I'd want to happen if it was one of mine. But not everyone can handle death/injury.

Iminaglasscaseofemotion · 26/06/2021 22:08

A dog, yes. A cat, no.

WeAllHaveWings · 26/06/2021 22:09

No I wouldn't stop and pick up an unknown dead animal. I don't have anything in my car I could use to cleanly pick up and put a dead animal in. If other people want to, bully for them, but posting about it is just looking for attention and trying to shame others stinks more than the cat.

I've luckily never hit a cat in 30+ years of driving, guess the circumstances at the time would dictate whether I would stop, but I wouldn't judge anyone who didn't want to deal with a messy body either. It is the risk cat owners take having free roaming pets.

Myusername33 · 26/06/2021 22:10

If I had hit the cat I would certainly do anything I could to find it and make sure it want still alive and needing veterinary treatment, I like animals and I wouldn’t let anything suffer if I could help it, I feel bad if a accidentally squash a snail. My issue is with the idea that people are obligated to put themselves at risk for a cat that the owner has allowed to come to harm by letting them out near a road.

OP posts:
FlaminEckVera · 26/06/2021 22:11

Hmm I agree with previous posters. HORRIBLE goady thread!

MaxNormal · 26/06/2021 22:11

This has irritated me for some reason. I agree it seems somewhat goady.

CuteOrangeElephant · 26/06/2021 22:12

I once hit a cat on the motorway, after it had been hit by another car, in the middle of the night. It staggered off towards the hard shoulder, I didn't stop.

Sparklingbrook · 26/06/2021 22:13

People aren’t obligated to do anything. They just do whatever they see fit.

It’s up to them really.

You seem to have a major problem with the idea of cat ownership OP which explains things.

Myusername33 · 26/06/2021 22:13

It’s is absolutely the owner fault, and not the person that hit the cat or people who drove past it! That’s not goady, it’s a fact!

OP posts:
StartingGrid · 26/06/2021 22:14

Why all the hysterical wailing about won't somebody think of the children?!

To some people, cats are their children. YABVU.

If you're not capable of stopping on a residential road, you don't sound like a very competent driver. How's that for the safety of your children

Kittykat93 · 26/06/2021 22:15

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Sparklingbrook · 26/06/2021 22:16

@Myusername33

It’s is absolutely the owner fault, and not the person that hit the cat or people who drove past it! That’s not goady, it’s a fact!
Such a goady thread.
StartingGrid · 26/06/2021 22:16

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Myusername33 · 26/06/2021 22:16

@StartingGrid

Why all the hysterical wailing about won't somebody think of the children?!

To some people, cats are their children. YABVU.

If you're not capable of stopping on a residential road, you don't sound like a very competent driver. How's that for the safety of your children

It wasn’t a residential road or I would have stopped.
OP posts:
Aardvarkitsabloodyaardvark · 26/06/2021 22:17

@womaninatightspot

I wouldn't stop. Its awful I know but cats are wild. Its why they roam and poo in someone elses garden and the owners shrug and say well they're just being a cat.

The flipside of that is you cant expect people stop for a wild animal. I'd be concerned in case the owners were nutters and tried to hold me liable for vet bills.

Yeh I don't know where to start either.
MeanderingGently · 26/06/2021 22:17

I drove past a dead cat recently in fact. I didn't stop, I was on my way to work. The animal was lying on the verge, so not in danger of further damage.

If I had the misfortune to hit a cat myself, of course I would stop and get out, hopefully find the owner or report it, or whatever. But an already dead animal lying by the roadside? No, I'm not going to stop. Why would I? I live on country roads, our lanes are full of dead rabbits, foxes, badgers, the odd deer, plenty of pheasants....I'd never get to work!!

OccaChocca · 26/06/2021 22:18

What a bizarre post! I take it you have never had a cat?

Cats do their own thing. They go where they choose. Unfortunately, sometimes that involves crossing roads and getting run over. An owner has no control over that!

You didn't have time to stop, fine, we get that. If I ran a cat over I would definitely stop and sort it out/contact the owner. Some people just don't care though. That's the sad bit.

CovidCorvid · 26/06/2021 22:19

@Twinkie01

A dead person maybe. A dead animal not a cat in hells chance!
You’d be amazed. A colleague had a relative who died in a solo car accident, killed instantly. The next car to come past, stopped, checked she was dead, drove off without telling anyone. Was caught on cctv and when the police visited them they said they were off to the football and didn’t want to be late!

I have stopped for a cat and put it on the pavement as it was in the middle of a busy road. I was en route to a hospital appt so couldn’t do anything else but I think at least it wouldn’t have got squished any further. It was very rural so I wasn’t that bothered about passing kids. I suspect it belonged to the farm and left it by the farm gates. No, I wouldn’t stop if it was dangerous

cashoncollection · 26/06/2021 22:19

I drove past one last weekend and didn’t stop. Sad for the cat and it’s owners but I absolutely will not be pulling over on a national speed limit road to take a dead cat to a vets.

NichyNoo · 26/06/2021 22:20

It literally would not occur to me to stop if I drove past a dead cat. Just like I don’t stop when I drive past a dead fox/squirrel/badger.

cocoloco987 · 26/06/2021 22:20

I would not stop for a dead cat, no especially with dc. I'd stop for an injured one though.