To think, if you run over a cat, you don't just dump it on the pavement and fuck off

[inigomontoyahwillcox]

God, it was awful.

DD (13) and I were just behind a car that ran over a cat, the poor little thing had a serious head injury (completely unsurvivable) and was convulsing in the middle of the road.

The driver and her passenger got out of their car, picked up the cat and unceremoniously dumped it on the pavement. I pulled up behind, got out to see to the cat (it very quickly passed away, fortunately) and asked if they were going to take it to the vet - the bloke said "I've got asthma" and they buggered off!

Fortunately another woman who was behind me also stopped and she offered to take the poor wee thing to the vet to see if it was microchipped as DD was extremely upset by this stage (she adores cats and it was a nasty thing to witness). So her and I wrapped it's body in DDs (knackered) sleeping bag which I happened to have in the boot and she took it.

I'm now sitting in the car whilst DD has her trampolining lesson and am a little bit traumatised to be honest! And a bit bloody angry. I hold no grievance towards them about hitting a cat - shit happens, and it's one of the things you learn to accept is a possibility if you have an outdoor cat (which we do). But to leave a dying cat on the pavement after you've hit it is, I think, despicable.

https://www.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/lost-found-and-feral-cats/found-dead-cat

Glad the experts agree with me.

I'm also surprised it took so long for the whole "keep your cats locked up if you care so much" comments to start. Cats are a domesticated animal that we've had living with us as companions for a very long time, but they are not - in the main - content staying within 4 walls. I fully accept that their demise due to an accident is very possible, and that it is usually not the fault of the individual who (for example) hit them. What I do not accept is ignoring the suffering of a sentient being and its owner.

And for what it's worth - I apply this to wild animals as well, and have taken a pigeon to the vet to be euthanised before (the vet was happy to do it).

@Dasher789

I am shocked by some of these replies.

You have hit an animal on the road with your car and don't want to stop because you don't have time???

Would you still 'not have time' if it was a child that ran out?!

If you for whatever reason didn't stop but very shortly after contacted a vet or someone else to deal with it then fair enough but to leave an animal that in the UK is almost certainly going to be a much loved part of someone's family, dying or in extreme pain at the side of the road is despicable.

Ah - so the main point is not that it’s an animal - or a sentient being - but it, unlike a fox, chicken or cow is a ‘much loved part of someone’s family’? Again it has nothing to do with the cat it’s about the emotional attachement of the humans

I hit a cat once. It really upset me, however there was nothing I could do about it. I was going up the slip road to join the A1, in the dark, there was a HGV right up my backside so there was no way I was risking any emergency braking because I didn’t fancy me and the kids being hit by that.

I didn’t stop because I couldn’t, however I doubt there was much left of the cat once I’d hit it and the lorry behind me had run over it. Imo it’s bloody stupid to have a cat if you live in close proximity to a very, very, busy dual carriageway with a 70mph speed limit.

So it's fine to own a pet that you allow to wander around residential and built up areas despite acknowledging that the decision to do so results in the risk of that "beloved" animal being killed by a vehicle, because when that inevitably happens you can just transfer all the responsibility (for dropping their own obligations to see to your pet, for seeking medical treatment for your pet, for handling a dead animal, for attempting to locate the owner, for staying with the cat indefinitely if it's still alive despite not being able to actually do anything for it etc) to the person who was unlucky enough to be driving along minding their own business when your pet ran out in front of them.

If your cat gets hit by a car that's on you as the owner who allowed it to roam the streets. You want something to cuddle while you watch Corrie and you're happy to risk that animal suffering a prolonged death at the roadside so that you get to own a cat that you aren't willing or able to keep safe.

@inigomontoyahwillcox agreed! our cat would be desperate to get out, I dont think he'd be happy staying indoors. I'd love to have a cat secure garden but for now we accept the risk of him roaming and do what we can to reduce/mitigate it (neutered, vaccinated, insured, no night time outdoor access, microchipped, live very rurally) The huge benefits outweigh the risks for him and us at the moment anyway.

Do people who think that this driver was in the wrong also think that people should stop and find a vet if they hit a badger, or a fox or a pheasant or any other wild animal. I wouldn’t have a clue how to handle an injured cat, I’m wary of them at the best of times and I’d be worried a cat in pain was going to bite or scratch. Although I’d feel terrible about being involved in an animals suffering, I’d feel no obligation to do a favour for the owner who has chosen to have a pet and allow it to cause road accidents

This is a disgusting attitude to have. It's nothing to do with doing the owner 'a favour'. It could be feral or a stray. It's about acting with a bit of humanity towards another living creature.

Yes. Cat. Dog. Deer. Fox. Pheasant. Squirrel. Bloody big rat.

If I hit something, unless it was impossible to stop (ie motorway, dark, dc in car - would be unsafe) then I would ALWAYS stop.

I wouldn't leave any animal in agony to die on a road, any at all.

People are shit, they really are.

So many people out there are just complete arseholes. The world has a long way to go yet.

@IWantT0BreakFree

So it's fine to own a pet that you allow to wander around residential and built up areas despite acknowledging that the decision to do so results in the risk of that "beloved" animal being killed by a vehicle, because when that inevitably happens you can just transfer all the responsibility (for dropping their own obligations to see to your pet, for seeking medical treatment for your pet, for handling a dead animal, for attempting to locate the owner, for staying with the cat indefinitely if it's still alive despite not being able to actually do anything for it etc) to the person who was unlucky enough to be driving along minding their own business when your pet ran out in front of them.

If your cat gets hit by a car that's on you as the owner who allowed it to roam the streets. You want something to cuddle while you watch Corrie and you're happy to risk that animal suffering a prolonged death at the roadside so that you get to own a cat that you aren't willing or able to keep safe.

Oh ffs.

Nobody is saying that by letting a cat roam - which most cats will do, given they are usually semi-domesticated by nature - they are transfering responsibility. Just that maybe if you were to hit an animal you treat it with a bit of respect. Apparently that's too much to ask some people though.

A rat, you'd stop for a rat? What are you going to do, wrap it in a blanket and sing bright eyes as it slips into the next life? Would you bollocks stop for a rat.

A rat, you'd stop for a rat? What are you going to do, wrap it in a blanket and sing bright eyes as it slips into the next life Would you bollocks stop for a rat

It's obviously highly unlikely a rat would survive a road collision.

But if they did - or if, more likely, I found a horrifically injured rat somewhere accessible, then yes I would stop and deal with it.

In the case of a rat or squirrel with obviously unsurvivable injuries, it would probably be a swift brick to put an end to it's suffering. I've done the same with a bird before, it's preferable to letting them have a slow, painful death.

DH hit a pheasant last year. He got out to check on it and it was still alive and clearly in a lot of pain and on the way out, so he put it out of his misery. He was quite shaken and upset when he got home, but he never could have left it in that state.

Nobody is saying that by letting a cat roam - which most cats will do, given they are usually semi-domesticated by nature - they are transfering responsibility. Just that maybe if you were to hit an animal you treat it with a bit of respect. Apparently that's too much to ask some people though.

Various people on this thread have indicated that someone who hits a cat is responsible for all the things I listed. Saying it's about "a bit of respect" is minimising what you are actually expecting people to do. I don't want to handle an animal that is covered in blood and likely to scratch or bite me if it's still alive. I don't want to be late for/miss an appointment or whatever I'm doing that is important to me. I don't want to wait around with a dying animal that I can't actually help. You can "oh FFS" all you like, but actually where is your respect (assuming you're a cat owner) for the people you are burdening with your decision to own a pet that shits all over their gardens, kills all the wildlife they try to encourage and runs out in front of them on the road?

If a pet is a member of your family, then treat it as one. Seriously, why are people allowing domesticated (wild) pets to roam freely - just because you can - then blaming the poor folk who encounter them? Get a goldfish or caged fury pet

Totally - the reality is if you are in a stream of fast moving traffic you might not even know you've hit a small animal, and aren't going to suddenly brake and put lives at risk trying to find out. There is a host of wildlife squashed on country roads - pheasants in particular (though they are likely to be shot anyway). Rabbits a close second. Are we seriously suggesting everybody is going to brake and move bodies off the road while dodging traffic?
I don't get it - if you want your animal to be safe, keep it with you. Pretty inevitable it will come to harm near roads - or simply cause an accident when people swerve.

I don't want to handle an animal that is covered in blood and likely to scratch or bite me if it's still alive

That too. People that don't have animals will be even more averse to touching any animal..

Again it has nothing to do with the cat it’s about the emotional attachement of the humans

I've spent hours watching an injured wild animal, waiting for someone to come out and collect them. I've taken semi-feral cats to the vets when they're ill or injured.

So, no, for me it is the welfare of the animal first, and I could not leave an animal to suffer unless it really was exceptional circumstances.

I imagine most cat fatalities are when traffic is moving in a line of traffic - otherwise, you'd swerve if you saw it. But it's ridiculous to risk carnage on the road by suddenly braking and causing a pile up! (By which time several cars will have run over the animal).

Every day there appears to be posts on line asking for people to help locate their cats. Seriously - keep them inside and safe.

Our cat was run over and left by the side of the road, we found it. I don't blame the driver at all.

A man hit my cat stopped asked around whose cat it was. When he came to the door with my cat he was choking up. Kept apologising said that she just ran out under his wheels

I would never touch or pick up a live cat, so there’s zero chance of me touching a dead or dying one.

I would call for help though and pray that someone nearby would intervene.

If that makes me a shit person who is going to be done over by karma then no problem. My life has been shit enough already so I’m resilient enough to deal with cat karma when it finds me 🙄.

It’s a shame that cat owners don’t bother to create a safe, contained outdoor space for their animal that they let loose outside. So much pain and upset could easily be avoided. ‘But how am I meant to contain my cat in my garden?!?!’ Google?

@SW1amp

If you haven’t got any friends or family to help then yes, a local vets will usually pop down if they can spare the staff.

I’ve found 2 lost dogs over the last couple of years, neither wearing tags

I took both to the nearest vets. One turned me away at the door and told me to contact the council, the other took the dog in to check for a microchip but then refused to keep it and asked me to take it to Battersea dogs home.

I find the idea that a vet would send a member of staff out to a stretch of road to look for a dead body… unlikely

I've had a similar experience although they were really shitty with me as well when I said I couldn't take it home because I didn't want a strange dog loose in my car with me and my children!! I'd be surprised if they came out for a dying cat.

If you don't live in an area, then you aren't necessarily going to know anyone close by to help you in that situation. It's not exactly a black and white situation.

@SW1amp

If you haven’t got any friends or family to help then yes, a local vets will usually pop down if they can spare the staff.

I’ve found 2 lost dogs over the last couple of years, neither wearing tags

I took both to the nearest vets. One turned me away at the door and told me to contact the council, the other took the dog in to check for a microchip but then refused to keep it and asked me to take it to Battersea dogs home.

I find the idea that a vet would send a member of staff out to a stretch of road to look for a dead body… unlikely

Not all vets are like that. I caught a budgie in my garden ( actually I caught it twice because the little bastard flew out of my open kitchen window when I brought it inside, fortunately only flew back into the same tree and fell for my “ this bamboo is a lovely perch like the one in your cage” trick a second time) I digress, the local vets were lovely , took it in and knew of someone with budgies who would take it off their hands.

My uncle witnessed a cat get run over in his road. He was in his house, not driving. Sadly the cat had died instantly, but he called the number on the collar to let them know he had taken it to the vets.
The cat owners then proceeded to call him and threaten him over several weeks, in the days when you couldn’t block a number, accusing him of being the driver and “murdering” their cat. They were obviously very upset and angry, but they were taking it out in him. He was pretty upset by the whole thing and said he would never call the owners of this ever happened again but would still take an animal to the vets,

Would you still 'not have time' if it was a child that ran out?!

Of course not because it's a completely false equivalence

A child's life is inherently more important than a cats. We all know it. Animal lovers might hate to admit it but we all know it. If you were in a burning building and could only save a child or a cat you know you'd save the child (and if you don't you're the psychopath). Animal people who try and imply cats are equal to children are as crazy as pro lifers who equate embryo's to babies.

We all know it's different, stop kidding yourself and trying to guilt trip other people.

It’s not a legal law to stop. I think you only have to report it if it’s a dog. Sadly if I hit a cat I wouldn’t stop and pick it up. I’m highly allergic and it would put me in hospital touching a cat.