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.

There is a woman on several local FB groups who's turned herself into a bit of a dead cat vigilante. She's bought herself a chip reader and absolutely God help anyone who doesn't "Inform her immediately" of any deceased cat.

She rants, raves and generally berates people who take the cats to the local vets, who incidentally are happy to read chips and deal with them.

It's all a bit odd tbh.

@Bortles

I slowed down for a baby squirrel the other day, then went round it when I could. The car behind me ran over it. If I hadn't had my children with me, I'd have followed them and bloody done something about it. Some people are absolute evil bastards.

What exactly would you have "done about it"?

[quote JammyDozen]@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRolls - some of the comments were very much saying owners are negligent if they let their cats out and therefore won’t get any sympathy if the worst happens. I interpret that as blaming. Of course there are crap owners, but many more will be people who - just as you say - accept there is risk in allowing their cat out, but do it anyway because they believe it’s in the cat’s interests. They aren’t uncaring owners as some posters are suggesting, and I don’t believe those owners (and cats, where there is an opportunity to relieve suffering) deserve that attitude.

To use your examples, if I’m sure most of us would want to help someone who’d hurt themselves doing parkour or tombstoning if we could. The fact someone has done something risky or even outright stupid doesn’t mean we lose all sympathy for them or would leave them to it.[/quote]
Equally though, someone's desire to have a given pet doesn't impose an automatic duty on the rest of us to take care of it. Especially when some examples of that pet display an amazing propensity to jump under the wheels of vehicles.
I hit a cat on the way to collect DD from school. I was doing less than 15mph as I had just turned into the road from a standstill - the thing appeared and then effectively jumped under my wheels. I couldn't hang around too long as I needed to pick up DD. I had to watch the poor thing writhe around in agony until it sadly died. There was no way I could have avoided it - but I am terrified by some of the torches and pitchforks kind of comments I've seen online. It was horrible for the cat no doubt, but it was also horrible for me and not in any way of my making.
I don't use Facebook, and at the time we didn't have any pets so I had zero idea where the vets were - I had to lay the poor creature down and leave it (It had no collar). DD was quite young at the time and I frankly didn't want to expose her to the experience of carting a dead cat around looking for the vets.
Those people making a comparison between a human child and a cat are not realistic.

@AdobeWanKenobi

There is a woman on several local FB groups who's turned herself into a bit of a dead cat vigilante. She's bought herself a chip reader and absolutely God help anyone who doesn't "Inform her immediately" of any deceased cat. She rants, raves and generally berates people who take the cats to the local vets, who incidentally are happy to read chips and deal with them.

It's all a bit odd tbh.

Surely the chip reader doesn’t give her access to the owner details though? It just brings up the long chip number?

When I took a lost dog into the vet, the vet scanned the chip and wrote down the number, and then had to phone the PetLog helpline and read the number out plus their vet creds, and then got the owner’s contact details

Unless she is impersonating a vet over the phone, how is she using the chip reader to get contact details..?

Surely the chip reader doesn’t give her access to the owner details though?

You’d hope not wouldn’t you?
I suspect she gets the number then trots off to the vets with it but I don’t know for certain. I’ve never yet seen anyone post that they have found their car through her so I’m thinking she’s probably just a bit eccentric and interfering. It’s all a bit bizarre.

Thank you for stopping.
My cat went missing two years ago and I never found out what happened- if she's dead I'd rather know. If someone had even posted a description on a local Facebook page there are people (the sort who volunteer in cat rescues) who will go and pick it up and scan for a chip and take to the vet, so if you can't take it in your car, at least do that.
If my cat was left on the side of the road and Highways picked her up, the woman at the council told me they would have binned her without scanning for a chip.

If my cat was left on the side of the road and Highways picked her up, the woman at the council told me they would have binned her without scanning for a chip.

Yes, I was reading about Gizmo's Law earlier (thanks to the poster who mentioned it - hadn't heard of it before) which is trying to stop this happening.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

We have a local FB group who catch stray cats/dogs (and some weird exotics) scan them and return to owners or find homes for them, anyone who losses a pet can contact them as well.

I wonder how many 'strays' they catch and return to owners, only to be angrily told "but that's where she always like to go roaming!"

That happened to me. They called the RSPCA because they'd seen my rather bedraggled and funny looking cat wandering around for a few days (we had a Catflap) and we're worried. The RSPCA man was very accusatory until I informed him that Mr cat had a congenital condition making him look the way he did and we spent an exorbitant amount of money on medication keeping him comfortable and alive.

If a cat runs into my car and damages it, will the cat owner pay for it?

@CovidCorvid

I’ve had two cats killed on the road, both found by neighbours. Not sure if the car which hit them knew they’d hit them….I’d like to think maybe they didn’t realise.

But yes to leave a dying cat is awful.

Saying that I know of a case where a driver found a woman dead in a car after a crash (just one car span off the road). Cctv shows the car stopping, the driver got out and checked the crashed car, found the driver dead and they drove off….didn’t even call the police. When the police tracked the driver down and asked why he left he said he didn’t want to be late for a football match!

So people leave humans never mind cats!

Jesus! Some people are horrific!

It would be terrible to hit anything on the road but being a decent human being means you should just do the right thing even if it's hard.

I slowed down for a baby squirrel the other day, then went round it when I could. The car behind me ran over it. If I hadn't had my children with me, I'd have followed them and bloody done something about it. Some people are absolute evil bastards

With you weaving around in the road I doubt they would be looking at ground level for small squirrels and I'm sure they didn't set out on a drive to kill squirrels.
Seriously.

@CalamityJaneDoe

If you can’t leave a dog then you shouldn’t be allowed to leave a cat. All these people going on about how they might be on their way to work... if you hit a dog, you have to report it to the police- why should it be any different for cats? Someone loves them just the same.

Sorry but I actually don’t think we should be taking up police time with cats or dogs that have been accidentally hit by cars.

What are the police actually even doing when someone reports a dog being hit by a car? just spending time recording information on their system….because I’m assuming they’re not calling out forensics teams.

If people want highway staff to spend time scanning animals on the road then animals owners should have to pay a tax towards pet related services likes that.

There are a lot of people in this thread assuming that everyone would instantly know what to do with a dead animal.

There will be millions of people who've never had a pet or anything to do with pets.

How would they know a cat has a microchip in it? Why would they know where a vet is?

If they've never in their lives handled a life animal why are you thinking they'd be ok picking up a dead, or nearly dead, one?

As pet lovers you're all experienced with animals and knowledgeable about what to do and who to contact. Many people wouldn't have the first idea.

This happened to my last cat. He was hit in the road outside my parents' house & I happened to drive past & see him It can't have been long after it happened as he was still warm & not yet stiff. I had my 3 DC with me, who were 6/4/1 at the time. We were all heartbroken.

I am sorry to hear of your experience OP

If people want there cats treated like dogs when dead then let's treat them like dogs whilst they are alive. So no roaming unaccompanied. At that point far fewer will be hit by cars and its reasonable for people to stop and report if they are.

There will be millions of people who've never had a pet or anything to do with pets. How would they know a cat has a microchip in it? Why would they know where a vet is? If they've never in their lives handled a life animal why are you thinking they'd be ok picking up a dead, or nearly dead, one?

Totally. Never had a pet, wouldn't touch an animal dead or alive. Never been in a vets or dealt with chips in animals. Don't have shovels, gloves or blankets to help with kerbside animal remains either.

@SofiaMichelle

There are a lot of people in this thread assuming that everyone would instantly know what to do with a dead animal.

There will be millions of people who've never had a pet or anything to do with pets.

How would they know a cat has a microchip in it? Why would they know where a vet is?

If they've never in their lives handled a life animal why are you thinking they'd be ok picking up a dead, or nearly dead, one?

As pet lovers you're all experienced with animals and knowledgeable about what to do and who to contact. Many people wouldn't have the first idea.

Exactly - your ownership of a cat should be your responsibility not anyone else’s.