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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think you take a killed cat to the vets, not dump it on a grass verge

646 replies

CoastalWave · 07/01/2022 13:43

Post on FB says 'Found' a dead cat in the middle of the road. Couldn't do anything other than move it to the side as I was busy. " Posted the FB update five hours after doing this.

Cat had been moved about 4m from the road so quite a distance and was hidden from site (not quite sure even how they'd moved him the state he was in)

Poor thing was in a really bad way. I had to put my big girl pants on and take a lot of deep breaths before I dealt with him. I took clean towels and gave him a dignified trip to the vets.

No, I don't like picking up dead cats - particularly after losing one myself to an RTA. But AIBU to think that if you've got time to shift the cat, you've got time to take it to the vets to be scanned?? Or did they move it because they were the ones who killed it?!

Would you stop to take a deceased cat to the vets?

OP posts:

RomeoMcFlourish · 07/01/2022 13:53

But AIBU to think that if you've got time to shift the cat, you've got time to take it to the vets to be scanned??

Shifting a dead cat off a road takes a couple of minutes, at the most. Taking a dead cat to the vets involves finding something to wrap it in (unless you’re happy to have dead animal smeared into your upholstery), picking it up, having to find a local vets that’s open, possibly driving some distance in the process, parking up and unloading (and if it’s anything like our vets who don’t let anyone inside anymore due to covid, you could be queueing outside for a good 15 minutes or so until you can book it in at reception). Then driving back to your original route as you’ve presumably had to detour. That’s all before taking into consideration the upset it may cause children who may be in the car, or the fact that people need to get to school/work/appointments and generally the excuse of ‘I wanted to take a dead cat to the vets to be scanned’ wouldn’t cut it with most people if you’re late.

So yeah, obviously you’re being unreasonable.

aliloandabanana · 07/01/2022 13:53

I agree with others that it's not necessarily "the done thing". Taking it to the vets might make it more difficult for the owner to retrieve it, especially as in most cases the vet will be a drive away. If the owner wanted to take it home and bury it, then it might start getting tricky if the cat was at the vets and the owner had no transport.

AdobeWanKenobi · 07/01/2022 13:53

If I'd hit it, absolutely.
If I'd come across it, no. I might call the council if I had chance, but I wouldn't be rocking up to the not so local vets to hand over a dead cat and I'm not sure they would want me to.

MintJulia · 07/01/2022 13:54

What do you expect a vet to do? It's dead.

I'd put it in a ditch where children couldn't see it . The local wildlife would 'dispose' of it within a couple of hours.

Roselilly36 · 07/01/2022 13:54

I think the person probably did the best they could at the time. You had time to prepare, take towels there etc. Most people would not have towels in their car.

amylou8 · 07/01/2022 13:54

No, and I wouldn't expect someone to take it to the vet if it was my cat. Move it, cover it and put a post of FB to say where it is.

1984Winston · 07/01/2022 13:54

I absolutely love cats but I don't drive so it would be really hard for me to take it to the vets, however personally I wouldn't leave it either but at least they moved it and tried to make people aware of it so the owners could find them.

BertieQueen · 07/01/2022 13:54

No I wouldn’t. If I had hit the cat and it hadn’t run off then I would call the local rescue but I wouldn’t take it to the vet.

AryaStarkWolf · 07/01/2022 13:54

No I wouldn't

Outlyingtrout · 07/01/2022 13:54

You think that somebody having 2 minutes to move a dead cat (which they are not obliged to do anyway) somehow proves that they must surely have what, an hour at least, to take the dead cat to a vet and have it scanned?

This has been done to death on other threads. Cat owners who let their cats roam leave them vulnerable to being hit by cars. It's not for drivers to then be responsible for dealing with the aftermath. I don't have pets, don't like cats and wouldn't want to handle a live one let alone one that had died. I don't have anything routinely kept in my car that would allow me to hygienically do this (towels, a way to clean my hands etc). I wouldn't have a clue where our nearest vets was or even that they would be interested in a cat that was dead. If I'm out in the car I'm usually on the school run, going to an appointment, meeting someone at a certain time etc. I'm afraid that no, I would not disrupt my day to deal with a dead cat.

The person who moved the cat to the side of the road and put an announcement on Facebook was very kind and did more than they needed to.

Bittercloudylemonade · 07/01/2022 13:54

Surely if you leave the cat on a verge it means its family have some chance of finding it. It may not be far from home. If you drive off with it and leave it with a random vet of your choosing they are less likely to find it. Especially if it is not chipped.

DockOTheBay · 07/01/2022 13:54

No I wouldn't take a dead cat anywhere. I don't really want dead animals in my car, I don't happen to keep old towels in the boot of the car for such an occasion. I don't know how long its been there and what pests or pathogens it might be carrying. Plus I'm allergic to cats so I wouldn't be able to breathe in my own car while transporting it the not incobsiderable distance to our nearest vet.

Sorry but surely this is part and parcel of owning an animal which is allowed to roam free?

hangrylady · 07/01/2022 13:55

@jimmyhill

You take live cats to the vet. You call the council for dead cats.

Vet don't want your random dead cats!

It's so vet can check for a microchip

crimblecrumbles · 07/01/2022 13:55

No, I wouldn't take a dead cat to the vets, nor would I expect someone else to. If the cat is on the verge abs was reported on Facebook I would leave it at that.

TheAntiGardener · 07/01/2022 13:55

There was a similar thread a few months ago, but in that situation the cat mover had hit the cat. For me that is very different - when you drive you have to take responsibility for consequences like this. It would also be different if the cat was alive. But someone who did not hit the cat themselves moving it after it was dead? They were doing a good turn IMO.

Enb76 · 07/01/2022 13:56

I would only take a cat to the vet if it were alive. There seems little point once it is dead. It is considerate to move the cat so it doesn't get repeatedly run over and share on local social media so possible owners are alerted but that would be about the sum of commitment required by the average person.

hangrylady · 07/01/2022 13:56

If I hit it and it was safe to stop then I definitely would. Not sure if I just found it

Letitsnoooow · 07/01/2022 13:56

Tbh I wouldn’t know what to do if I came across a dead cat but I wouldn’t take it to the vet.

Emanchego · 07/01/2022 13:56

How bout no.

Branleuse · 07/01/2022 13:57

I would post about it on local community group. Theres some volunteers that are really lovely who will go scan it for a microchip or take it to the vet.
I might take it to the vet myself if i was free, but a dead animal isnt an emergency. An injured animal I would make time to take to the vet, but not necessarily a dead one

HelloChompy · 07/01/2022 13:57

I have taken a deceased cats to the vets before now. I actually found him a couple of hours before I was able to deal with him though. I'm a dog walker and spotted him while out walking, all my walks that day were in the same area and I simply didn't have time to do a 20 minute round trip to the vet between walks. That cat was away from a quiet road so nothing else was going to drive over the body. I collected the body on my last walk and went home via the vets.

If they were on their way to work they might not have had time to do a detour or the vets might not even have been open. Moving the body would only have taken a couple of minutes. Because of my job I know where all of the local vets are. If they are not an animal owner, they may not even be sure where the nearest vets is. At least they moved the poor cat before anything else went over it.

BlackboardMonitorVimes · 07/01/2022 13:58

I'm a cat owner and my cat roams. If she were to be hit by a car I would not expect someone to take her to the vets alive or dead. Even the person she ran in front of. I would hugely appreciate if they did, but wouldn't expect them to. I would appreciate a post on a local page so that I could find her.

OrangeShark27 · 07/01/2022 13:58

There's a massive difference between moving a cat 4m or so and taking it to the vet

One takes minutes. The other at least an hour, plus how are we transporting the dead cat in our car? Am I supposed to have dead animal ready towels/box for emergency transportation?

You are being ridiculous. They moved it out the road and posted on Facebook to try and notify the owner, more than many would have done and perfectly reasonable

SW1amp · 07/01/2022 13:59

Not a chance in hell would I take a dead cat to the vets
Yes to moving it off the road so it doesn’t get squashed to an unrecognisable mess, and possibly posting a description of it on Nextdoor if I found it in my area

1940s · 07/01/2022 13:59

Nearly every time I'm in the car I am with my 4 year old, so no

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