To think cat owners are unreasonable for insisting that drivers MUST stop if they hit a cat?

[OtterlyMad]

Some of the people on my town’s Facebook page lose their minds when a cat is killed by a car. It’s automatically blamed on speeding (despite there being no evidence of this) and there are always lots of comments along the lines of how “disgusting” it is that the driver didn’t stop and make the owner aware.

None of them seem to appreciate that the driver might not have time to track down the owner. For example, perhaps they are on their way to work, a job interview, wedding, funeral, court, airport, hospital, dentist, client meeting, school pick up, etc. Plus cats can wander quite far and don’t all wear collars so tracking down the owner could be a real challenge - even more so if driver isn’t local to the area!

Obviously it’s devastating for people to lose their pet in this way (I’m an animal lover and have owned pets all my life so I get it) but surely this is a known risk of allowing cats to roam freely? And owners accept that risk because they feel it gives their cat a better quality of life, even if that means their life is shorter as a result?

My locals are now campaigning to make it law that drivers who hit a cat must not only stop and find the owner, but also HAND OVER THEIR CONTACT DETAILS. To do what with?! So the cat’s owner can give the driver grief and/or demand compensation they’re not entitled to???

Am I the only one thinking this is ludicrous?

You are being unreasonable - drivers should be required to stop, track down the owner of the cat and hand over their contact details.

You are not being unreasonable - injury/death by vehicle is a sad but accepted risk of cats having the right to roam so drivers should not be required to stop.

I drove past a dead cat. It was round the corner from my house, so I went home, enlisted the help of one of my DC and went back with gloves, a bag and a box to collect the cat. By the time I'd done that the owner was outside and very upset. We put the cat in the box for her.

I'd stop (if safe to do so) if I hit a cat. If I couldn't take it to the vet for any reason I'd move it to the side of the road and inform someone locally (we have many rescues with scanners who will pick up deceased cats and search for their owners)

Cats can and do run off after being hit though. Some go missing for days before the are either found in a bad way, or dead.

I can’t understand how anyone could knowingly hit an animal and not stop to see if it can be saved or try to find its owner, even if it’s a social media post, ‘black cat deceased on x street. Couldn’t be saved and couldn’t stop so moved behind a bush’ or something’.

I would think really badly of anyone who didn’t stop because they are missing a flight or whatever. I think the only reason for not stopping would be an emergency such as getting a passenger to hospital urgently etc.

It’s a shame there isn’t some official place to report these cats too. I don’t really want a law change to match dogs but I’d be heartbroken to lose a cat in that way. Not knowing if it was alive for a few hours in horrible pain because someone was to heartless to stop and take it to vets.

I wouldn't necessarily expect her to knock on doors, but I would expect her to stop and at least get a brief description of the cat so she could find the owner via social media or the local vets.

You can always report to the local vets or post on social media. Our area has a local "animal rescue team" who will take reports of stuff like this and share the details to try and find the owners.

YANBU. Right to roam... if cat owners want the law changed then perhaps right to roam should be revoked, or there should be similar penalties to dogs messing in public places. Said as a cat and dog owner. Can't have it both ways. We wouldn't have an outdoor cat as wouldn't want to take the risk of them not coming home.
Edit: I've never hit a cat but would stop if safe to do so, if I did. I don't understand how anyone could knowingly leave any animal potentially in pain, but unfortunately it isn't illegal, which is partly why we don't let ours outdoors.

It is unreasonable and fucking heartless to not let anyone know that you have hit a cat. Even a post on the local Facebook. I didn't realise I was still hurting so badly over my boy until you started this shitty thread!

I was sat on the bus into town a couple of months ago and saw a cat stood at the traffic lights, on it's own, waiting to cross the road. All cats should be bred from that one.

Sounds like our local Facebook page. It’s always blamed on speeding drivers. I wouldn’t be owning up if I knew I’d done it because they act like a mob. I had a car dart in front of my car the other day and I wasn’t speeding, luckily it get across but I had to slam on.

Cat owners want the car driver to go door knocking.

come on. Even if you hit a dog you don’t go door knocking it’s report the incident.

who honestly these days wants to knock a random door to tell someone they killed their pet and get what could be any reaction.

My heart goes out to everyone who has also lost their beloved companion in this manner x

Presumably, this is your cat? All my cats have listened intently to what I’ve told them when I’ve been wafting the dreamys about and then done whatever the fuck they like.

People who let their cats roam free killing wildlife for the fun of it.

Quite frankly the owners never seem to be bothered about the thousands of lives their cat decides to kill for fun so all in all if you let you cat out to do this I think you then loose the right to be bothered that your cat might get run over.

When you basically let your non-native killing machine be responsible for killing mice, birds and other wildlife.

YANBU. It's insane how mawkish people get on neighbourhood forums about animals that get hit. I mean, I'm sorry about it but if it's on a fast stretch of road you don't bloody stop to pick it up.

I remember reading a woman berating someone who had left a cat to 'bleed out' by the road, and she stopped to pick it up and take it to a vet's, where it then died. As I read it I immediately thought 'And you'd have been straight up for a Darwin Award if you'd been hit.'

Yanbu on principle but if possible I think stopping and dealing with the cat by taking it to a vet or if not possible putting it to the side of the road, is the best course of action

To clarify I am taking about a 30mph urban road near me where cats often meet an untimely end. No way would it be safe to stop on some roads.

I would make every effort to track down an injured cat's owner but I imagine they're rarely home as they spend most of their time visiting the families of the 40 million birds that cats kill per year in the UK, explaining what happened to their missing feathered friend.

It will soon be the law to have your cat microchipped. So in theory all cats should be identifiable.

It's often hard to track down a cats owners. But say if you did hit a cat, with the new microchip law you could at least take it to the nearest vet who could inform the owner.

This is why I understand people not posting on social media about cats they've hit. Taking it to the vet if safe and possible to do so, absolutely. Some people respond so aggressively if someone says they hit a cat but couldn't take it to the vet though, I can see why people might just keep going.

It cost me just under £2000 to set my garden up so that my cat couldn't escape. It's a lot of money, but I know that she's safe, and it's what responsible owners do.

I think leaving any animal in the road that hasn't been outright killed is just appalling. I don't think it should be law though to find the owner of a dead cat.

The cat I sadly hit had stowed away in my bonnet. I had stopped for a while to unload some gig gear then drove the car home. 1st speed bump I came to, the poor thing fell out/jumped out and under my wheels.

Not all cats are killed by them running across the road. There is no way on this earth I could have prevented that from happening.

DH and I were talking about this recently as he's a bus driver and he's had some accidents with wildlife but not a cat or dog yet.

Unfortunately with the size of the bus he drives and the state of the roads nowadays he likely wouldn't even notice if he hit a cat.

He would be really upset if he did notice but I'm not sure if he would be able to do something as the company would be on at him for keeping to time more than likely (would be different with a dog because of the law but even then with the size of some of them he might not notice smaller ones).

They also get very irate if you complain about all the birds they kill. We are constantly having to chase them away from trying to get at the baby birds in our garden. I find it odd many owners have no concern for this.