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.

That's a very weird post. Personally I would try to help ANY injured animal if I could. Even if it involves calling an appropriate rescue/wildlife charity etc.

Even if it gets put to sleep it's better than leaving it to a slow, lingering painful death. I don't get people who can just walk past and leave it to suffer.

With modern technology it should be possible for there to be a site where, if you have hit an animal, (any animal) you can stop, click a "register a hit (indicating what animal where possible" and then, if necessary, go about your business.

Any animal lover who wanted could have access to this and can then, if close, go and help/support.
OK that sounds a bit complicated but I am sure some expert could sort something similar, that would work

The most bizarre part of this strangeness is the idea that a cat can be ‘murdered’.

Some cats go miles, most don’t - they’re territorial, chances are you’d hit it pretty near its house and if injured that’s where it’s likely to try and go as well.

Your best bet is to knock on the door of the nearest house or whichever one it’s trying to get to, when I hit one it was the neighbour, but they said, it lives in that house.

Any vet you phone will either answer if they do their own out of hours service or it’ll be a message giving you the phone number and address of who does do the out of hours service.

It's the bargain you make when you cross the road. Get in any car. You could get hurt.
A women stepped out in front of my car, to avoid her would have put me in a side-on shunt, v.serious injury for me - she would have walked. I chose to keep going. Fortunately for her, she scrapped it.

Had I hit her... oof? Life-changing injury. A grown-arse woman, she knows the game. She chose it. So does a cat-owner.

Will I presume if had hit her you'd have stopped ! 😒

Kill / murder…..whatever….. 🙄

I am on a couple of local Facebook groups, they are all the same when it comes to cats. The owners want it both ways.

if a cat shits all over your garden or keeps entering your house it is not the owners responsibility as they have a right to roam.

if a cat gets hit during this right to roam it’s disgusting and you should knock on doors to find the owner.

there was a post a while ago where a woman’s cat broke into a house and she ended up posting ham through the vents to try and feed it. She never took any responsibility as the cat was just doing what cats do.

if I had ever accidentally hit a cat I wouldn’t be knocking on doors to find the owner.

YABU. Of course there may be circumstances where it is not safe to stop, on a motorway for example, but where it is of course you should. Check if the animal is killed or injured, ring the local vet, even put a picture up on the local Facebook page. To say, as OP suggested, I am on the school run so I drove on is a bit heartless. Your kids (and I have kids of my own so I know how it is before anyone makes that comment) may be a bit late one day, but the effort will mean an awful lot to the owner. Like about another poster said it is shocking how lacking in empathy people are these days and how self centered. I think someone even mused about the damage to the car. It is a bloody car get over it, you have taken a life and you should feel bad about it.

We all know that when we get in a car/cross a road we risk getting hurt. That doesn't mean you can hit someone and not give a shit.

Also, the cat doesn't understand the risk. It doesn't understand that certain people might not agree with its "right" to roam outside. It doesn't understand how cars and roadways work. It is literally just being a cat. It doesn't deserve to be left in the road without even an attempt being made to get it medical help.

I need to get off this thread. It is frankly bizarre.

I think this is the ultimate problem.

You can't have it both ways.

You can't, on the one hand, take zero responsibility for your cat and hide under the right to roam. Then, on the other hand, demand that if a cat gets into an accident with a car, the driver has to take full responsibility to track the owner down.

Either you want the right to roam and all the risks that come with it-or you don't.

It matters though, doesn’t it?

If I kill ants, flies or rats I don’t ‘murder’ them. Same with any animal. If I run over a cat it’s not a homicide. It’s just a dead cat.

Equally if my dog is out of control and causes an accident in which she is run over, or the car swerves and causes an accident or the car does an emergency stop, I am at risk of prosecution and of being sued.

Where I live, not the UK, people who see a deceased cat generally put a post on the local Facebook page, and often if the cat is lying on the road they will stop and move it to the side.

Some heartless people on this thread - no surprise there, most of MN hate other people so you can hardly expect them to care about cats.

230,000 cats hit in RTA per year in the UK.

78% at night.

Almost 180,000 cats could be saved by keeping them in at night. I wonder if a nightime curfew for cats might be a better law to petition tbh.

They still get some freedom. Their risk of being hit goes down massively. It will also significantly reduce predation of wildlife.

I would stop. I’d be shitting myself getting out the car but I’d stop incase the cat was still alive. Even if it was already dead and I was on my way to one of OP’s imaginary super important scenarios I would still phone a vet/post on social media. Something. Just driving off and getting on with your day does seem quite horrible.

You take it to a vet. They have an obligation to take it without charge to you as you found it. They can check the microchip and contact the owner. I've found an injured cat and done this.

I’m an animal lover with cats and dogs and would be beside myself if I ever hit either. I was beside myself when I hit a deer not long ago. I would absolutely take the cat to a vet (leave outside, respectfully if at night) so the owner could be told. Such horrible, callous and cold responses here about much loved animals. Edit to say: when I hit the deer I contacted the local games keeper so that the animal could be humanely put out of its misery. If you hit an animal, and you’re a caring person, you check on it. On a motorway is an exception of course.

YANBU and I say that as cat lover who recently lost a cat to road accident.

It is a risk we take for the freedom to roam outdoors. However if it all possible it would save a lot of heartache if drivers could move the cat to where it can be easily found/reunited with its owner. Just as a kindness not an obligation or law.

i was very grateful to be reunited with my cat after a Good Samaritan took her body to a local vet.

It seems accountability for actions is not something we're too strong on with cat owners.

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,

Guess they're not stopping for the child they hit....

You know a cat is owned and loved by someone - I'd unfriend and be disgusted by anyone who didn't stop for a cat

Bloody hell, OP isn’t driving erratically around her town mowing down cats for the fun of it and laughing manically as she does so. She is quite simply saying it is not always possible to stop. When you do stop, it is not always possible to locate the cat if it has run off, which many animals do when they are injured. And it’s not always easy to actually locate help for the cat, if you can stop and you can actually locate the injured cat. The hysteria on her FB page is unworkable. As others have pointed out the right to roam for cats beings this risk.

A feral cat abandoned its kittens on our fast road. One of the kittens was very nearly hit by a car. They weren’t because someone walking past put himself in danger by running in front of the car. It wasn’t the car’s fault. I rang the RSPCA, several times, no answer. I rang cats protection and they had no capacity. I rang our vet, they wouldn’t take them. I had to ring another vet who thankfully did take them. This is for kittens next to a 60mph road and it took me an hour to find somewhere to take them. This is obviously slightly different in finding homes for them but there is no guarantee a cat’s owner would be found and vet fees reclaimed via insurance. It is not simple as ring the RSPCA.

As for always being prepared for anything and stopping because you’ve blown a tire and physically unable to continue driving and stopping for an animal, this is the highest level of stupidity. In first aid courses they always teach you not to put yourself in danger helping the injured person as the emergency services would have two people to rescue. Blowing a tire on a motorway, having to stop, calling recovery and being marked as a priority and Highways/police attending until recovery can help you is not the same as pulling over to find an injured cat.

I have had cats previously and have dogs now, before I’m accused of being heartless or psychotic. I also don’t think many people would deliberately drive at a cat and if they were able to safely brake, would choose to do so. I don’t think the Highway Code section on an emergency brake for a human but check your rear view mirror first if animal works because your brain doesn’t have time to decipher if that’s a human, animal, or inanimate object that may cause you to crash. You see a flash of something and immediately start braking your brain then works out what it is as you are already slowing down. However, I would not be giving my details to an owner if I ever hit a cat because I don’t want to be harassed for being heartless, psychotic or just a careless twat. I’d be devastated to hit a cat but it is the risk you take with roaming cats.

You stopped, you didn't drive off without caring

You tried

That's all cat owners want

If you don't want your cat to be a victim of a hit & run driver, just keep it inside.

There are enough ignorant people about, don't join them if you love your pet.

Once the car owner has tracked down the pet owner, I assume it would be normal for them to offer to pay for any required car repairs?