Do people really drive round / get a taxi with dead cats ???

[Isthisreallyathing]

Sadly found a deceased cat outside my home so posted on the local fb group a description and location. Then I get loads of replies telling me to take it to a vet to be scanned - I don’t drive and have a sleeping toddler ! They call me selfish and suggest getting a taxi !!

Do people really do this ? AIBU not to ?? (I don’t think I am but 100% of responses were telling me to get the cat scanned for a chip to locate owners)

I think people do this if they have a car with a blanket in the boot they can wrap the cat up in. It is an incredibly kind thing to do for the owner's sake, someone did it for me/my cat once.
I completely understand why you wouldn't want to get a taxi especially with a toddler and no spare blanket to hand. Posting on a Facebook page is better than nothing.

This creased me up! People are bonkers.

Well yes I would get a taxi to the vets in this case
Or see if neighbour or someone can drive me.
Maybe not straightaway if my child was sleeping obviously

The vets is one minute walk away from me (or less) so that's easy.

But in your case you did a good thing by putting it on FB and sorry you got loads of shrieking people. Like pp just ask them to take the cat as it's not possible for you at present.

I think you should ask on the local fb group if anyone is able to take the cat to a vets to be scanned because you are unable to do this. Maybe shut up some of the people criticising you for something they're not prepared to do either.

Some people very unrealistic expectations of others who randomly find a deceased cat.
Of course it is sad for the cat and owner, but the cat is not suffering.
I know that vets will treat emergencies at any time, and I would hope that anyone finding an injured, but still living animal, would make every effort to access treatment. Would a vet even be willing to scan a deceased animal outside of normal opening hours?

We have a hedgehog rescue where I live and people get VERY cross if one gets run over, on an unlit road at night as if they're expecting drivers to be spotting and then swerving round these small animals.

Of course I'd never deliberately run a hedgehog over but the amount of blame when I bet the driver had no idea it was there at all.

That's harsh! I never have found, and hopefully never will find, myself in this position, because I would really be on the horns of a dilemma! I am really squeamish about dead creatures and I don't know I'd be up for handling it even though I know it's the right thing to do, and I am a massive cat lover!

I'd definitely try to contact someone to pick it up though.

The idea of a fox taking it away is deeply abhorrent! That's most likely someone's pet!! Have you ever tried to keep a cat indoors that has a strong instinct to be free? I guess not. I am thankful that my current three cats are content to be indoors. However, all three prior to rescue had been used to being out, one as a stray, another neglected, and the third was indoor/outdoor, so I could have had a dilemma!! You can't restrict a cat that's not happy indoors. It's not fair on them. You don't appear to know a lot about cats, do you?

The are places where cats can't go outside - either to protect wildlife, or due to things like coyotes. They get used to it.

They may "get used to it" but are they happy and fulfilled? I live in the UK where there are no coyotes. I'm sad when the neighbours' cats kill birds in our garden, and while I try, I can't prevent them. However, after a lifetime of having cats, I've had some who would have lost their minds if they were confined indoors all the time!

When DH and I were first married, we adopted two kittens. They were wholly indoors. We then acquired a boy who just appeared on our windowsill one day, and another boy whose family moved and left him behind (bastards!) Both of them would have been miserable without some outdoor access, and they were only allowed out when we were at home to keep an eye out for them.

Same as our last old boy who came to us as a stray. His life was outdoors, and it took years before he started to spend spells of time in the house, eventually moving in fulltime when he lost the sight in one eye.

I think so - it just requires more work. Lots of enrichment, perhaps an outdoor enclosed area.

If a cat is used to roaming, I don't see how it would ever settle permanently indoors. I had a cat 50 years ago, who was literally feral outdoors but a sit-on-your-knee pet indoors. Now I accept that spaying would probably have calmed her down, and resolved her hormonal issues, but back then, rurally, spaying wasn't a thing. You could have shut her in for days but she would still end up disappearing for days on end when she was let out, or escaped. Her mum was our cat, so we had her from a kitten, and she could also be really affectionate. When I moved away from home to go to uni, she used to sit looking for me at my bedroom door (she wasn't allowed upstairs!). She just had that wild streak that couldn't be tamed. Her mother didn't have it, her granny didn't have it, and none of her siblings did either. I spent a lot of my teens out looking for her to bring her home!!

There is no way, although she spent many happy hours asleep in our home, that we could ever have totally confined her!

You can't know because you never tried. It takes weeks or longer to train an animal, or for it to adjust, not days.

Our council will come and collect dead pets, they have a scanner so can contact the owner and they can come collect from the depot, or someone will drop it off in their own time.

There is a value to being in nature both for cats and people. I don’t think most cats would be content being indoor cats. I’msure there was an ONS study on the value of nature and people who spent time outside were measurably better off emotionally and physically. I’d argue it’s the same for most cats too.

Sorry, I don’t care about the cat owners who let their cats out because they don’t seem to care about birds and other wildlife that their cats kill.

Yes we have the same. We also have a new business in our area for people who need to be transported with their pets to the vet etc. I think it is such a brilliant idea and hope so much they succeed.

I have taken a few dead cats to the vets to be scanned. Also if I see a post on fb where someone has just left the cat there I will make an effort if I can to go and pick it up and take it. I own cats. I appreciate there is a risk letting them roam. But I would also appreciate someone putting in the effort to find me if the worst should happen. I cannot expect that effort if I’m not willing to do it myself.

People always seem angry on posts like this. Not your fault op. I wouldn't be taking a random dead cat to the vet either. I'd contact the rescue charity.

YANBU it totally depends on personal circumstances if you could drive didn’t have a toddler, had time and a close vet I would say it would be a nice thing to do for the owner (but that’s something someone would do out of kindness not a requirement) other than that I would give a local cat charity a call - again this would be the kind thing to do.

whoever wrote the fox comment, you clearly have issues you need to address weirdo 😂

Imo the indoor vs outdoor argument for cats is never going to be resolved- because even animal “experts” (behaviouralists etc) can’t seem to agree afaik. It’s a bit like whether 2 years olds are ready for nursery, everyone’s opinions seem to differ depending on their own situation!

My personal opinion based on the behaviour of the majority of the cats I’ve known -is better a potentially shorter but seemingly happier life being able to go outside sometimes, than being shut in. But although it might be better for the cat, it’s so hard on the owners- so if OP is able to find someone to scan the cat, she’d be doing a lovely thing

Like a previous poster mentioned - my council also has a team that scans pets found by the roads, so might be worth checking with yours OP?

We did take an injured seagull to the vet once, but it took my husband ages to catch it in a towel and box it up. My daughter was about 5 at the time and got quite attached to it, and for several years afterwards still believed that the vet ‘taking care of it’ meant it was there being looked after like royalty 😬.

I don’t think you should made to feel bad about not taking a dead cat to the vet in your circumstances tho and sorry you had a rough time on FB.

I see people doing the same a lot on local groups op.

ive always thought it reflects the difference between cat/ pet owners and not- I am extremely squimish about dead or injured animals and unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to do anything. Which when people hear they think of their much loved cat and it makes them angry

I managed to find someone on a missing cat/dog page who had a scanner so they came out and sorted it all out . Poor cat but if it happens again i definitely won’t post on the local page !

After your experience, who could possibly blame you?

Not one of my late mother's numerous cats made it to old age; nearly all of them ended up as roadkill. I recall one incident in 1987, not long before an estrangement that lasted until just before her demise in 1994, where one Sunday afternoon there was a knock on the door. It was a motorist who had just run over and killed a cat. He'd taken the time and trouble to stop and the cat's collar led him to knock on our door. Cue a deranged, hysterical reaction from my drunken alcoholic mother.. "You murdered my Mog!", she wailed and went to attack him. I prevented the assault, thanked the motorist for his time and trouble and made a mental note that if I should ever find myself in this situation, I would not put myself at risk of a similar onslaught. Thankfully to the best of my knowledge I have never run over anyone's pet and I hope it stays that way.