I am trying to get over the death of my cat who I think was hit by a car outside our house on Friday night.
We did not find her until 10am on Saturday morning despite going out searching about 9.30 on Friday night (we last saw her at 6pm Friday) and again at 7.30am on Saturday. She was lying in a gap between two bushes at the edge of a little park across the road from our house - I guess either someone had moved her off the road and put her there or she had crawled there.
What is bothering me greatly is whether if I had found her on Friday night at 9.30 and she had been run over, if taking her to a vet could have saved her. She had no visible injuries other than one slightly bleeding claw; her eyes were open and her tongue was poking out of the side of her mouth. I can only guess that she was hit - I can't think of another explanation. She would usually have been in at that time of night or have come back if called. And I was out calling her at 9.30: I am trying to persuade myself that if she was conscious then she would have answered me, and also if she was injured and could make it to the park, she could have made it to our house.
I don't know, I don't know if anyone can know really. Because I could see no visible injuries I don't know how she died. May seem like a silly question, but can a cat die from the impact alone of a collision without showing external injuries? I hate the thought that she was injured and couldn't move and died in the park in that freezing night (it was very cold that night) when we were only about 10 feet away inside our house. Or that she died in pain and cold and could have been saved if I had just shone a torch there when I was out looking for her in the evening. I must have walked past her several times.
I also deeply regret not trying harder to make her wear a collar with a phone number on it: if I knocked a cat down and it had a number on it I would call it to let the owner know. She was microchipped but that's no help unless she was in a vet's.
Sorry, a bit rambly. It's been a real shock and I feel responsible for her death. It's enough that she has died without feeling like it might have been preventable by me.
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Could my cat have been saved if I found her sooner?
Zoonose · 28/11/2012 11:53
@Zoonose just wanted to give you a hug and 
.
I was looking after a cat that was killed by a dog on the street (according to the neighbours who slept at the front of the house: they heard the commotion).
I honestly thought he never went out the front of the house: it had a tiny front garden devoid of greenery like all others on that street. In contrast the back garden was very long and backed on to one equally long, so there was a lot of places for him to explore that I thought he preferred.
He was largely unmarked, just a couple of puncture wounds so I think he may have been shaken to death.
The dog was with someone who the neighbours heard trying to get the dog off but they obviously didn't try to look after the poor bugger once the dog had done it's worst.
Zoonose, I'm so very sorry for your loss. I lost my beloved Creature when we were moving house, and had to keep her shut in a room for several weeks. She fell from a great height when somebody forgot to close the window in the room. Probably would've survived if she hadn't hit a stone planter. Her eyes were open too, and she died on impact, meaning instant death, no suffering. So the same for your beloved cat I'd think.
Ignore Iguannas terribly non empathic post. I can't imagine why a person would post such a thing whilst you're grieving. I have cats that are indoor/outdoors who have access to the outside during the day, like your DCat.
for you and DCat.
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