Should we not get a cat if we live near a busy road?

[rasmusklump]

We've just moved into a new house and have a large front garden surrounded by tall hedges. On the other side is a 50mph road which turns to a 30mph about 100 yards further on. It's quite rural but cars seem to pass every few minutes. We've been thinking about getting a cat but I'm really concerned about the road. Should we reconsider and look into a different type of pet?

I rented a house on a 40 mph country road heading into a village. In the 18 months I lived there, 3 neighbourhood cats were killed by cars. And possibly more, these are just the ones that happened in front of my house.

I live on a fairly busy urban B road. Limit is 20mph but plenty do 30+ 😠.

So far, our cats have been fine but we've only had them a year. They tend to stay out the back, which gives them a big run of gardens to play in - our back wall is like a cat superhighway, all the neighborhood cats run along it.

When we adopted, the lady who did a home visit wasn't too concerned. She said as many cats get run over on very quiet residential roads as busy ones, perhaps more as there isn't constant traffic to scare them away. But it does play on my mind.

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus.

Cats with FIV are best kept away from other cats. Bites can pass the condition on and they can't fight off illnesses and infections they may pick up themselves. Hence becoming indoor cats.

Leroy is FIV+ and was abandoned because of it. Lives a life of luxury now though 😸.

I think there is a big difference between a busy rural road and a busy town road.
On a town road the traffic is almost constant and the cat learns to keep away.
On a rural road it's one fast car every so often so they don't get the notion that the road is dangerous.

My DM lives in a rural village but on a fairly busy road. She has had 24 cats. All but about 6 lost their lives on the road.
She won't have cats any more.

I used to live on a very quiet rural road, maybe one car an hour at 30mph and lost a cat to it. We then moved near a busy main road and the constant traffic kept them away.

We lost a second cat in a village on a 30mph road.

It's heartbreaking and we no longer have cats.

The only one of mine that got run over was when I lived in a cul de sac with 6 houses.
I have never lived on a very busy road though.

Great picture of Leroy yesitsme

I wouldn't. Two of my friends have had their cats run over recently. Different areas.

Cat proof your garden and keep the cat safe, or build an enclosure and put the litter tray outside.

I have heard of too many cats that have never gone out the front suddenly changing their minds and getting killed on the road. They rarely get more than one chance to do it.

And there is currently a warning on the SNARL website that the Cat Killer is active all over the country and to keep your cats in everywhere between Manchester and the South Coast after this description was circulated.

www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/uk-cat-killer-first-description-13539845