Stupid to get another cat?

[snowy29]

Our beloved 3 year old cat was hit by a car and died 4 weeks ago. We had been home from the hospital with our newborn baby for less than 24 hours when it happened. We were (and still are) absolutely heartbroken and I have spent the past 4 weeks beating myself up over the what ifs and wishing we had just kept her in for that first day home. But she had been shut in for almost 48 hours (with my parents visiting to feed her etc) whilst we were in hospital and she loved to explore, so we let her out that morning not thinking anything of it. And then she was gone.

I'm so sad that our little girl won't ever know the cat we loved so much - she really was our first baby and helped us through some difficult times over the past few years. I always had cats growing up and have lost many over the years, but I've never felt a loss like this. I think about her all the time.

I know it's too soon at the moment, but I would one day like to have another cat and always imagined our children would grow up with pets just like I did. My DH is adamant we won't ever have another cat whilst we live in our current house as he doesn't want to go through this again. So I guess my main reason for posting this is to ask if anyone has lost a cat in this way and then gone on to get another? Would we be stupid?

Same thing happened to me (minus the newborn baby) now all our cats are indoor cats, they do potter about the garden supervised though. So sorry about your girl

I think if there is easy access to a road then I wouldn't. Your options would be to cat proof the garden or to maybe get a middle aged 'street wise' cat from a rescue.

I think it depends on the location, type of property and your habits. So in essence - is the house terraced/semi/detached, what are the nearby roads like? It is also far safer to only ever let cats out from the back of the property - of course this is easier if you live in a terraced house or a semi where you can perhaps catproof just the side gate to make access to the front more difficult. Alternatively, can you catproof the garden? If you already have solid fences and some basic DIY skills, it doesn't have to be expensive.

Thanks all. I think I know deep down we can't have another cat here.

We are semi detached and only ever let our cat have access from the back of the house but she easily found her way to the front and across the road. She would often appear at one of the front windows waiting to be let in. She recently spent a lot of time in a garden across the road under some big bushes. Sadly this is probably where she had been coming from when she was hit :( I just thought she'd be safe as so many times I had watched her wait for cars before crossing over.

Our road is small and should be quiet, but people seem to use it as a cut through and go quite fast. Unfortunately this is only something I properly realised since having been on maternity leave and therefore being home the majority of the time. I feel so guilty we couldn't keep her safe. We should have kept her in.

We will miss her forever 😢

Have you looked into catproofing the garden? It requires throwing a bit of money at the problem but it's do-able. Look at Protect-a-Puss to give you an idea.

Why not get a cat that need to stay indoors? Persians/ragdolls. There are breed rescues.

Sorry you lost your DCat in such a way. Don't ever say never again but with a newborn baby I wouldn't get another for at least a couple of years! An already settled cat is different.
If you plan on staying where you are then something to cat proof the garden so a cat can't access the front of the house seems sensible. With a small child I would also consider and adult rescue (or two) who is child friendly.

Why do persions and rag dolls need to be indoor cats (just out of curiosity)

And sorry for your loss OP

When we lost our first cat to a car years and years ago it was within a week or two that we decided we really wanted another and maybe another 3-6 months before we bought another home

Because they just aren't bright enough to be streetwise! And they would be at risk of being stolen. Mine go into the garden. But are equally happy staying indoors. They are not at all like normal cats!

bumping to knock all the cat pee threads off the front page.

We lost our cat in an accident when she was just one and it was a couple of weeks before Christmas ☹️ We got another one in the January. My house just felt so empty and the children really missed her too. We rescued a pedigree who was an ex-breeding cat and also had some sight issues (she’s actually blind although we didn’t know this at the time), she needs to be a house cat as a result. We do take her out in the garden but only supervised and it has been a very healing process.