My cat was killed on the road tonight

[something2say]

I'm.so upset. I rehomed a gorgeous 3 yr old Persian cross in March. I kept him in for a month, but he was desperate to go outside and I gave in and let him. He settled in well, I sorted his coat out,he put in weight, he was insured and flead and all that. I worried at first about him being out but he was happy. The rehoming people told me to keep him as an indoor cat but I felt he was desperate to go out. I did tell them and they were not happy.

Well tonight he has been killed by a car. I came home from work, fed him and let him out, then went out and returned an hour later to find a crowd in the road and him on the ground. I'm so gutted. He was a slip of a thing, so silky, used to scram about, loved his food, very inquisitive, but really interested in cuddling, more interested in what was going in out the window.

I feel so horrible. If I hadn't let him out he would still be alive. I took their rescue cat and promised to take care of him and I did not and he is dead.

Grey squirrel, piss off my thread.

Really there are some awful people on MN. Just coming to put the boot in.

He sounds like an amazing cat who packed such a lot into his little life and everyone he met loved him. Better he get to do all that and die young than to watch it all through the window.

I doubt that young outdoor cats have much road sense, either. They have to learn it over time. I can’t see a way around that, unfortunately.

I love the idea of him socialising round the street with your neighbours! How lovely! :-)
It sounds like he was very happy.

I can relate as I had a lot of guilt around missing signs of ill health for my cat (that I was talking about). I hadn't realised how ill he was and regretted not being more attentive to symptoms I'd wrongly thought were linked to another condition.

I honestly thought I'd never get another cat again as I transended into a mass of guilt in my sadness when he died.
Since then I have got another cat as I feel more balanced about the whole thing and treated it as a learning experience of what to do in different situations and realised guilt is part and parcel of grief.

You sound like a very caring cat owner and stand by to my post that you did the right thing. I don't know how you could ever train a cat to be more street wise to roads. Every kitten even ones born homeless have to learn it themselves anyway?! I respect cat charities but I feel they say to keep them in more than not just to cover their backs but I see it as unrealistic that cats will always stay in.
I can't imagine a cat thanking them for advising people to hold them prisoner for life! :-) The stats of cats dying outside seem a bit misleading to me as I know so many people with cats whove lived until old age and roamed. Maybe they refer to cats who are homeless so die of untreated wounds after fights etc and are always out in the elements with poor diets.

Ignore GreySquirell!!! Ridiculous comments. I think the charity lady knows it's inevitable cats will eventually find a way of getting outside anyway if their owners don't cave in first watching them look longingly outside every day. :-)

Just focus on being kind to yourself and get lots of sleep. You need to have plenty of time to process the sadness and grief 💖

It sounds like your Dcat touched a number of peoples lives.

It’s tough because you obviously felt this was right for your cat but clearly the rescue felt differently.

We have a rescue ragdoll and the rescue specifically said they wanted her to have outdoor access. Ragdolls are often kept as indoor cats and I did wrestle with the decision to let her out but ultimately we did. I genuinely don’t believe from her behavior that she had actually had previous outdoor access (she was a breeding queen) so I’m not sure why the rescue specified it but she does love going out and has an incredibly small territory thankfully.