What do you do when a cat is hit by a car?

[User364837]

I’m sorry I know this sounds strange but can you help me plan in my mind what I’d do if either I hit someone else’s cat with my car of found my own cat had been hit by a car. It makes me feel anxious but I think if I have what I’d do clear in my mind that would help.

I feel like I’d freeze and not know what to do.
if it was someone else’s cat, realistically does everyone stop? What if you don’t realise/aren’t sure.
and can you just take to any vet? Do they normally survive such things? Should I perhaps have a blanket or towel in my car to be prepared.

if it’s near the town where I live, one of the vets is 24h so can you just turn up even if the cat isn’t registered there? If it’s treated who pays? What if the owner says they can’t afford it and didn’t authorise treatment? Or is it normally a case more of scanning the chip in order to let the owner know.

I guess if it was my dcat I would phone my own vet, but their emergency out of hours service is about half an hours drive away.

Take to any vet.
They will scan for a chip & contact the owner.

If there is no chip / while waiting for owners to respond etc, they will provide emergency treatment. This will usually be pain relief & probably IV fluids to help stabilise & keep comfortable.

If owner can't be found then it depends on the prognosis - if kitty is really severely injured & unlikely to survive then euthanasia.
Minor injuries can be patched up & staff will try & find a rescue place.

Trickier situations are serious but potentially repairable injuries - staff will often be ringing around rescues trying to see if they can take on the cat (or sometimes a staff member will fall in love, foot the bill themselves & take said cat home).

Sometimes these will also be euthanasia cases though - for example, a pelvic fracture where there appears to be damage to the nerves so cat is likely to be incontinent - as sadly without a dedicated owner they are unlikely to find a new home so putting them through stressful and painful treatments might not be in the cats best interests. Those decisions aren't taken lightly.

Ok thank you
so it sounds like you wouldn’t have to look too closely to see if the poor thing is alive or not or the extent of the injuries. As either way the vet can scan and contact the owner.