car drivers and killing pets

just wondering about peoples mentality really, on the way to work i stopped to pick up another dead cat and put it to the side of the road, it had a collar but no id tag. As i see it, it is someones pet and i would hope that someone would have the decency to do the same if it was ever to happen to one of my cats.

But this is the 5th time over the last few years i have done the same, are the drivers in too much of a rush? do they not notice? not care?

As an aside, what would be the best approach to try and get the info to someone that their cat is dead?

You would need to take it to a vets / RSPCA etc. to see if it’s chipped.

Found a cat in our garden two years ago between Christmas and New Year. Lying stretched out like it was asleep.
Double bagged it and into cardboard box, rang my vets, explained the situation and they took it in. They confirmed that it was natural causes and they read the microchip and contacted the owner.

I hit a cat once….. 🙁

dashed out from a driveway with a wall that obscured the view, braked hard and the front dipped but the cat went under the front bumper with a bang.

pulled over and stopped and I genuinely couldn’t find the poor thing, walked around for about 10 mins looking along the road and in front gardens. I hope it was ok, my heart says it probably crawled off and died somewhere…. I still feel bad

The cat may be chipped however not sure if many cat owners do this. I’m more a dog person and guess more dogs are.

I agree with you that moving it to the road side is a minimum and if there is ID then follow it up and let them know. Its quite gauling that someone can run anything over and just leave it.

Might just be me but at least I would think of trying to dispose of it appropriately or let the family if it could be ID’d rather than squashed. I guess its about dignity.

Nice one MrMo,

We are cat owners, currently renting by a busy road. Moving 1st Oct so we hope our cats will live until then…

Our neighbours cat was hit by a car, he made it home and died on the owners lap….. we think that loads of cars just go faster than the 30kmh limit.

If ours do get killed its nice to know that someone made the effort so that although it is dead, its not just ground into the tarmac…

We used to cat sit for the neighbours very old cats. They said that if they die, just bag them and pop them in the freezer until they get home….

Smiling at the above.

One of our cats was hit by a motorbike – the rider came round all the houses nearby until he found someone who was in (we were out) and between them, they got the cat to the vet, where he recovered. Would certainly have died otherwise. So there are decent folk out there. (Bike riders, anyway.)

We would like to trace the biker to thank him.

should mention i was cycling to work so no way to really carry the cat. I have sent an email to the local cats protection in case someone contacts them.

Problem is main road on the back of newish housing estate. Could be from anywhere so can’t really go door knocking.

Cats really are stupid when it comes to roads!

Pets that use our hard-earned roads without paying tax nor even a word of thanks get what they asking for at the end of the day if you ask me and should’ve read the green cross code because that’s what we won that war about, bloody communists. [/daily fail]

I hit a cat once…..

dashed out from a driveway with a wall that obscured the view, braked hard and the front dipped but the cat went under the front bumper with a bang.

pulled over and stopped and I genuinely couldn’t find the poor thing, walked around for about 10 mins looking along the road and in front gardens. I hope it was ok, my heart says it probably crawled off and died somewhere…. I still feel bad

+1

Dark winter night, cat ran out between two parked cars. Horrible “dooga dooga dooga” sound as I ran over it. Stopped but couldn’t find it.

We were behind a 4×4 who hit a cat. They just clipped the back legs of the cat, enough for it to look like it had crushed the poor things pelvis as it pulled itself to the side of the road. The 4×4 driver obviously knew they had hit it as they slowed, then stopped for a split second then hesitated away. We stopped and picked up the cat as carefully as we could and knocked on nearby doors. Second door we knocked were the owners who were upset obviously but absolutely stunned that we had gone to the trouble to help the cat. I remember at the time being a bit troubled by it all. That someone could just drive away and also that the owners were so surprised that someone cared. I’m not really a cat person but I was so horrified at seeing the poor thing get run over, there is no way I couldn’t try and do something. Likewise I’d like to think I’d do similar to you mrmo if I saw a dead cat.

Incidentally the cat was so badly injured it didn’t make it as far as the vets sadly.

Moral of the story – Britain is a nation of extremes;

Extremely decent people and extremely c**tish people.

I seen one get run over while I was walking home from work late one night. I lived in a flat so couldnt hang onto it for long. Walked into the countryside & laid the poor chap to rest next morning. Vets took some details & a few weeks later the owners called me. They seemd somewhat bemused that I’d gone to all that trouble. I didnt do it for them, I did it for the cat.

looked out of the bathroom window last week and saw a cat laid out on the grass at the end of the front garden. Tapped on the glass but not a twitch so went and checked it out and sure enough it was dead with a little bit of blood and clear liquid coming out of it’s nose 🙁

OH had just got back from her night shift (vet) and when we picked it up it was stiff as a board so it must have been someone going to work at about 7-8am that had clipped it and it crawled through the hedge and just looked like it was sleeping.

Knocked on the door of the people opposite and it was one of theirs. Poor little bugger. We live in a quiet little village (pretty much one narrow street parallel to a main road) but people still blast it up and down.

Good mate has lost two cats in the last 9 months, both times drivers just **** off and left them in the road 😐

Saw someone run over a cat in a transit once, and the turd didn’t even stop. Sadly the cat had no id on it. I would have liked to have been able to find the owners, and tell them that at least someone had had the decency to stay with the poor thing as it died.

Both mine have ID tags and microchips.

Having said that, Cat no 1 got hit by a car once, and still jumped in through the kitchen window and demanded food. Didn’t bat an eyelid. We didn’t even know anything had happened until we took him to the vets next day as he had a small lump on his side that we thought was an abcess. Turned out to be 3 broken ribs and a displaced sternum. Somebody must have known that they had hit him though.

thinking about it on the way home, i suppose i shouldn’t be surprised. If people will try and maim and kill cyclists, knock down pedestrians and then just drive off what chance has someones pet got?

When I were a lad Mums cat Henry got hit and broke his back leg
crawled home and we took him to the vets where they bandaged him up
He lived in a cupboard next to some hot water pipes for a few weeks and emerged with a very stiff leg but got on with life .
A couple of years later got hit again bust the same leg and had it removed Yep back in the same warm cupboard for recovery .

He was still a bonkers cat when he adapted to three legs and had a couple more RTA`s before passing away from old age but must have used up all nine lives

Ok, I’ll bite; if you care so much about your pet that you think it’s ok to let it wander around in the road then you should expect to lose it. It isn’t the drivers fault, it’s the owner’s.
I hope no driver ever swerves to avoid a pet and wipes out a pedestrian or cyclist.
And, you were probably expecting this too, if someone runs over the fecker that uses my garden as a toilet then I’d shake their hand.

Whine away.

shifter – Member

Ok, I’ll bite; if you care so much about your pet that you think it’s ok to let it wander around in the road then you should expect to lose it. It isn’t the drivers fault, it’s the owner’s.
I hope no driver ever swerves to avoid a pet and wipes out a pedestrian or cyclist.

Whine away.

Does the same apply to kids with no road sense?

Yeah – because pets and children are, like, just the same thing…..

Was deeply upset at a very young age after seeing a cat get run over while I was waiting for the school bus. A horrible, horrible experience too awful to recount here but for me its a constant reminder of how quickly things can go wrong on the roads

Ok, I’ll bite; if you care so much about your pet that you think it’s ok to let it wander around in the road then you should expect to lose it. It isn’t the drivers fault, it’s the owner’s.
I hope no driver ever swerves to avoid a pet and wipes out a pedestrian or cyclist.
And, you were probably expecting this too, if someone runs over the fecker that uses my garden as a toilet then I’d shake their hand.

What a ridiculous attitude.

I haven’t read every single post but has anyone actually suggested swerving to avoid a pet and wiping out a pedestrian or cyclist ?

These are people pets we’re talking about here there’s no need for such a callous and insensitive attitude. Learn a bit of decency 💡

And pets aren’t the only animals to be found on the road, birds, foxes, badgers, toads, etc., also sometimes find themselves in the paths of cars. Wherever possible I try to avoid hitting them by slowing down, using my steering wheel, etc. Hooting often works well for clearing the road ahead of animals and birds.

If I do unavoidably hit an animal, and I can only recall hitting a dog which dashed out in front of my car once, then I deeply regret it. I have avoided hitting countless animals. And I have never hit a pedestrian or cyclist.

Ok, I’ll bite

So will I.

You’re a nob.

I shall now ban myself accordingly.

When I was a boy scout me and my group saw a cat hit by a car. We tried to do the right thing but I’m not sure the owners were chuffed that their 10 year old opened the front door to a us holding out the ex cat saying “is this yours ” my youth is full of things I shudder to recall but that is in the top 5.

Well seeing as you’ve broken at least 3 of the forum rules in that post, and I’ve just reread them, you deserve a banning tbh.

Even after editing..

I stopped to help an obviously injured but obviously still alive by the side of the road in camberley in about 2005. Had obviously only just happened. Cars streaming past it but noone stopped. I picked it up and had to call the office to find me a vets to take it too. It died later that day. Still upsets me now if I’m honest. I could almost understand if the driver didn’t know they had hit it, but it beggers belief to me that people would drive past an injured and suffering animal like that. Poor little thing was meowing for all it was worth.

I was driving home once and saw my cat sitting in the gutter on the main road, about 200 yards from the house. That was probably the most careful coaxing I’ve had to do with him. Now lives with my parents on a quieter residential road where people drive much quicker…

I hit a cat once…..

Should be fine. It’s the second time that usually does the real damage.

we’ve had three cats run over. two of them we’d got from the RSPCA as a pair, they were killed within a fortnight of each other 🙁

Latest cat was got from RSPCA as an indoor cat. he likes it that way, we like it that way. He really is not interested in being outside. he prefers to be on the computer:

Well seeing as you’ve broken at least 3 of the forum rules in that post, and I’ve just reread them, you deserve a banning tbh.

Quite right.

Three hours’ sleep every night for the last three nights, a ~300 mile drive today and getting home to a thread advocating killing others’ pets, you know, I’m happy to take that hit.

Seems I can’t ban myself, so I’ve emailed the other mods to do it for me. See you on Thursday.

When I was about 6 my rabbit escaped and got run over by a neighbour. He brought it in and was quite distraught. So was I and I still remember the day.

Am I right thinking that if a driver hits a dog they should inform police, but not other small animals ?

Lol @cougar

IainC – yeah – I think that’s the case.

Hit a dog – old english sheepdog, once in oldmeldrum, clipped it really, and it ran off howling into a cornfield and then shut up. the owners were right there and we spent ages looking for it, nothing doing. Drove back to base and found out I had to report it so went to cop shop – desk sergeant Was more pissed off at having to do the paperwork, especially as he worked out I’d driven past another station after the incident. Thought he was gonna arrest me.

Still feel bad about it all these years on, even though it just bounded out of the gate of a garden in front of me.

Cats are independent buggers. I have one and I’m pretty sure he got clipped a few years ago. Lost him for a few days then found him curled up next door, as close to our house as he could get.

That said, I don’t blame the driver, the cat took his chance on the busy road. We can’t stop him crossing the road and if he did come off on the wrong end of a fight with a car I’d be extremely surprised if anyone stopped.

We scrapped the neighbours cat off the road at 3am a few summers ago. We really didn’t what their young kids waking up to see it spread across the tarmac later in the morning. Only noticed it as a couple of drunks in a shopping trolley woke us up rattling by.

On a similar note, when I was young, a friend caused several hundred pounds worth of damage to her and a stationary car avoiding a cat. 🙄

Is it not the case that legally you aren’t actually required to stop if you’ve hit a cat but you are if you’ve hit a dog?

Not that this is an excuse but I’m sure I’ve heard it somewhere.

has anyone actually suggested swerving to avoid a pet and wiping out a pedestrian or cyclist ?

No.

I wrote:

I hope no driver ever swerves to avoid a pet and wipes out a pedestrian or cyclist

because that’s my opinion. I also hope I don’t have to write IMHO in every post.

a thread advocating killing others’ pets

I’d like to see pet owners be responsible for their pets and I’d also like my garden to be clean for my child to play in.

Three hours’ sleep every night for the last three nights, a ~300 mile drive today

Three hours sleep then driving for 300miles? Are you mad? Then doing a second job to police a website? I hope the pay’s good.

Years ago I saw a dead Westie at the side of the road. I pulled over as I’m a Westie-fan 🙁

Anyway the driver had helpfully moved the little fella into the gutter. Nice. So I felt round his collar (no disc etc) so I then called our local vet incase the owner called around (I wont reveal anymore detail/conversation- they asked me to drop him in. The answer was a firm ‘no’).

TBH OP – What could you expect a driver to do? It was horrible feeling around his collar and I wouldn’t have expected/expect anyone to even get out of their car. Its a grim ask.

I stopped to check on what I thought was an injured Siamese cat – he seemed to be holding on of his rear legs up as he hopped along. Turned out it was a three legged cat. :/ Still glad I checked though.

shifter – Member

has anyone actually suggested swerving to avoid a pet and wiping out a pedestrian or cyclist ?

No.

So it was just over-dramatic bollox then – making the connection between avoiding killing someone’s pet and “wiping out a pedestrian or cyclist”. And a pathetic attempt to provide an excuse for a callous and insensitive attitude towards other people’s pets. Just as I thought.

If i’m honest I don’t think i’d stop if I saw something at the side of the road…
However I hope i’d stop if I actually hit something.

I’ve unfortunately hit a few wild animals in the past (including a barn owl) it is a horrible feeling, but living somewhere with deep drainage ditches either side of the road I won’t go out of my way to swerve and avoid anything either.