Please help: Involved in RTA and don't know what to do!

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

     So hard when you'd prefer your cats to stay in.  As you say, cats with outdoor access seldom want to stay in during these short and dusky summer nights.  Ours are out all hours.   

[Loups]

@Misa: Will keep that in mind, thanks.

@Lyn: The story of my two little girls is a long one, which I posted on The Hovel at the time. I'm happy to recount if people are interested, but the short story is I found them living outside a house where they were left, with several other cats, to fend for themselves. They didn't know what inside was until we took them home! Bast doesn't go out much due to several bad incidents, but she lounges around the garden on nice days. On the other hand, Shakti is always out and about. She worries me this time of year as she likes to stay out at night! No matter how much I call at 3am she has none of it!

I'd love to keep them both in, but it wouldn't be fair.

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks and I've not seen any lost cats in the area, so I think s/he was either a farm cat that no-one would miss ( ), survived and no-one noticed ( ), or a pet and managed to get home. I hope one of the latter is true.

[Lyn (Slugsta)]

Hi Lou,

The decision whether to keep a cat in, safe at home with Meowmy, or let it out to do what cats do is such a hard one. I know that people here have agonised over it, having previously lost beloved cats to the road  There is no single correct answer, we all do what we feel we must.

I currently have 2 cats. Alf came to me at almost 1 year of age, having been used to going out of the house. He would go mad and tear up the walls and doors if I tried to keep him in (he was a nightmare when we moved here last year and kept him in for a few weeks)! Sky came to us after a few months in rescue. She is small, timid and, after an illness last year, has some balance problems (and is currently on my lap purring, treadling and dribbling    ). I made the decision to keep her in and she lives in our bedroom, where she seems perfectly content.

[Misa]

THANK YOU THAT WRITING IS BETTER FOR ME TO READ.

I AM GILL SNEAKIEFELINE WHEN I COME ON WITH MY LAPTOP BUT ITS EASIER ON THE IPAD SO AM MISA LOL, HE IS ONE OF MY CATS

GREAT TO HAVE YOU AROUND

[Loups]

Thank you all, once again, for your kind words. It really means a lot!

@Paula: Thank you.

@Lyn: That sounds awful. I have to admit, I never got around to getting my missing cat chipped. The thought at the time was, "Well, he never goes far, so why bother?". Oh, the time I've spent lamenting that poor decision! Needless to say, when we found the two little ones I have now, it was one of the first things I did!

I have to get this off my chest too: whilst looking for the cat on Friday, a big SUV pulled out of the road opposite and a woman saw Mum and I looking, and asked if we were OK. I was still in shock, so hadn't started blubbing yet, but I said, "No! I've just run over a cat!" and, I kid you not, she just went, "Awww" and they drove off! I mean, I know animals aren't everyone's priority and, had I just broken down on the side of the road, I'm sure I would have appreciated that they'd checked on me, but dear Gods, that reaction made me  ! Urgh, some people make me mad!

Then there's people like you and I, who love these furbabes as much as we do, who'll do everything in our power to help an injured/distressed/etc., cat and all they can say is, "Awww"?! So patronising! *Shake it off, shake it off!*

Anyway...

I actually signed up to this forum some years ago, after The Hovel closed. I thought I'd posted before, but obviously I hadn't! Very rude of me. So this was the first place I came to after it happened. And yes, I will stick around.

@Sue P: Wise words indeed, thank you.

I too have lost cats to RTA's: my first cat, Salem, was run over right outside my house. I made a poor choice of rental (for many, many reasons!) and was told by the land lord that the road was very quiet and hardly used. Yeah, no, that was a huge lie. It was a main thoroughfare with a 30MPH limit that no-one took notice of! In hindsight, I should have kept him indoors, but he was used to his freedom and... well to say I was devastated is an understatement.

I then lost my Old Puss, Demeter, outside my Mum's house, on a very quiet cul-de-sac. The lady who hit her could not have been doing more that 5MPH as she'd just pulled away from the kerb. She brought Demeter to our door in floods of tears, she was in bits. It's weird though, Salem didn't have a mark on him and must have been hit at speed, but Demeter was a bloody mess, even one of her eyes had popped out (I'll never forget that, never) at 5MPH. It's so strange. I miss them both so much, as well as my other departed companions. Oh, they do get under our skin, don't they?

Well, I've been checking a few lost and founds and nothing has shown up yet. I'll give it a week or so and see what happens. But if I don't see anything, I guess I'll have to just move on and hope that s/he's out there with just some cuts and bruises. It' a selfish, but happier, thought than the alternative.

P.S: I've posted this in larger text for Misa, I hope it's OK?

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Lou, have just seen this.  have also had the same thing happen to me, and having lost three of our cats to RTA's know exactly how shocked and appalled this makes you feel.  It's a hideous feeling, but there was little you could have done in the circumstances. 

Just last week, Moray almost got himself flattened by a car, and OH witnessed the whole thing.  He was in bits, because he could only think back to finding Mac, who was in a right mess.

Nothing can take away the pain and the hurt you're feeling now, and it's true enough that what has been seen cannot be unseen, but what the girls have said so far is right.  You won't ever forget the experience, and you did all you could to find the cat.  Don't keep going over and over the incident.  You will only do yourself tremendous emotional harm, and it will not help the cat.   

[Lyn (Slugsta)]

The poor thing I ran over came out of nowhere and died instantly  I never found out who owned him, walked up and down knocking on doors (it was at the bottom of the housing estate where I lived), with the cat in my arms and tears streaming down my face. Eventually I took him to my vet (he scanned but was not chipped) to do what was necessary and put  notices on lampposts in the area. I can still see a shadow darting in front of me and relive the impact, so I do understand how you feel 

Now that you have found us, I do hope you will stick around and chat. Most of us have cats of our own but we have a few people on here who do not have any feline residents currently. Please excuse the large text, 'Misa' is visually impaired so this makes it easier for her to read (and is why she posts in capitals)

[Judecat (Paula)]

Hey Lou, you did all you could, please don't beat yourself up. I have read, but had nothing to add to the advice others have given.

Take care Honey, if you do hear anything,please let us know.

Paula xxx

[Loups]

Thank you all for your replies!

@Misa: Sorry to hear you've been in hospital. I hope you're well now? I have multiple conditions so I know how awful it is to be ill for a long time.

As I said, we just couldn't find the cat at all. My Mum and I have just been talking about it and we both feel as if it didn't happen at all. We know it did, but there was no sign of the cat, no blood or fur on my car, just nothing. It's like that old tale about cats teleporting! When one of my cats was injured when she was just a little one (about a year), she managed to get home, yowling and her pads ripped to shreds. There again, when my first cat was killed in an RTA there wasn't a scratch on him, he looked like he had just fallen asleep.

@Lyn: It's just awful isn't it? It would have been bad for me no matter what the animal, but I love cats so deeply... I hit a Pheasant many years ago (early 2000's) and I still think of that, so this is going to haunt me forever.

I appreciate your post and the virtual hug.

@Liz: If I could have found him/her I would have gone straight to a vet, but the little mite was nowhere to be seen. Like I said, my Mum and I searched for about ten minutes and just couldn't find it. It was on the A15 and it's a very busy road, even at gone 8pm there's a lot of traffic and we just couldn't stay any longer. 

@Kay&2Ts: I hope that's  allI did. It happened so quickly; one moment it was in the middle of the road, the next... Well, you know. I will keep an eye on a few sites for lost & found. Part of me hopes I don't see any losts in the area as I know how devastating it is to find out your loved on has been killed on the road. That said, I had a cat go missing in 2007 and I've never found him and I often wonder what happened to him. If he had been killed on the road, knowing would at least bring closure.

Again, thank you all for your replies, it's appreciated. I'll keep you updated.

Lou.

[Kay and Penny]

it sounds as if at worst you only clipped the cat, as it managed to get away - a motorist once knocked on my door because he had clipped a cat, and wanted to find the owners to see if it was OK - it came from a farm and only had a small graze to its face

it does you great credit that you are so concerned, but apart from looking on the internet sites for Lost and Found covering the appropriate area for a few days, I don't see what more you can do

[Liz]

Take to a vet and get it scanned they can hold for 7 days in the right conditions - there is no charge or this

[Lyn (Slugsta)]

Hi and  , I am sorry that such a horrible thing has brought you to us. I have run over a cat, so I understand how upset you must be 

I'm afraid I can't give you any advice but at least my reply has put your thread at the top of the page again.

[Misa]

VERY SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THIS AND HOPE THE CAT WAS NOT SERIOUSLY HURT

THERE WAS A SITE FOR THINGS LIKE THIS BUT I HAVE BEEN IN HOSPITAL FOR A LONG TIME AND SORRY CANT REMEMBER WHERE OR WHAT IT WAS CALLED, MAYBE TRY DOING A SEARCH ONLINE

[Loups]

My worst nightmare came true today: I ran over a cat. I am devastated. I was driving back from Lincoln after a shopping day and narrowly missed a Magpie. Five minutes later I see something sitting right on the central dividing line and as I slowed down I said to my Mum, "Is that a cat in the road?!" Milliseconds later it just ran right in front of my car. I just couldn't stop in time. Having lost two of my cats to RTA's I immediately stopped on the side of the road and my Mum and I spent a good ten minutes looking for the cat on the verge, but we couldn't find him/her. The verge is quite overgrown and we searched as best as we could but to no avail. Eventually we had to give in and drive on. I spent the rest of the journey home sobbing.

I feel awful. And I don't know what to do now. I did think of calling the police, but if a cat lover like me couldn't find him, how likely are the police to go and search?

The place it happened is mainly farmland, so I'm reasonably sure it was a farm cat. Who's going to bother looking for a farm cat?!

Sorry, rambling a bit.

I was going to keep an eye out on missing cat websites, but if anyone sees this tonight and can recommend something I can do now, please do. I just don't know what to do because I know no-one else "in authority" cares if a cat gets killed on a main road, but I damn well care! 

Thanks.
Lou.