“Started the car one morning. That was not a pleasant sound.”
Had a cat that would sleep on the tires. My dad ran over his tail one morning. Had to amputate the tail. By the time he went to “camp” he was 22 YO, no tail, 2 fangs and a cauliflower ear. He had a good life.
Had a Tomcat when I was a kid ... as close to feral as can be while still wanting to be petted. He used to disappear for a week or two at a time, and after a while we got used to it. He would always eventually make it home however. Once, after a few weeks he did not return, and we started to think he met his maker. About 3 months after he disappeared, he showed up in the yard ... chunks of fur missing, ear half bitten off, tail broken, but long enough before so that it was again semi functional, eye clouded over. We figured he probably went to the local river and tangled with a river rat. Brought him in, fed him (which he was soooooo grateful for) and then he crawled under Mom and Dad’s bed. Nobody had the heart to disturb him, but we all thought he was going there to die in peace. Never saw him come out, but we left food and water out for him and checked to see if he was breathing every day. About 2 weeks later, he came back out. Looked like hell, but lived another 3 years. Never left the house for more than an hour or two after that.