Posted on 09/01/2009 9:57:40 AM PDT by JoeProBono
"...Someone out there owes us an explanation. Someone not human enough to stop Sunday evening after they ran over my cat not three yards from my driveway.
Thankfully, the cat didn't suffer. As I gently scooped my orange-furred pal off the road, I wondered what kind of person drives away after killing a member of my family.
His name was Doctor. I'm not a cat person, but if you knew Doctor, you didn't have much of a choice. He threw himself at you until you had no recourse but to love him. His eyes were slightly crossed and he drooled when pet more than 30 seconds. There were times I went outside at night to commiserate with him, when he was the only living thing willing to listen to my problems. The raccoons just hiss at me.
At the very least, his killer could have summed the courage to come to the front door and explained why they couldn't evade a slow, 10-year-old cat who was three-quarters the way across the street....
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
That’s a very thoughtful suggestion. ;-) I guess that lest anyone get the wrong idea about me, I actually DO like cats. I am most partial to Siamese. Our neighbor had one we called Frankie (after Sinatra) because of its blue eyes. It was a total love sponge.
Were you speeding??
Exactly. I love cats, so mine are indoors unless on a leash.
Alot of people aren’t into reality. Alot of cats just can’t be kept inside. And why do they think it’s ok for a cat to live a life inside, but would never do that to a dog? Unbelievable ingorance!!!
What was the cat doing in the road? If my cat gets whacked in the road, it’s the cat’s fault for being in the road.
A cat most certainly can be kept inside. Why is it OK?, because they get to live that way rather than be run over or eaten by predators or attacked by other cats. Ask any vet. Lots of dogs also are kept inside except for walks on leashes (you can train a cat to do this too, but it aint easy). Most dogs respect a fence, cats will climb right over one.
16d. Tack it to the road.
LOLOL!
“Alot of people aren’t into reality. Alot of cats just can’t be kept inside. And why do they think it’s ok for a cat to live a life inside, but would never do that to a dog? Unbelievable ingorance!!!”
I know exactly what you mean, I feel the same way about my boa constrictor. You wouldn’t mind if I brought him over so he could roam your neighborhood, would you? Snakes aren’t even domesticated like your free range cats, so they really need time outside. And if anyone lays a hand on him, I’ll kill them, and then sue the corpse.
If it was in the public road it was not protected and the driver need not even feel bad. To worry about missing a cat and taking evasive action is to place life and limb in danger.
The owner was negligent in the cat’s death for allowing it to be stray.
My cats use a litter box, haven’t managed to teach the labrador retrievers to do that. And the dogs can’t leap the six foot fence. And dogs don’t get toxoplasmosis.
Cat owners who let ‘their’ cats live outdoors are mostly too lazy to take proper care of them inside and are willing to let them intrude on other peoples’ property.
My brother (Rural N.Fla.)actually got to see his wife’s two cats taken by a very large Barn(?)Owl. Two separate occasions.
#102= Sail-Cat
nope, nor texting
so no FR lynch mobs please. lol
I doubt you live in the country - in my 30+ years of driving I've hit a dog and a cat. I stopped for the dog owner because they were outside and the lady behind me also stopped to explain that it wasn't my fault - 65 mph highway and a dog runs in front of you - there's no avoiding it. It was across the highway - saw it's owner outside and ran out in front of me.
The cat - same highway years earlier - the minute the car in front of me drove by the cat (we couldn't see on the side of the road - it was dark) the cat ran out in front of me with it's head turned toward the car in front of me - it thought it was being smart by running out after the car passed - didn't realize there was another car right behind it. I had no chance to stop.
I know my vet would not agree with you, neither would the vet on this thread. My vet says an outdoor cat has a typical life span of 2 years, an indoor cat has a typical lifespan of 14 years.
Yikes, here’s another story, from today’s news, illustrating why it can be better to swerve to avoid hitting a deer.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,545575,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r3:c0.027983:b27494090:z0
Flying Deer Kills 6-Year-Old Boy in Bizarre Traffic Accident
“a southbound car hit the deer and sent it airborne into an oncoming pickup truck . . . A passenger in King’s truck — 6-year-old Jacob Wilson — was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died from a head injury.”
I wouldn’t own a cat OR a dog if I had to keep them inside (and I don’t — I own ferrets).
If I owned a Cat or a Dog, I would put up a fence so they could be outside. Maybe I’d try one of those virtual fences.
With dogs, it seems easier to put them on a rope line than it is a cat.
If I see a deer and have time to react, I'll take my chances braking hard. I'd suspect many times people have no time to react. In those cases where you've hit the deer head-on it's likely in your windshield and in your face before you can react. If your first reaction is to swerve, two bad things can happen, a head-on collision or a roll-over and head-on with a tree.
Case in point, last year my SIL and I was returning from town to get supplies to process a buck he'd shot. On the way home in the dark my SIL yelled deer and pointed to my left. I turned to look just in time to see a forked horn running straight for my driver side door. There was an oncoming car the deer bolted in front of. Had either he or I swerved to our left it would have been a head-on collision. If either of us had swerved to our right, we would have rolled over down the embankment. As it was, he wisely braked hard and steered straight, and I stomped the gas pedal just in time for the buck to nail my back quarter panel, substantially caving it in.
We turned around to look for the buck, but he was no where to be seen. Afterwards, when we started processing my SIL's deer, the irony didn't escape me. My SIL nailed a buck and a buck promptly nailed me.
One last observation. When I see a deer anywhere near the roadway, I slow down substantially and watch for any sign of movement. Many, many people I've seen, never let up on the gas pedal and never give themselves time to react should the deer bolt in front of them.
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