To whoever ran over my cat -- I'm watching for you

mercurynews ^ | 09/01/2009 | Tony Hicks

[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....

[Joe 6-pack]

"Maybe an old, slow cat shouldn’t be left out at night to wander across the middle of a dark road and get hit by a car."

I'm amazed that it took 16 replies before someone communicated this sentiment.

[Manic_Episode]

I've been a life long cat hater but the neighbors cat is so darn cool that I'm going soft.

He comes over to visit my 13 year old daughter and peeks in the window at the front door until she comes out to pet him.

I'm generally against letting cats outdoors but Charlies owner lets him come and go as he pleases and now I know why we haven't had any mice for the last few years.

Charlie is a good neighbor.

[evets]

[joe fonebone]

"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. "
and i wonder what kind of person lets an animal roam free and then bitches when it gets killed?

[HD1200]

I love that one. “Free Cat”!

[JoeProBono]

[Constitution Day]

One thing that might help the author get through this trying time is if he makes at least a small effort to be a man. He’ll cry about far less inevitable things that way.

ROFL! Preach it, brother!

[HD1200]

Sorry to hear about the hit & run, but what was the cat doing out loose?

My neighbor’s cat runs lose all night long and our birds are gone and the neighborhood dogs bark when they see it cross the yard during it’s little “excursions”.

Are some of our neighbors hoping to see it crossing the road as they are in their car? I would have to say I believe so.

[imskylark]

I don’t blame you for not knocking on apartment doors looking for the owner, but you could have pinned a note to it.

To the cat?

[Atom Smasher]

LOL!

[Jeff Chandler]

A couple decades ago I had to drive to work at midnight five nights a week. We lived in the desert, and the two lane road to work bordered the desert on one side and the suburbs on the other.

I ran over a lot of animals on the way to work. Bunnies, quail, doves. They really didn’t seem to effect the car much. The bunnies didn’t even make a thump.

One night I was cruising along at 60 MPH when a cat darted out in front of me at the very last moment. I must have run over the head because the right front quarter of the car jumped up several inches and it was all I could do to maintain control.

I didn’t stop to tell the owner.

[trisham]

Very sad.

[woollyone]

Jonathon Winters

...sailcat

[CharlesWayneCT]

What if you don’t have a pin?

I guess you could wrap the cat in the note, and throw it through a window.

[Atom Smasher]

LOL! Great Pic!

[Dr.Zoidberg]

I don’t blame you for not knocking on apartment doors looking for the owner, but you could have pinned a note to it.

To the cat?

Of course "To the cat."

And use a pushpin so it doesn't blow off.

[ClearCase_guy]

A question --

I saw an accident the other day. A fawn ran out of the woods and struck a car a glancing blow. I think the car got off pretty easy, but the fawn was flopping on the ground like a trout on a beach. Looked bad. Dangerous to approach, and (this being MA) I'm pretty sure no one had the means to end its misery.

I was "lucky" in that I was a few cars away and moving, so I didn't feel a lot of obligation to stop and "solve" the problem -- but what would people recommend in that instance? I felt quite powerless.

[Birdsbane]

Must be why one sees more flat cats on the road than flat dogs.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

...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.

While I sympathize with this pet owner's loss, it's worth pointing out that he could have avoided this problem by keeping his cat inside and cleaning the litter box. I keep mine inside specifically in order to keep them from being killed by cars, dogs, raccoons, possums, other cats, etc. Cleaning a litter box is a little extra work, but it beats explaining to your kids that Fluffy won't be coming home.

And while I've never run over a pet, I can understand why someone who did so didn't want to get out at night at knock on half a dozen doors looking for the owner of the cat, especially since that owner might end up blaming the driver for an accident that the owner could easily have prevented.

[TexasRepublic]

“I don’t blame you for not knocking on apartment doors looking for the owner, but you could have pinned a note to it.

To the cat?”

No silly. Not pins. That’s what 12d nails are for.