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bellekatz

I feel like I am a rubbish driver :(

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A few years ago I was driving down my road. Its a side road, which narrows in the middle as there is a road into the local very big Park then it narrows again to the other end. All the way down the road people have to park partially on the pavement to allow one car down the middle, and by the park entrance it is quite narrow. A couple of years ago, I had an accident with a 9 year old girl on her bike in the really narrow bit. She came out from between two land rovers, I braked hard but still caught a glancing blow... She hadn't even realised she was in the road. She was absolutely fine, just a couple of bruises and the police were more worried about me than her and came to make sure I was ok a couple of days later.

Today whilst driving past the same spot on my way to take the dog to the vets I hit a cat :anxious: He didn't run in front of me, and i always drive past that spot slowly after the last time and there were also children on the pavement. I think he ran from an alley, but I didnt see him go under the car, and must have caught him when he ran out the other side. I pulled up further up and agreed with the mother of the kids who got me a cat basket from her house that I would take him to the vets. He had no collar and no chip and the vet put him to sleep. Bur I don't know who his owner is and the people nearby weren't sure either :( I feel so rubbish about driving past there again it took me months to get over the last one and I will probably avoid that stretch of road again now. I have lots several cats to road accidents in the past and never blamed the drivers but feel really guilty now.

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I'm really sorry to read your post, but as easy as it is for me to say, it doesn't sound like it was your fault AT ALL. You did all the right things, stopping and taking him to the vet, that is much more that many drivers would have done, I fear :( It is just a HORRIBLE thing to have happened and I really feel for you. Cats do tend to dice with death somewhat (as do pheasants, deer, badgers and all sorts of other things which seem to make a bee line for roads and cars). I would let the police know what has happened (just so it is logged) and just ask around to see if anyone is missing a cat. If I were the cat's owner I would just be so relieved that you had not left him to suffer, I certainly wouldn't blame you at all and I hope you won't either.

Chin up, sending a hug.

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I echo Bramble Bellekatz. Think the root of the problem is people having cats and letting them wander. They can only expect the cats to be injured and it seems rather cruel to me. Fortunately you didn't swerve to avoid it and end up hitting something or someone else. Also fortunate you weren't injured yourself. Well done on your prompt action.

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Don't beat yourself up,at least you got the cat and had him humanely put to sleep.I also knocked a cat down he must have ran out between wheels as I never saw him just felt the bump,He had hidden under a shed about 4 ins off the ground and myself and she'd owner could not get him out.I put a note through the door of the person people thought owned the cat but never heard anything back.You know you were driving super carefully and accidents are just that,unexpected and sometimes unavoidable.

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I'm so sorry to read your post. It could have happened to anyone. It isn't as if you were being careless.

 

You did absolutely the right thing. You stopped (it is surprising how many people don't, someone killed a dog near me recently and didn't stop), and you took the cat to the Vets. .As s/he wasn't chipped and had no collar, there isn't anything else you could do.

 

It sounds like a really horrible bit of road. As has already been said, it might be worthwhile logging the incident (maybe call 101?). If someone is looking for the cat, at least they will find out what happened. Plus, if they get incidents logged, perhaps 'something' will be done about the road.

 

to you.

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Thanks for your support :) The owner of the cat has just rang me ( I left my number with a neighbour at that end of the road ) and he didn't seem at all concerned.... just said "Well these things happen!" At least I feel a little less guilty now but slightly miffed that he was less than concerned about his cat :shock: If it was one of mine I would be gutted!

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You're not a rubbish driver. You're a considerate safe driver.

It's very sad what happened, but it was an accident and it seems like nothing could have prevented it from happening. You did the right thing taking the cat to a vet ( which would have been a difficult thing to do ) and also leaving information for the cats owner to find out what had happened to his pet. When our cat Jake was run over and killed while we were out at work we had a struggle to find out quickly where he had been taken to, though we eventually found him.

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Sending you lots of ((hugs)).

 

There was nothing you could have done to avoid the accident, and you did so much more than many people would have done in looking after the cat and making sure it didn't suffer. You've also let the owner know, so they won't go looking for it or wondering what happened

 

As an owner of spoiled fat cats, I would hope they would meet someone like you if circumstances were similar.

 

Look after yourself and look forward to your chooks.

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As an owner of 2 cats that I have never found - I would have preferred to have someone like you tell people and take the cat to the vets - It is closure for the owner. I never stopped looking for my two although I supect that a farmer shot them when lamping for foxes!

 

I have also run over a cat between the wheels too - there was also a dead mouse - I got the cat treatment but it needed to be put to sleep as broken back and believe me you dont want to know how badly the owner cussed and swore at me for killing his cat - This on a single track country road with long grass - You did the right thing.

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what everyone else said.

I know I would feel terrible if I ran over a cat, or anything else, even if it was 100% not my fault

It may be trite, but accidents happen.

As a cat owner I do let mine out knowing he could have an accident, but to me it's preferable for him to take that chance than be cooped up. If I was the owner I would be very grateful that he didn't suffer and you'd done all the right things

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I agree with the others; it will shake you, but neither of those incidents make you a bad driver. I think that we have all been there with the cat running under the car thing....i know i have, i knew i had hit it, but it ran off so I never found out whether it lived :(

 

Take it easy and regain your confidence.

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The owner of the cat has just rang me ( I left my number with a neighbour at that end of the road ) and he didn't seem at all concerned.... just said "Well these things happen!" At least I feel a little less guilty now but slightly miffed that he was less than concerned about his cat If it was one of mine I would be gutted!

 

They are right, these things happen and it wasn't your fault. But I also suspect they were being nice to you and didn't want to show they were upset.

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Dont beat yourself up - I found a cat dying on the road - I saw it rolling around in the light of the headlights. I initally thought it had picked a silly place to lie but when I got out it was still alive just. I put my hand on it and talked to it and it died. I picked it up and left it on the side of the road as I didnt know whose it was and didnt want them to find it all squashed. bad enough it was dead. I have 3 cats myself and they are stupid when it comes to roads. At least the owner had closure as someone said. OH said they lost loads of cats in the 1980's and the rumours were they were being taken for medical experiments. Hugs Ali x

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