So sad...saw a cat die today

[NOYFB]

I was driving home from work today and saw what looked like a black plastic bag on the side of the road kind of blowing in the wind. Once I got closer I realized that it was actually a cat, and the movement was it's legs twitching. I realized that it had just been hit by a car, so I pulled over, got out and ran over to it. There is an ER vet just up the street so I was going to take it there. Sadly, by the time I got to it, it had stopped moving. It's eyes were still open, and I put my hand on it to see if it would move, and it didn't. I knew it was dead. I didn't know what else to do, so I picked it up off the street, and put it on the sidewalk so it wouldn't get run over. Without going into details, I could tell that it had been hit in the head, like maybe it had just stepped off the curb.

I am so traumatized by this. As an animal lover and owner of 2 cats myself, this is an image that I can't seem to get out of my head.
I hope I did the right thing. I didn't know what else to do. It was a busy street in Chicago. I don't understand how someone could let their cat outside in such a busy area...My cats are both indoor cats. I would never let them go outside!

 

[luv2sparkle]

I am so sorry misfit! I know how traumatic it is. Years ago, I hit a cat that ran right in front of my car, and there was no time
to stop or even brake. I stopped and the same thing happened to me as with the kitty you came upon. I cried for a week,
and still feel so bad about it. I am sorry you had this experience.

 

[VRBeauty]

I'm very sorry misfit. I hope you can take some comfort in knowing that the cat may have been conscious of your presence when it died, and that you absolutely did the right thing in moving it out of the street.

 

[yssie]

I'm so sorry Misfit I would be torn up too.


Your two are safe inside, I think they'll get lots of extra cuddles tonight.

 

[lulu]

Sorry this happened to you. I had an identical experience a few years ago and I know how disturbing it is.

 

[NOYFB]

I'm very sorry misfit. I hope you can take some comfort in knowing that the cat may have been conscious of your presence when it died, and that you absolutely did the right thing in moving it out of the street.

Thank you for this. When I was running up to it I was saying "No, no, no, no! Please, baby!" and then when I realized it was gone, I stroked it a few times and said "I'm sorry baby...I'm so sorry". I hope it did sense my presence. I hope it had some comfort knowing that someone was there and cared.

 

[NOYFB]

Sorry this happened to you. I had an identical experience a few years ago and I know how disturbing it is.

Thank you. I'm sorry that you had the same experience.

 

[NOYFB]

I am so sorry misfit! I know how traumatic it is. Years ago, I hit a cat that ran right in front of my car, and there was no time
to stop or even brake. I stopped and the same thing happened to me as with the kitty you came upon. I cried for a week,
and still feel so bad about it. I am sorry you had this experience.

Oh wow...I can't even imagine how I would have felt if I had been the one that hit it! Sorry that you had that experience.

 

[NOYFB]

I'm so sorry Misfit I would be torn up too.


Your two are safe inside, I think they'll get lots of extra cuddles tonight.

Thank you. And yes, they are getting all kinds of extra cuddles tonight!

 

[Tuckins1]

Oh my, how terribly sad.

At least it didn't die on the side of the road, with no one even there to care.

 

[Andelain]

I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but I'm glad the cat had someone to care.

I hit a cat once years ago, it ran out onto the highway. The only consolation I had was I knew it was instant for that little guy.

 

[diva rose]

Sorry to hear about this. Pretty horrific and sad.

It was very kind of you to stop and try to do something for the cat.
I love animals and hate it when I see them hurt on the road.

 

[Cind11]

Awww, sorry that happened to you. Poor kitty, but at least you tried to help. A lot of people would not have. Hopefully, maybe the kitty sensed you were there.

 

[Imdanny]

I absolutely never let my cat go outside for this very reason. I"m sorry you had to witness this traumatic event. I see cats on the side of the road in particularly this one town close by where I live. It's very sad.

 

[packrat]

I'm sorry Misfit! I saw it happen once, but I was the car right behind the car that hit it..ended up in such shock and horror that I turned into the wrong lane in front of a cop and got pulled over. I've had a few other instances too..It's hard to be an animal lover and see things like that.

 

[monarch64]

So very sorry to hear that you had this experience. I used to live outside Chicago (west 'burbs) and actually rescued a kitten I saw on a very busy street between Willowbrook and Westmont, and took the kitten to a local PetSmart, where a very wonderful sales associate called her dad and asked if she could bring the kitten home. There was a happy ending to my story. But, who could run over a kitty and not stop? I don't know. I always hope that people stop and offer compassion...but not everyone does. I'm truly sorry about what happened to your cat, so awful. Take care!

 

[Dandi]

Aww misfit, I'm so sorry you had to see that, how very sad. But, I am glad that the kitty passed away to the sound of a caring voice, and a gentle hand on its fur. Hope you can find comfort with lots of cuddles from your two furbabies.

BIG, big hugs to you xxx

 

[NOYFB]

Thanks everyone.

 

[Pandora II]

That was a lovely thing that you did.

My parents lost their much-loved siamese recently. They live in the countryside and the cats are indoor/outdoor. Normally they use a PetSafe electronic fence (wire round the garden, collar and box on cat and mild shock if they go too near) but the battery had died on Gus's collar and they were waiting for a new one.

He got out of the garden one night and didn't come home. My mother went looking for him at midnight and couldn't find him. Then she got up at 4am to see if he was home and when he wasn't she went out in her PJs to look for him. She found him in the bus shelter across the road - alive but with a fractured pelvis and femurs, in shock and freezing cold. She's got MS and is very disabled so got my dad to come and get him and they took him straight to the vet.

They gave him a load of morphine and did x-rays. He could have been sent to London to have major surgery but with no certainty of success or that he wouldn't have neurological damage and the x-rays were showing signs of arthritis. He was 11 and so my parents made the decision that it would be kinder not to put him through it.

Although at the end he knew that he had been rescued, that my parents were there and he was warm and pain-free, my mother is both tortured by knowing he was lying out there alone for hours and hugely grateful to whoever must have stopped and put him in the shelter tucked away out of the rain and wind.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

So heartbreaking and I can understand why you'd be upset. You did the best thing you could do, and it was so kind of you.

 

[CJ2008]

Oh my goodness. It was so nice of you to pull over and put him where he couldn't get run over again.