A bad day on the bike today, and not just because it was drizzling throughout. No, the worst part came when I was almost back to Nearest Village and came across a sad little heap of white and ginger fur on the tarmac. A cat had been run over and who ever had hit it hadn’t even thought to stop to move it off the road. I stopped, checked for any signs of life, then moved it out of harm’s way; even though it was long past caring, I thought its owner might appreciate the gesture. I had just finished writing a note to stick in the letter box of the nearest house when a woman I knew slightly from village events – she always smiles and waves when she sees me on my bike – pulled up & I realised it was her house. As she wound down the window to say hello she was smiling as usual, someone coming home for her lunch, greeting an acquaintance, no clue what I was about to say. The instant my words hit her, she burst into tears, for it was her cat, her beloved old boy. She sat in her car and sobbed and there was nothing I could do but say over and over again that I was sorry, so sorry.
We got a blanket and we picked it up, still faintly warm, and as I left her she was cradling it in her arms and saying goodbye. ‘We thought we might have you a wee while longer,’ she said. Seventeen and still hunting mice, but its reflexes had slowed and no longer able to get out of the way of cars they way it used to. Someone came round so fast and in such a hurry that they either didn’t notice or didn’t care that they’d hit someone’s friend and companion, just left it on the road to die.
It’s only a cat, of course. It’s not as if it was a child – there are no children out on the roads anyway – or even a dog. Perhaps it doesn’t really matter, except to the people who loved it. Not worth being late, just to move a bit of road kill out the way. But really, how much of a hurry do you have to be in not to at least stop? Round here I expected better. And when I opened the door this afternoon to a small wet grey cat – a distressingly road-coloured one – I ushered her in to a prime spot next to the fire. Hopefully we’ll never find her huddled in a heap on the road outside. Even though she’s not our cat, that would be just too much to bear.
*It really did, too. Though it did reach a grand old age, so maybe it wasn’t all that inappropriate.
When I hit a cat, I moved it to the side of the road, I went home got a towel and a box came back picked up and ‘laid it out’ so it looked as good as it could (it was a mess, frankly) and carried it to the nearest house, It turned out not to be the home owners cat, but the neighbours, but it didn’t make a bit of difference, I burst into tears on the doorstep.
Maybe, the driver was doing the same thing this time, and I just got to it before they could return? They took their time though
I had the boys with me when it happened, (they were quite small) I thought it less traumatic for themt o get them to school and then sort it out, but all the way to school they kept talking about the sound of the cat going ‘berdump,berdump’ under the car
It transpired the cat owner was my sons optician; she said she forgave us because cats are stupid about roads (it had been, it had shot straight of a gateway out and under the wheels, it was a narrow lane with no pavement, so I never even saw it coming.) But she said she could have never forgiven us if it had been her dog….
People do get very attached to their cats, never understood why…
they have a way of worming into your affections, as we’ve found out to our cost
I’m sorry this happened to you and the poor lady whom you had to tell.
The best we can hope for with cats is that they have a long life, and just go to sleep when they time has come.
John
I think it was probably a quick end for the cat … worse for the owner, possibly
Thanks for that! You’ve just brought tears to my eyes with your post. Over the years I’ve, sorry my family and I, as a boy growing up, and now as a married man with a family of his own, had several cats. There was Kitty, a big ginger tom who ruled our council estate street,all dogs,no matter what size crossed to the other side of the road to pass our gate, for fear of Kit jumping on their back. Then there was Sooty, small, black and white who was quite the opposite, but a cruel hunter, and tormentor of mice and birds. These past 25 years have seen the passing of Ninja, who saved all our lives, when he woke us from an almost fatal dose of carbon monoxide. Tabby and Tiga, who came to us as a pair of kittens. Tiga got run over very early on, but Tabby was with us for 12 years or so, a very loving companion, always purring. Lastly, we have Tipsy as the feline inhabitant of our home who reigns supreme, occasionally purring, constantly miowing, who, too often, repays gentle strokes with exposed claws and baring of teeth. What a cast of completely different characters, all loved so much. What an old softie am I!
sorry, should have put a warning on the post … we never had many cats because we moved around so much, though cats had a way of adopting us, so I know what you mean about the different characters they have
Gulp!
In my experience cats are an awful lot more savvy about the dangers of cars (roads are safe, it’s the motor vehicles that kill) than children are. They’re also a lot faster at getting out of the way. The only difference is that cats are free to go where they like, while children have to be penned in away from roads and thus have their freedom restricted.
We have a cat run over in our residential street last year. There was a very long skid mark, suggesting that the car was travelling quite a bit faster than is legally allowed.
It isn’t nice holding a well-loved cat that has been squashed by a motorist as it dies. Some people might understand the feeling a bit if they imagine how they’d feel if their favourite car was written off in a crash…
And in the US it’s quite common for cats to be kept entirely indoors so they don’t get run over. Here we do it to our kids!
Arg, you poor things. Wicked behaviour.. In my car, I always beep wildly when I see cats near roads. My hope is to scare them away, not sure if it helps though.
Lost my first cat as it was run over on Dollar Main St outside Playfair house. One of the boarders brought it down to us and as he knew it was ours. Small things. Stay with your forever though.
Nice post! Thank you!
Cats: Small, furry, warm and cuddly and purr. They really do worm their way into your affections. However, they’re downright devious little psychotic hunter killers but, like the best serial killers, they hide it well when it comes time to open the Kitekat….. “He seemed such a quiet neighbour….”
well we get mouse heads left lying around – and no prizes for guessing who left them there either