Dave feels sick - just saw a cat run over

He was driving home from work in heavy traffic and saw this cat out of the corner of his eye, coming out of the bushes on the other side of the road at breakneck speed, so he prepared himself that it might just run out in front of him. Sadly, it ran out underneath the car in front of him, although it missed all the oncoming traffic, and then he had to witness it lying at the side of the road fitting. He said he couldn't possibly stop because it was a fast road with lots of traffic, but as he looked in his rear view mirror it was still lying there twitching, and he can't get it out of his head now Don't know what to do, I just told him somebody behind him would have stopped on seeing it like that I'm sure of it, but Dave being the animal lover he is feels really guilty that he couldn't stop and help it.

What do you do in this situation?

Oh how terrible. Tell him I'm thinking of him. It's just horrid when you get an image stuck in your head.

Tell him not to beat himself up over it. There wasn't anything he could have done and even if he'd gone back the traffic could have been the same and he might not have been able to stop then either. Someone probably saw to it but if it was twitching it was probably dying anyway and I doubt there was anything to be done for it.

Thinking of both of you.

Bless him. Try to take his mind off it. It's awful when you see something like that. Just let him know there's nothing he could have done. xx

This happened to me years ago. I had a temp job at a pharmaceutical company right out in the sticks. I came out of work early and witnessed the very same thing.... I actually threw a rock at the departing vehicle... sadly not hard enough. I sat with the cat for a few minutes, but then had to walk away - I honestly didn't know what else to do.

I never went back to that job.......

Poor Dave - I know what he's going through - give him some hugs, Aitch - take his mind off it xx

Thanks guys, he's much better now that we've talked about it. I bet he'll have yet another sleepless night tonight now, I know I would.

Poor Dave, I'm sure someone would stop later.
My Georgie was run over by a hit and run (not one that couldn't stop because of traffic but one that purposefully didn't stop).
People saw what had happened and stopped and took him to the vets though he was already dead.
He was chipped so I found out what happened a few days later.
Was it a long way away? Could he go back and check to see if it was still there just for his peace of mind.
Just trying to think what I would do.

We've all run over animals. Squirrels are my worst as they dart about panicking so it's impossible to avoid them. I've looked back to see them flapping about and it's awful but you just have to remind yourself it's the way of the world and you didn't do it on purpose.

I live in bunny valley and it's a miracle I haven't hit one on my way home at night as they all line up along the fields.

It's 10 miles back to that spot Becky I'm afraid, and quite honestly, I don't think he could bear it after this length of time? I bet he looks on his way in to work tomorrow though to see if somebody has taken it, I hope they have.

He reckons the woman in front who hit it, didn't even realise, because as it sped underneath her car, it went between the front and back wheels, but then of course, one of the wheels the other side got it Blimey, I feel sick myself even typing this out!!!

I did this myself many years ago, it was dark and I was going to pick a friend up and just before her house, I heard this awful "bang" underneath my car and saw this cat shoot out the side as I braked hard and stopped. It was too quick for me to catch it, so I just assumed it was ok. Then when I picked my friend up only 20 yards away, as we drove off, the blooming thing did it again, but from the other side!!!! We couldn't believe it, but we saw it run off yet again. Talk about nine lives. Maybe this cat had many of it's lives left, but I don't like the sound of how it was at the side of the road. Poor little cat, and I'm not a cat person as you know, it's still an animal isn't it.

Squirrells, yes, the times I've nearly pranged my car at 5.00 am. in the mornings on my way to venues on the country roads when I was doing catering, luckily I never hit one, I nearly hit other cars, but never a squirrell!

Poor Dave, it's a awful thing for him to have to witness. I've hit rabbits before and a pheasant recently. Luckily all have been killed outright. Years ago I was driving along and 2 lads hit a cat. They stopped the car and a girl got out of the back, she tried to catch this cat but it was fitting and jumping everywhere and disappeared into a bush. Poor girl was sat there crying her eyes out but there was nothing more they could do for it. The image of what you have seen stays with you for a long time though. Hugs to Dave.x

It's hard, especially if it might be badly injured but not dead. I don't think there's anything Dave could have done.

Cats seem to be particularly prone to dashing across roads, and squirrels, and round here there's an awful lot of chickens on the roads. I've come close to hitting one on many occassions 'tho managed to have a clean record so far

Best thing you can do Helena is try and convince him it would have died anyway, there's nothing he could have done even if he did stop and that it would have went quickly after the seizure and not lay there suffering. Just going from my own experience the only thing that helped was knowing you couldn't have made a difference. My heart goes out to him. x