What would you do if you hit a cat/dog?

I'm likely in the yes, dog / no, cat response group but when push comes to shove I'd probably be yes/yes. I'm more comfortable with dogs, and kinda know how to handle them in a variety of stressful situations - cats I'm not sure about - but I'd likely try.

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mulling a bit more - I definitely try to round up stray dogs as I come across them, and leave most cats on the loose alone - that probably has to do with knowing that dogs aren't allowed to be out unleashed, whereas cats ...

I did hit a dog once and killed it. Of course I stopped. I was hysterical. Some neighbors ran to my aid. The wife invited me in and made me tea and wouldn't let me leave until I'd calmed down even though I only lived a bit further down the road. Meanwhile the husband checked on the dog, moved it off the road and made the appropriate calls to get it taken away.

We never did find out whose dog it was. We lived in an area where many of the houses were rented out to tourist and vacationers so it most likely belonged to a visitor.

I always felt terrible about it but I was so lucky to have someone help me through it.

While I lived in the same house someone ran over my cat, embedding a rock into her skull and leaving her there to die. A different neighbor spotted her and ran to tell us. We rushed her to the vet. She lived another 10 years, albeit with brain damage. I couldn't believe someone hit her and never stopped.

With neighbors like that I think it's incredible that I ever moved away.

I was once sitting on the porch of the hosue i lived in (multiple renters), when a Mustang came roaring around the corner, with screeching tires, and sliding sideways. A few minutes later, one of the residents came up, and said there was an injured cat lying in the street. I went around the corner with him, and as he was too upset to deal with it, i picked up the cat. There was still fresh (bright red) blood coming out of the mouth, but the animal was clearly dead. I removed the collar, and put it in a box in a nearby dumpster (no animal control in that town to speak of, and they wouldn't have done much differently). The collar had no identifying tags on it, and appeared to have been used to gratify the owner's identity. When my friend and fellow renter calmed down, and asked if there were anything he could do, i suggested that he make up a description of the cat (easy enough, all black except for two white stockings on the front legs), and copy it and tape it up on street light poles in the neighborhood. A few days later, he said he had been contacted by a woman who thanked him for having got the cat out of the street, and who was apparently not upset that we had put the cat in a dumpster.

I think it is not unreasonable to stop and look for tags which might identify the animal, but otherwise, simply get it out of the street, and if there is a reasonable possiblity that animal control will pick it up, then call them. I also once lived on the outskirts of a university town where college students used to dump cats and dogs after they graduated and were leaving town. It was heart-breaking--usually you weren't in a position to do anything to help them, and i'm talking about ten or twelve at the end of every semester. A man i know who lived on that road used to shoot feral dogs--it was actually the most humane thing he could have done.

Cats wander around, as the Sweetiepie Girl has observed. Dogs on the loose, though, have probably bolted, or have irresponsible owners.

And that's about as much thinking about such a tragic topic as i intend to do.

I wouldnt go out of my way to hit a cat or a dog. Especially boxers. They can hit back pretty hard.

That's terrible, Boomerang. A similar thing happened to a good friend of mine in regard to her cat. Some one simply hit the poor thing and left it for dead. When her cat didn't come home as usual, she went out looking for it and found it on the side of the road where the heartless sap just left it. She was devastated.

Now imagine some poor little child finding their pet that way. I could understand how some one could accidently hit an animal, but to try not to find the owners by a sign or asking around is pretty heartless.

One time a friend and I were driving along and I hit a dog. I picked the dog up and put him in my car then ran to the nearest Dunkin Donuts where three policemen were eating donuts. They told me to take the dog to an animal hospital 12 miles away. I felt responsibe so I did. The dog came around in the back seat and seemed to be ok as I was entering the animal hospital. The hospital staff were very nice and took the dog in. I found out that after 3 weeks they couldn't find the owner and put the dog to sleep! I wish they had called me and I would have returned the dog to the place I had found him.

I've had both and signs seeking missing cats or dogs tear my heart out. If the animal had a collar, I would try to find the owner. Once, the neighbor's cat was hit on my cross street. A friend from the next block had stopped to ask a woman then living on the cross street whether the cat was her's. I stopped my car in the lane in which the cat was and told me son to go and get the neighbor. As he walked to their house (four houses down), the man who owned the cat pulled into the street. I stopped him and offered the flattened cardboard box that was in my car for him to take his pet home. My older son wrote a poem about the animal, who we considered our "cat friend."

Oh you do have a soft spot!

I like your daughter's response.

I haven't yet hit a cat or dog. Once, I turned on my engine in the middle of winter and discovered a dead little kitty.
I freaked. I gave her a burial. Definetly a stray.

I would stop for either, just because I like the little guys.

My limit is birds - I've had friends who will swerve and go into the gravel to avoid a bird (I noticed these are the ones who seem to hit them ? lol).
I don't.

My cousin had a run in with a few horses. That was horrifying to behold.
For horses - I would definetly be going in the ditch!
Yeah, I was upset with my cousin for her *stupidity* on that occasion, and very shook up with the total disregard for the horses. ...

I mean, seriously, sometimes I question whether human life trumps animals for me. Some people can be real dinks.

actually had to skim through this thread. found it too distressing

I once slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a rabbit so I am probably one of those that would risk my life to avoid hitting an animal.

The bird thing - I thought we have an agreement - birds fly out of the way.

Horses - that has to be dangerous for those in the car as well!

I had a friend who skidded to avoid a dog and ended up killing his girlfriend in the resulting crash.

Just a warning - always make the safest choice for you, the people in your car and the other drivers on the road.

How horrible. Unfortunately sometimes this is simply a reaction to the darting animal - in the case of the rabbit running in front of me - that is honestly what happened. It darted in front of me and my immediate reaction without thinking was to slam on my brakes.

Also, just to add on - in Montana anyway if you get in an accident trying to avoid hitting an animal - the accident is considered your fault. If you hit the animal instead - you are not considered at fault.

Yeah, that's the thing, you might not have time to weigh the consequences, and then it just comes down to gut instinct. And I'm with Linkat-- my instinct would be to slam the brakes, and I doubt I could possibly override it!

I've had both a cat and dog get run over (before we smartened up and quit letting our cats go outside, and the dog just took off before we could stop her) and the people didn't stop either time. I think it's just disgusting that people can do that-- blech.

Uh, you all might want to avoid ever being on the road at the same time as me.

I brake for squirrels, rabbits, birds, turtles, etc. With birds you can kinda adjust your speed, but squirrels are, well, kinda squirrelly and dart right out.

I hit a dog once and cried for days.

I am one of those people who will someday be severly rear-ended for slamming the brakes on to avoid hitting things with heartbeats. I have hit a bird and a squirrel. I have moved a dead, but not flattened cat off a major road so it wouldn't get pulverized. In the city, some poor soul has the job of scraping dead things off the road. If I hit something........ I might die before I had the chance to do anything about it.

Diane brakes for quail...

I know, my car was behind her car.

And Dys' truck was behind me.

And other cars behind him.

We all waited til the family crossed the road.

Not probably the wise decision on a high speed road.

It's true about big cities having dead animal pick up. I remember someone telling me the lowest point in his life was when he worked for the DPW for the City of Detroit, driving around at dawn, picking up road kill. He said it was awful, but he was desperate for work.