If this was your cat would you want me to tell you?

Bullseye1 · 21-08-2011 09:25PM

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

I'm afraid I'm a huge advocate of responsible pet ownership, so they either get all or nothing I'm afraid. If a person chooses to let their pet wander then they accept that it may come to an end like this or that they may never know what became of it. IMO it was entirely their choice that the cat was there in the first place. I am not know to be diplomatic with the truth (as I'm sure most reading this will already know!). I've spent 2 months already trying to decide and if the decision isn't made today the collar goes in the bin. I'm not delegating this to someone else, I'm the person who cut the cat out, so I'm the one who will either make the call or not as the case may be.

Could not disagree more. What if the cat was an indoor cat and escaped when I child opened the door and that child has been worried ever since. How will it benefit that child.

Ring the owner and let them know the cat is dead. Run over or similar. No need to go into details.

amdublin · 21-08-2011 09:28PM

I wish you had posted two months ago and I could have asked you for the number and made the call then meself.

niamhsiobhan · 21-08-2011 09:37PM

Make the call. After two months though it would be fairly likely that the owner has presumed the cat dead already. You'll nearly be able to tell though what kind of person the owner is from talking to them. If they seem flippant about the issue then they deserve all the gorey details. If the person sounds concerned the I'd say don't tell them. I'd be in bits if I thought any of my pets died that way, but I love my animals.

I don't think the owner can be blamed really for the way the cat died. Anything could have happened to lead to that situation, and it probably was beyond control of the owner.

Let us know how the call goes anyway.

Zapperzy · 21-08-2011 10:54PM

I'm aware you already made the call and fair play for doing it, if it were my cat I would want the closure.

Just adding this in case anyone in a similar situation is reading. My cat is an indoor cat and wears a collar with phone numbers on it. Accidents happen and cats can escape, happened me once, stupidly walking her on a harness and lead in the back garden late in the evening in poor light, tripped over a chair and she paniced and slipped the harness off. Thankfully she just hid in the bushes for a minute before running back in the door. If she had run off and had been killed in the fashion AJ described I would be thankful for a phone call saying she had died, if circumstances were the same as were described and the caller told me this I think it would actually ruin me, I would never forgive myself for walking her that night if she was killed but to hear details would push me over the edge. A simple your cat died in a road accident (or in an engine but without the details) would suffice and I would not ask details, perhaps was it quick but I would expect a simple yes or no, but not a story about cooking in engines and butcher knives.

People make a decision whether to let a cat outside or not, they know the risks, it would be my opinion that telling them such a story (well story is the wrong word, truth) is not going to change their minds anymore than simply a dead cat.

caseyann · 22-08-2011 12:03PM

Just read what the reply was from the man.I would say the cat was the wife's or the kids pet and he didnt like the cat.Alot of men dont like cats.Or he was just being all masculine on the phone and cried like a baby after.
But i doubt he owned that poor animal on his own, having that attitude about it.

gaz wac · 22-08-2011 12:18PM

Sid_Justice wrote: »

What's with your weird attitude to this entire thing?

Someone else's pet cat died on your property (well your friends if it's his car).
You knew about this for 2.5 months.
You should have rang then and explained what happened then.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think ranking highly would be a bit of common courtesy.

If you're going to be so petulant and childish about it why don't you just text them

"your kat is dead soz"

All this guff about "compromising your morals" what are your morals at stake here? call credit? Is your entire issue the the principle that "cats shouldn't be let out".

+1 I was in shock reading the OP...and then noticed they are a Mod of Animals and Pet issues :eek: lovely attitude :rolleyes:

Mo60 · 22-08-2011 12:44PM

Irrespective of the OP's views and opinions I was also shocked to see the original post. They would not have known the situation as to why the cat was out - could have escaped. Also could have been some childs much loved pet.

Surely, anyone with a heart would ring straightaway to inform the owner.

**Vai** · 22-08-2011 01:22PM

As has been said before, fair play for making the call but it was surely a few months too late. That is the type of call that should be made immediately, no need for graphic details but certainly the call should have been made immediately. Im a little shocked actually.

Whippersnapper · 22-08-2011 01:31PM

What was there to gain from going into the details? Surely someone finding out their cat was dead would be enough of a shock and they wouldn't need gory details to become more responsible (if they were irresponsible in the first instance).

I'm not sure what morals you claim to have that meant you could not have sympathy for the person you were about to ring.

sambuka41 · 22-08-2011 01:37PM

In fairness the OP has explained that its wasn't their car, their friend only informed them recently that no call was made. Because the OP cares about animals this would have been on their minds.

Cut a bit of slack it must have been horrible to have to get the cat out of the car. I don't think I could have done that, it would be very upsetting, and I think I would be pissed off with the cat owner too, if only as a reaction to the upset of it. (Its no judgement of people who let their cats out, i have a cat who was outdoors for 4 years, so I've done the same. But if i had to clean up a dead, cooked cat I would be annoyed too.)

Very sad to hear that reaction from the owner, it would make you wonder why you bothered :rolleyes: I hope he passes the news on to whoever did care about the cat, in a nicer way than he reacted to you.

gbee · 22-08-2011 02:27PM

Whippersnapper wrote: »

What was there to gain from going into the details? .

Because somewhere, Lisa and Bart Simpson are rolling around the sofa laughing thinking it was a new Itchy & Scratchy episode ....

Mo60 · 22-08-2011 02:55PM

sambuka41 wrote: »

In fairness the OP has explained that its wasn't their car, their friend only informed them recently that no call was made.

OP stated they, that is OP, have been trying to decide for 2 months whether to make the call.

anniehoo · 22-08-2011 04:32PM

AJ, im well aware of where you stand on the "inside or outside" cat debate but i cannot believe 2 months passed until this owner got a call. The fact that he was a moron is very disappointing, but i wouldnt have even waited 2hrs to call the owner let alone 2months!!!!!! :mad:

Did you think the owner didnt deserve to know what happened to their pet and were teaching them a lesson or something just because of how it died?I dont get it! As Bullseye1 said:

Bullseye1 wrote: »

What if the cat was an indoor cat and escaped when I child opened the door and that child has been worried ever since.

You seem to have absolutely zero tolerance for any outdoor cat regardless of how it ended up there which im finding incredibly difficult to understand in your posts lately. Would you have done the same with a dog knocked down on the road? Kept its collar for 2 months and not informed the owner??

Im really having huge difficulty with your very black and white attitude to things recently!

gbee · 22-08-2011 05:49PM

anniehoo wrote: »

AJ, im well aware !

It's hardly worth analyses, I think it's one of those episodes that one has to just say OH! And file away as another life experience.

Cherry Blossom · 22-08-2011 08:17PM

Okay, last post on this thread. I have never got the whole cat thing tbh, cat's in or out isn't something I gave much of a thought to. I'd say its fair to say I've passed one on the road or heard of one being killed once a week on average my whole life. The people who own them have a tendency to shrug it off as an occupational hazard or something and do the same when they cause damage and tell people they are practically wild animals and sure what can you do. I don't get this at all. The attitudes of a lot of cat owners on this forum are not something I have actually ever came across in the big world. I have owned everything from horses to pet mice and every size of animal in between and no other pet in the world is put at so much risk, therefore I had always equated them to me feeding the wild birds. Sometimes one disappears never to be seen again and I wonder briefly what became of it, then I get on with the rest of my life. I don't see how this is so hard to comprehend.

It's a lot less than 2 months since a kitten was dumped in my garden which we decided to keep and I honestly say that it never occurred to me to click on a cat thread before that. I cannot understand why this kitten should be treated more like a wild animal than a pet

There is absolutely no difference between a cat as a pet and any other species in that respect, so therefore I am currently struggling a lot with the whole cat thing. I am also struggling with the completely illogical reasoning than people who are usually sensible think that it is ok to flatten a cat on the road and expect that the driver/finder/innocent passer by be the person who should take responsibility for it, if it were any other species there would be no doubt whatsoever as to who is responsible for someone's pet. There are no laws that tell people they have keep pet rabbits, guinea pigs or numerous other species safe but these aren't left wander around multiplying on a countrywide basis and having the roads painted with them.

Someone has said somewhere that cats are treated as second class citizens, and they are, but not by me! Look at the hoops a person has to jump through to get a dog from a rescue, when the same rescues will quite happily hand over a cat to any idiot. I know of someone who has a dog living its life on a rope that's 2 feet long with the other end attached to a brick, he's just been given a cat by a rescue centre!

Of course this is perfectly fine, it's clearly me that's the crazy person in the equation. :rolleyes:

lrushe · 22-08-2011 08:36PM

AJ, I think the thing that is sticking in most people's throats, mine included, is the fact that you waited 2 months to phone the owner and even then you had to mull it over, that to me is the weirdest part of your story.
Regardless off you opinions on cats being inside or out I would hope that as a pet owner you would afford a fellow pet owner the compassion to let them know that their animal wasn't coming home, to give them some closure. I'm sure if the shoe were on the other foot you would like someone to do the same for you, it's all very well saying it would never happen to you but accidents happen all the time and pets escape, I hope it never does happen to you and you have to wait 2 months for a phone call to tell you what became of you pet.

Sigma Force · 22-08-2011 09:08PM

Can't believe this is still being talked about there's already been a beginning and end to the story. It turns out that it wouldn't of mattered if the op waited 2 months the owners didn't care in the end anyway and they did the right thing in the end. People make mistakes get over it.

gbee · 22-08-2011 09:39PM

Sigma Force wrote: »

People make mistakes get over it.

No. IMO no mistakes, this is a far more complex social issue.

The OP did not make a mistake, they were never in error ~ it was a judgment call, there was right left and straight ahead.

We got all three solutions in this thread ~ a bit eye opening TBH ~ turns out the OP turned right at the next junction and ended up at a surprising but dead end.

Hitchcock couldn't have written this better.

harry21 · 22-08-2011 09:49PM

Pics or it didn't happen.........

Just joking.... poor cat, you did the right thing.

ScumLord · 22-08-2011 09:56PM

I think it's morally wrong to keep an animal prisoner indoors just because you want one around. At least dogs get brought out for a walk. Cats like to roam, if it get's out and doesn't come back it's just as likely it didn't want to be there as it is the cat died. At least cats have that option, dogs don't really.

The main reason cats stick around is to be feed, they can quite easily live perfectly well having never set foot inside a humans house. A cat is not the same as a dog in most ways, dogs are a pack animal that need to be part of a family a cat loves attention but just doesn't have the same need to be part of a family as a dog has, it's just their nature.

The Sweeper · 22-08-2011 10:49PM

ScumLord wrote: »

I think it's morally wrong to keep an animal prisoner indoors just because you want one around. At least dogs get brought out for a walk. Cats like to roam, if it get's out and doesn't come back it's just as likely it didn't want to be there as it is the cat died. At least cats have that option, dogs don't really.

The main reason cats stick around is to be feed, they can quite easily live perfectly well having never set foot inside a humans house. A cat is not the same as a dog in most ways, dogs are a pack animal that need to be part of a family a cat loves attention but just doesn't have the same need to be part of a family as a cat has, it's just their nature.

Important note about the internet: your personal opinion based on limited experience is not a fact, and really shouldn't be represented as such.

ScumLord · 22-08-2011 11:07PM

The Sweeper wrote: »

Important note about the internet: your personal opinion based on limited experience is not a fact, and really shouldn't be represented as such.

Cats have a completely different behaviour to dogs. I would have thought that was accepted fact.

Cats live wild in my area it's not at all unusual.

gbee · 22-08-2011 11:36PM

ScumLord wrote: »

I think it's morally wrong to keep an animal prisoner indoors .

Despite the warning about the 'internet' you are inherently correct. I have a flock of some sixty starlings, the results of 23 years of feeding them, magnificent, I have no cage but I can walk out my back yard and they just about tolerate me, they do fly away in this size a flock but the small brood of five or six [on their own] will stay.

And they recognise my signals when shooing away the crows and seagulls and will often stay as I rush out and shoo them away ~ strange that ~ otherwise the all fly away

The Sweeper · 23-08-2011 12:06AM

gbee wrote: »

Despite the warning about the 'internet' you are inherently correct. I have a flock of some sixty starlings, the results of 23 years of feeding them, magnificent, I have no cage but I can walk out my back yard and they just about tolerate me, they do fly away in this size a flock but the small brood of five or six [on their own] will stay.

And they recognise my signals when shooing away the crows and seagulls and will often stay as I rush out and shoo them away ~ strange that ~ otherwise the all fly away

A flock of sixty starlings from 23 years of feeding them eh?

And animals should be allowed to roam eh?

So you'll be just fine when someone moves in next door with three marauding outdoor cats that they allow roam free, and those cats begin to decimate the work of 23 years eh? That's all just a part of how nature works after all...

anniehoo · 23-08-2011 12:13AM

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Okay, last post on this thread.

Fair enough but im not sure why though.

wrote:

I have never got the whole cat thing tbh, cat's in or out isn't something I gave much of a thought to

AJ you've just been given Mod status which i thought was fantastic until ive recently seen your views on cats.Im actually shocked at your intolerance when you're so tolerant and articulate when it comes to most things.

For example..

wrote:

The people who own them have a tendency to shrug it off as an occupational hazard or something and do the same when they cause damage and tell people they are practically wild animals and sure what can you do. I don't get this at all.

The "people who own them" is ME!! I adore my 2 cats (one ,Molly was a stray who had nowhere to go...and all the other the little feckers im feeding (and trying to TNR in my estate).I live in a very urban estate,trying not to piss off my neighbours but at the same time hoping people tolerate cats. Most are strays...2 are my pets.

My god, i cant believe im arguing the fact that i have to tell you that a dead cat with a collar and tag on needs that number to be called!Straight away!

I could imagine it was a little teenager with no mobile,who loves her kittie, putting it on her (with the only number she had), the dad is ambivalent and replied to your call, sayin he couldnt care less. If its sounding personal, it is.

I struggled with my parents and neighbours in a very URBAN environment let alone a rural one, caring about cats and how they aren't so bad.Im actually and genuinely horrified that you had a collar and tag for 2 months and only now called the "owner".

gbee · 23-08-2011 12:20AM

The Sweeper wrote: »

three marauding outdoor cats that they allow roam free, and those cats begin to decimate the work of 23 years eh? That's all just a part of how nature works after all...

I drive a Land Rover ~ as alluded to earlier, there has been a lot of cats gone missing in my own neighbourhood.

I have already said the local cats thought my van was the local cat cafe. And if you've read one of my other posts I said cats are stupid in this situation.

<snip>

Despite this my most recent neighbour's cat think's I'm their friend.

:mad:

NiRiainRua · 23-08-2011 12:26AM

Yes I would want to know you had found my deceased cat.
It may have been a child's pet, they may have been looking for her, asking animal shelters
and advertising. They cared about that cat or they would not have put their number on the collar.
I don't see why you have to give them the gory details, why not just say she
must have climbed into the engine compartment and died?
If they ask what happened to the remains I would just say you took them to a vet for disposal.
Please spare them "we had to scrape her off with a shovel".

The Sweeper · 23-08-2011 12:33AM

gbee wrote: »

I drive a Land Rover ~ as alluded to earlier, there has been a lot of cats gone missing in my own neighbourhood.

I have already said the local cats thought my van was the local cat cafe. And if you've read one of my other posts I said cats are stupid in this situation.

<snip>

Despite this my most recent neighbour's cat think's I'm there friend. :mad:

o_O

You do realise that the post you were agreeing was making the point that cats should be allowed to roam, and here's you saying you'll kill them if they roam onto your property?

anniehoo · 23-08-2011 12:43AM

gbee wrote: »

<snip>

Are there any cat owners around HERE that are willing to defend this awful diatribe (posh word for sh*te)! Seriously!

angelfire9 · 23-08-2011 03:42AM

gbee wrote: »

I drive a Land Rover ~ as alluded to earlier, there has been a lot of cats gone missing in my own neighbourhood.

I have already said the local cats thought my van was the local cat cafe. And if you've read one of my other posts I said cats are stupid in this situation.

<snip>

Despite this my most recent neighbour's cat think's I'm their friend. :mad:

I have a cat who is 3 years old at this stage and despite having a cat run & having fenced in the back garden for him he still manages to escape outside from time to time (He has now figured out how to open the windows)
If I thought for one second that there was someone in my neighbourhood who was deliberately setting out to kill the neighbourhood cats (and there are a few) I'd be furious & devastated in equal measure

I cannot believe that you would run over or strangle any cat that had this misfortune to stray onto your property
It could be a child's pet that got let out accidentally (as happened with one of my old cats my sister let him out and he was dead 10 minutes later on the road)

It could be a Houdini cat like my fella who escapes at every opportunity but always comes home (he was sitting on the front step this evening when I got home and I hadn't even realised he'd done a runner)

What harm is a cat going to do during a 5 minute wander through your garden
Fair enough if there are strays trying to adopt your garden as a new home there are ways of getting rid of them without killing them
<snip>

I'm appalled honestly I am
Its beyond my comprehension how anyone could have such a cavalier attitude to a living creature
No matter how much you may abhor cats blatant cruelty is never acceptable

I am truly disgusted by your post
And rather disappointed that you didn't get infracted for it seeing as this is the Animal & Pet forum

ISDW · 23-08-2011 07:16AM

angelfire9 wrote: »

I am truly disgusted by your post
And rather disappointed that you didn't get infracted for it seeing as this is the Animal & Pet forum

In fairness it was posted at 01.20 this morning, I imagine the mods are asleep in their beds. Did you report the post? Unless people report posts, nothing can be done about it - yes, I did report it.

gaz wac · 23-08-2011 07:25AM

<snip>

Cherry Blossom · 23-08-2011 08:16AM

As usual another thread turns into a mud slinging match. Look seriously, as far as I was concerned someone was going to ring the number. I hadn't spoken to the person between times and I'm not in a habit of conducting interrogations on someone I trust enough. Believe me I was only too happy to push the matter to the back of my mind. I don't know where anyone is getting the idea that this thread is about cats, it isn't.

Anniehoo - I'm sure you have also read where I wrote that the attitude lots of cat's owners on this forum have to their pets is not something I have ever come across elsewhere, but you seem to have taken personal offence at a comment which accurately describes the general population of cat owners.

I'm applying exactly the same logic to this as I do anything else. I have posted many times on this forum that if I find a dog on my property it will be taken to the pound. That's the system that's in place, there isn't one for cats so I put up with them, a cat isn't capable of killing horses so I don't really need to take any action other than cleaning up their mess. Right at this minute there are 2 cats in my drive that aren't mine, I'm not going to be trying to find owners for those either because I already know whose they are and they haven't escaped from anywhere.

Anyway this is going to have to be locked now and I think it's clear why, so lets not have a load of accusations that my personal opinion is the reason for it.

Locking.

If this was your cat would you want me to tell you?

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