Anything else I could've done?

Doooford

Olokia wrote: »

My intention is not to make the OP feel guilty, my intention is to make people think before they just go and bury the cat. My cat has a microchip for the situation if she gets lost or killed. I would like that microchip to be used so I can be reunited with my cat. So yes I have every right to be annoyed.

My cat has been missing before, luckily she had found herself a way into my (locked!) garage and got stuck. She was only missing overnight but I couldn't sleep that night because it was not like her to not come home for food. If something bad had happened then I would've wanted to call my vet and they say yeah she is here. Otherwise I would have just worried for weeks until eventually I would have had to give up on her coming home.

Whatever state the cat is in, I would have put her in a box and dealt with the vets in the morning. That is where they should go. The other posters shouldn't just say you did the right thing, oh it must have been so traumatic blah blah blah so they don't offend the OP. Burying the cat in the garden is the wrong decision. I know at the time people may make wrong decisions because it isn't nice to see a dead cat but people should think first, this is what microchips are for. You were lucky to find the owner, what if the owner hadn't seen your notices and been worried and hoping for weeks because the vet hadn't called her because of the microchip.

I'm sorry OP, yes it may have been traumatic for you but you did the wrong thing. Next time the owner may not be so understanding. I certainly wouldn't be. Yes I'd be glad the council hadn't taken it away but I would want the cat to be with me not in some stranger's garden.

If I'd have done the same (and I would have). I'd be the first to lend you a shovel to dig your cat up and take it to your own spot. What's the big deal? At least the cat wasn't left over night for foxes to maul and then you'd never know what happened.

Doooford

I have nothing to say :-)

Apart from well done OP

Olokia

Doooford wrote: »

i think you need to learn the skill of detachment. It's important to have a grave for a while. But it sounds like you would resent your parens for selling a childhood property just because your pet rabbit is there.
Crazy world.

They have sold the childhood property and actually today was the first time I thought of my guinea-pig and other animals in a while.

What I didn't like is the cat died in France when I was living in England. It was almost two years before I could visit. The grieving was hard because I couldn't visit but by the time I did, I didn't really need to any more.

Why did you delete your post?

Person_one

Here's the thing. Its possible to say that a different course of action might be better in the future should this happen again, without being quite so harsh and without the guilt trips.

If you'd posted: "OP, what's done is done and I know you had the best of intentions but if this happens again I think it would be better to wait until morning and get the cat to a Vet, if I were the owner I'd have been very grateful" nobody would have had a problem. You went about it all wrong and were just nasty.

Olokia

Person_one wrote: »

If you'd posted: "OP, what's done is done and I know you had the best of intentions but if this happens again I think it would be better to wait until morning and get the cat to a Vet, if I were the owner I'd have been very grateful" nobody would have had a problem. You went about it all wrong and were just nasty.

Olokia wrote: »

There was a similar thread a couple of months ago and I'll say the same as I said there.

I know it was well intentioned and everything but I would have been extremely annoyed if you had buried my cat. She is microchipped and I would have been worrying about her when you could have just taken her to the vet and I would have known straight away. Plus I would have wanted to bury her in my own garden or cremation to keep her near.

If my cat is ever in that situation then I hope that someone will take her to the vet. Leaving them out in the road is worse but being buried somewhere else is only slightly better.

And that was precisely what I (sorta) did. It was only when people started questioning what I said that I started to get more annoyed.

Person_one

Olokia wrote: »

And that was precisely what I (sorta) did. It was only when people started questioning what I said that I started to get more annoyed.

You said you would be 'extremely annoyed' at the OP, that's what was wrong. We're going round in circles now though, you may as well just refer to my first reply to this post back on page 1.

krlyr

Olokia wrote: »

Otherwise it was theft of my property. (Law's words not mine, I don't like calling cats property).

It makes me angry to even think that someone would bury MY cat in their property. That and the fact she has a microchip for a reason. I don't read newspapers or read notices in local shops or anything like that so how else would I find my cat other than the vet calling me??

I don't get this argument - you are happy to surrender control of your cat by willingly allowing it to wander yet the minute someone finds your cat dead because of your decision to let it wander, it's their responsibility to act in your best interests? You have to make a decision - let your cat wander and accept that bad things happen and it may just go missing and never come home, or take responsibility and know where your cat is by keeping it indoors and cat-proofing your garden or providing a cat run. You can't have your cake and eat it. Regardless of what "99%" (would be interested to know the actual figure) of the population do, if you're insisting that pets are property then look after your property. If you left your iPhone on a train seat unattended all day, who's fault is it if you returned and it was missing? If someone else stole the phone and smashed it up, and an innocent bystander found it and chucked it in the bin instead of handing it into a police station, is it their fault your phone is broken? OK, if they'd handed it in, you might have found out what had happened to it but it'd still be broken.
OP had no obligation to the cat's owner, they didn't ask to find the cat, they've signed no agreement to send every cat body they find to the vets, they're not the ones in the wrong here.

Person_one

There isn't any requirement in law to do anything at all if you find a dead cat, even if you hit it with your own car.

sazzybum

Person_one wrote: »

There isn't any requirement in law to do anything at all if you find a dead cat, even if you hit it with your own car.

Thanks everyone

I've quoted your post Person_one- because I know there's no obligation by law for cats- but isn't it different for dogs? Slightly OT I know, but I'm sure you have to report a dog don't you? Just curious really (and before anyone goes off on one- I haven't hit a dog, or found one:D)

Person_one

sazzybum wrote: »

Thanks everyone

I've quoted your post Person_one- because I know there's no obligation by law for cats- but isn't it different for dogs? Slightly OT I know, but I'm sure you have to report a dog don't you? Just curious really (and before anyone goes off on one- I haven't hit a dog, or found one:D)

That's right, you do have to report a dog. The law views cats and dogs very differently. Dogs have to be in their owner's control when out in public, its illegal to let them roam, you have to put a collar and tag on them with certain information etc. Whereas cats are seen more like semi wild animals, they can roam where they want with no owner in sight, they don't need any ID and you don't need to report a dead one any more than you would a dead fox or rabbit.