Please advise, feel awful. Content may be upsetting

TopQuark

Lisa,

Hugs to you, it' s a horrible experience to go through! You sound very kind-hearted and should congratulate yourself for that; some people wouldn't even stop or care.

I agree with the others that flowers and simple card would be a nice gesture for the former owner. If my cat was killed on the road (and I've had several run-over in the past), I think it would bring some comfort to me to know that the person who caused it cared about what had happened.

Maybe you could make a donation to the Cat's Protection or something if it makes you feel a bit better?

Don't beat yourself up too much, sadly accidents happen every single day.

tea_lover

Having read others' replies I think I'd agree that offering to help with costs might not be such a good idea after all. I think I'd still send a card though, nothing heavy, just a quick note.

Maybe a donation to an animal charity just for your own peace of mind? Not that you've got anything to make up for, it was just a horrible accident.

valk_scot

It's £160 to get a cat put down and cremated at my vet. It's £50 to get one from the rescue. I've done both, more than once.

As to you, OP, it's a very sad thing and I understand that you're shaken up about it but as many others have said, cats getting run over is unfortunately very common and any cat owner who has cats that go out knows this in the back of their mind. And at least you stopped, the two drivers that hit my two (separate incidents) didn't, though of course they might not have realised.

I don't know about offering to pay the costs of cremation, it's easily going to be £100 sad to say and though you may not mind that, how about offering to make a donation to a cat rescue charity, perhaps, if you can't afford £100 but still want to make a gesture? Also a card saying how sorry you are really wouldn't go amiss tbh, just don't get one with a cat on the front, okay?

Errata

It's not a nice thing to happen and you've told the woman how sorry you are it happened. That's it. Don't keep apologising or she may start to think you could have avoided the cat and chose not to.

BritAbroad

I'd send a little card to the owner, and make a donation to the Cats Protection League or a similar charity. Even though you can't change what happened, that way you can take some comfort that some good came out of it.

VitaK

Edit: Sorry. I didn't mean it like that.

Person_one

VitaK wrote: »

If someone don't have time and room to avoid a collision, they were driving to fast, even if the speed limit says otherwise.

That's true in lots of situations, but its not universally so, and it seems rather mean spirited to try and criticise the OP here when she's already clearly upset.

pinkteapot

VitaK wrote: »

If someone don't have time and room to avoid a collision, they were driving to fast, even if the speed limit says otherwise.

That is unfair in the extreme to the OP. Cats are small and can't be seen if they're hiding under other cars. They can also run into the road a LOT faster than children (mentioned earlier). OP could have been driving at 10mph and still not been able to stop.

OP - I like the idea of a card, apologising one last time and saying that you've made a donation to a cat charity in memory of their pet.

VitaK

No No. I didn't mean to have a dig or criticize. I was commenting on a reply to a post.

I apologize if it came across differently.

cod3

VitaK wrote: »

If someone don't have time and room to avoid a collision, they were driving to fast, even if the speed limit says otherwise.

I completely disagree with this. I ran over a 6 year old girl once while travelling at less than 20mph. She ran straight out from between two parked cars right in front of me. No time to stop. Cats do similar.