I Found A Dead Cat...

... a couple of weeks ago.

I had been out with my other half for a drive. When we pulled into the street I saw the body, just laying there in the road.

I got out and checked it was actually dead. It was. But there was no blood or obvious signs of trauma. Sam had got gloves from the house for me, and I carefully lifted it and placed it on the nature strip.

I had seen the cat many times before. It was a large, beautiful, pure white cat. I never saw it move. Whenever I saw it, it was always sitting on the same spot, on a neighbour's driveway. Always the same spot.

Not knowing quite what to do, I tried to think what I would want as the owner of a cat found dead in the street. I would, of course, want to know.

I knocked the door of the neighbour who I thought the cat belonged to. The street I live on is, thankfully, a very quiet one. People generally keep to their own, and I can count the times I have passed a "hello" to the people I share my street with, on one hand. So these people, who I didn't even know, were answering their door as I was still trying to formulate how to break the news.

Asking if they owned a white cat, seemed the best way to begin. And they didn't. However, the people next to them did. So, on my way, now with reasonable certainty I was going to be ruining someone's peaceful night, I began to feel somewhat ill.

This door did not open, no-one answered my knocks. It was perhaps 10pm, and I wasn't sure what to do. I couldn't just leave the cat on the nature strip. I called the local police station. The lady I spoke to informed me the police didn't deal with such issues, but that the local council authorities would be able to help dispose of the body.

Having the cat taken away, without the owner knowing what had happened, seemed a poor choice. I would want the choice to, for example, bury my dead pet.

I made the decision to leave the cat over night, where it lay. I decided against putting it in a bag or covering it up, as I thought a curious child might investigate and get a fright.

The next morning I tried again. The owner, a lady, answered the door. Telling someone their pet is dead in the street is one of the most terrible, awful things I have ever had to do.

She cried.

She said she didn't know what she should do.

I explained that had I not found the owner, I was going to call the council and asked if she wanted me to still do this. She said yes and thanked me for informing her of her cat's death.

So, I made the call, and a man came an hour or so later, to collect the body.

A couple of days later I found a letter, scribbled on some lined note paper, in my letter box. The lady now had had time to think, and wanted me to explain what had happened. My heart sank. I felt she must have thought I had killed her cat.

I tried a few times over the next couple of days to talk to her, but no-one answered the door. Her note had specifically asked me to answer via letter. In my mind such topics should bespoken about in person, giving people the opportunity to explore, discuss and to clarify. I imagined my writing a letter, only to receive another, and another.

The lady eventually came to my door. Once she had thought things through, she had reclaimed the body and buried it in her back garden. I gave her all the details I could, but I simply didn't know what happened. The lady told me a man had advised her of the cat having internal injuries. She asked me which way the cat was facing. She was trying to work out if it had been hit by a car or if something more sinister had happened. I think she was probably also trying to work out if I was responsible.

I know people can be careless and blatantly cruel, but I didn't have the answers she sought.

She left, with a mission of discovering the truth. I haven't heard from her. I don't know her and am not sure if it would be inappropriate to knock her door and ask her how she is and if she discovered anything. I think I would be better in leaving her to grieve.

I hope she can find some peace.

I have 3 cats and would be devastated if something similar happened to them.