Saw something that bothered me today...
 

I was on the way to work this morning and going about 45 in mild traffic on a two lane road.

Up ahead on the right, I saw what looked like a fish or seal flopping around. WTF I thought.

As I got closer, I saw that it was a cat that must have been hit. It was doing all kinds of crazy moves up and down.

There was no place to pull over and I'm not sure what I could have done if I did.

Felt bad about it through out the day.

No one wants to see suffering; 'most everyone on this board would be affected the way you were today.

I saw the same thing one morning going to work and I couldn't get the image out of my head all day. Having cats at home made it seem even worse.

Sorry to hear that. It's quite unlikely you could have done anything. I had a similar experience sitting on my front porch; saw my neighbors' cat run out in front of a car. Accidents happen.

I saw the same thing on Monday- A kitten, which I thought was dead, rolled over and stared at me, and started moving, like out of a stephen king movie. It stuck with me all day too.

I ran over a small bird once on my bicycle. I stopped and it was flopping around obviously badly broken. The kindest thing I could do was to stomp on it to put it out of its misery and and even that action bothers me now years later.

It's always an awful thing to witness. Stuff like that stays with me forever.

I saved a young Gopher turtle's life today. Was headed home for lunch and saw the car in front of me swerve to the left slightly and continue on. There's turtles all over on the island so I'm routinely watching for them while driving. So anyways....this little guy is intent on continuing across the road and into oncoming traffic. I stop put it in neutral and collect the little tyke. Take the next right and drive to the park where I release him in the woods.

As a landscaper I always have a shovel with me - comes in handy to remove animals from the road so they don't get repeatedly bashed by traffic.

Most drivers I have seen won't stop for a garbage can and animals are not further behind in consideration. Some do but most don't. It's a real shame.

I grew up on a ranch. There was a period where we had a lot if cats. I don't remember how we ended up with so many but I remember it was a lot. The cats would sleep under the cars so when my dad would back the car out to take us to school in the morning they sometimes wouldn't move and we would run over them only there was no road noise to mask the sound. It started happening so often he kept a shovel next to the car. Still makes me cringe when I think about it.

I used to follow my wife home when we were dating as she lived in a bad neighborhood. One time as we drove through the city streets she hit a cat. That thing was spinning and flipping and flopping all over the place right in front of me. That stayed with me for a long time. I felt the same as you. Oddly enough slaughtering steer, pigs, and chickens never affected me that way.

A few months ago I pulled out of the office and thought I saw a gray plastic bag in the middle of my lane. At the last second a head swiveled around and I saw that it was a kitten. Luckily I'd straddled it and then I pulled over. It was just laying there, so I figured broken back or something. I scooped him up in a towel, and headed over to my vet friends place. Once we walked in, he hopped out of my arms and walked off, ended up having no real injuries. Peed all over my pants as thanks. He was adopted later. Makes up for all the poor squirrels I've hit on the way to work.

Accidentally push-mowed through a rabbit nest in 1996. Still hate that it happened.

Empathy is something that connects people to each other and other animals have it too. Not to stray too far or hijack but contagious yawning is thought to come from a similar area of the brain and the absence of that phenomenon in people may be a marker of pathology. Google TED talk and yawning for more if interested.

Just last night I hit our rooster across the head with a small tree branch stick on purpose. This rooster has a habit of coming up behind us and spurring the back of our legs and drawing blood sometimes. I generally keep an eye out for him but will not alter my course when walking across the yard to the barn. He has challenged me before and I promised to make soup out of him. Well last night I hit him so hard, he laid there flopping around for a minute, and I figured I had killed him. Well about an hour later I saw he was finally on his feet and crowing again. We will see if he changes his ways, but i'm looking forward to some homeade chicken noodle soup.

reminds me of when i rescued one from fighting 4 dogs. i was a bit too late. i think they had torn a hole in its lung because when it breathed it had a large bulge from its side.
that cat was sooo loving it was a same, perhaps due to me rescuing it. who knows how long that fight had been going on. one of my sadest animal days.

As others have mentioned their stories, I have one too from 30 years ago, 'cause they stay with you....not much you can do and it sucks :(

Been there done that once years ago when I was about 16 or 17 in the pouring rain. Not good at all.

Had a close call today. I was on the entrance ramp to the highway and had to brake hard and swerve to avoid a turkey and her flock of 8 lined up behind her.

Funny thing is, they left the woods to cross the on ramp to get to the area between the on ramp and highway. There's nothing there for them.

I moved a car at our shop from the back lot, and doesn't see the mamma cat watching her 3 kittens play around the tire....
Backed up and saw the same thing, tiny black kitten flopping around. After running into the shop to get something to put it out of its misery as i was coming back it died....broken back or neck.....was almost the worse thing i ever had to do.
The worse part was watching the mom sniff the spot for hours....she saw what happened. .....
Still messes me up.......
To this day i won't move a car without looking underneath. ...

A few months ago I was in traffic first thing in the morning and saw a kitten (a damn kitten!) mangled and squirming in the road. I couldn't safely get over and go back and get it, and I don't know what I could have done for it anyway.

My ex grew up on a farm....they had an attack Turkey. She crushed him with the car, the whole family was relieved......Turkeys are worse than Geese territorial wise.

Saw the same thing recently, flopping uncontrollably like it was being electrocuted. Stayed with me for days.

Several summers ago there was a mother goose with about five goslings crossing the highway. I was able to swerve and miss them, but the young lady behind me took them all out. Fortunately I was able to look away right as they were going under the front bumper, seeing the actual impact would have been very traumatizing.