To all you animal lovers out there, would YOU want to know?

@sacmom (14192)
United States
May 2, 2008 12:50pm CST
If your pet went missing and it got hit by a car and died, would you want to know or nor know about it? About a week ago a cat (not mine) got hit by a car on the street I live on. Unfortunately it did not make it. A few days later something made me look at Craigslist in my area under pets. I saw an ad for a missing cat and from what I could tell looks pretty similar to the one that got hit. I contemplated over calling this person that lost their beloved pet right after I saw the cat, but decided against it as I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. Plus it may not even be the same cat. I know I would not want to know if a pet of mine that had gone missing ended up dead. What about you? Would you want to know? Why or why not?
22 people like this
42 responses
2 May 08
I think I would want to know to be honest. If Moomin disappeared I would be frantic with worry and searching for him. He has a collar and tag with my phone number on it so if he were hit by a car and killed, I would hope that who ever found him would let me know.
3 people like this
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
6 May 08
Hopefully you'll never have to worry about such a thing.
@schilds (410)
• United States
2 May 08
Put me in the dont tell me column. We have had many cats in the neighborhood that move from one family to another every couple years. I think I would rather believe my cat found a yummier food bowl.
1 person likes this
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
9 May 08
A yummier food bowl. I like that.
@minnie_98214 (10557)
• United States
2 May 08
I would not want to know either id rather think they found a nice home. I mean ya it happens but its so sad id rather think the best.
1 person likes this
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
7 May 08
Same here. I would rather think the best as well.
@THKOhio (329)
• United States
2 May 08
I would want to know what happened to my cat, whether it was good or bad. It would put some closure on the entire situation, you know? I would be able to stop searching for her, and to grieve for her, and then get on with my life. I can see not saying anything on Craigslist, since you don't know for sure if it was the same cat...that's a tougher call. But if someone knew for SURE that it was my cat, I would want them to tell me.
1 person likes this
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
6 May 08
I can understand that, but at the same time if it was my cat I'd like to think he found a nice new home and hope for the best. But that's just me.
• United States
14 May 08
Well I keep my cats inside and afraid of the doors so that they will not go outside to avoide disease, automobiles, and crazy people who torture cats as swell as predator animals including hawks. For those of you who do not do this, you are putting your cat at high risk. However, if something happened to my cat as in your example it would kill me not to know the outcome of my cat, was it taken in by a family, tortured, killed, what was the outcome? I could not stand not knowing no matter how painful it was. Should I keep looking and hoping. I beg you, if you really love your companion cat, please keep it inside and safe.
@tonibabe (189)
14 May 08
i would want to know just so i wasnt always wondering if they are ok or if they were coming back it would be upseting to hear at first but you would at least be able to get some closure
1 person likes this
• United States
3 May 08
I would want to know so that I would know whether or not to continue looking for my pet. I would be beyond sad, I'm not going to lie about it. But I would rather know if something happened to my missing pet.
1 person likes this
• United States
3 May 08
i would want to know.either way it would break my heart,but at least i'd have closure.i would worry myself sick about the animal until i knew what became of them.
• India
3 May 08
Hi sacmom, yeah sure, I would want to know. If my two cats disappeared, I would like to know what happened to them. So, I believe I would be grateful to the person who would tell me, even if it is bad news. Cheers and thanks for this discussion.
1 person likes this
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
3 May 08
i definitely want to know if my pet went missing and met with a mishap. it's like giving me the closure i need very much. if not i'll just continue searching for my pet. sometimes the knowledge is essential to closure. not knowing can be a kind of pain as well. i'd just go on wondering what on earth happened to my pet. i will start to imagine all kinds of scenario e.g. my pet landing in the hands of an animal abuser, or he got caught in a trap and is whining for help. that is torturous.
1 person likes this
@Marg12 (329)
• United States
3 May 08
I would definitely want to know if my missing cat had been hit by a car and killed. If I had a cat that was missing, I am so silly, I would spend most of the day and night looking and calling for the cat so I really would like to know if someone else knows what had happened to the cat. I just would like to know to have that closure instead of always wondering what happened to the cat. And getting hit by a car is better that imagining all kinds of horrible things that could happen, such as someone shooting the cat and not killing it and having it suffer and many other ways the cat could suffer. So I sure would want to know what happened.
1 person likes this
@fifileigh (3615)
• United States
3 May 08
i think tell them...they are probably worried and wondering if their cat is alive or at where it is. so they can finally have an ending to their worry. so they can stop wondering and worrying if they will see it again. tell them u found it, so they can identify it is their cat if it is, and move on from there.
1 person likes this
• Australia
2 May 08
I would definitely want to know. I have lost a few cats to illness, cars or dogs over the years. While it was awful, I was able to grieve & move on. But one of my cats went missing & I never found her, despite months of searching & putting up signs around my suburb. I will always wonder what happened to her.
1 person likes this
@Psyclown (131)
• Venezuela
3 May 08
I prefer to know and cry if i have to because when i was i child i grow up thinking that my bunny was gift to my ant i hate my mother forever, years later my father told me it was ate by a while dog, i feel back with myself and i never recover the time with my mother.
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
2 May 08
Yes I would definitely want to know, everyone needs closure. I have two cats now that have gone missing and I wish I knew what happened to them one way or another.
1 person likes this
@Ohara_1983 (4117)
• Kuwait
2 May 08
i think i need to know what will happen to my pet, because i treat them like one in my family , so i need to know what happen to them.even it hurt but we need to accept. sometimes accident is no time, no place.
1 person likes this
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
2 May 08
Yes. I would definitely want to know so I could give my pet a proper burial. I would be scared to give bad news to someone also but they need to know so they can put their mind to rest eventually. These people will have their hopes up and their pet will never come back to them. they have to be able to grieve and move on.
1 person likes this
@LouRhi (1502)
• Australia
2 May 08
I think that I would much rather know about it. I know that it would be painful at first but it would be better than left wondering. At least if you know that something has passed on you are able to grieve and move on. Which I think is a much better alternative to spending the next however long searching for a cat that was squashed years ago!
1 person likes this
@Breath (1297)
• United States
2 May 08
I would want to know so me and my family could stop looking and start to heal...My dog went missing back a few months ago...The kids and I was very upset.The one day I went up the highway and looked over and there he was on the side of teh highway close to where I live...It broke my heart.I told my neighbore about it and she blushed and said yes I saw him laying there 2 days before you found him..I wished she would have told me so we could have given him a burial sooner and start to heal...It is always worser to never know what happened to your pet...At least if you find out you can heal and close the case..
1 person likes this
@cmelton (160)
• United States
2 May 08
I think that I would want to know instead of just wondering where it was and spending the time looking for it. I would hate to have to be the one to give the news to someone else though, that would be hard.
1 person likes this