Our neighborhood has not done well for the local cat population: Several dead cats have turned up on nearby city streets, obvious victims of cars. I’m not sure what’s happening, except we’re in an urban neighborhod with more people living in houses than apartments. Perhaps people let their cats wander around at night, with no collar, to run into the middle of the street. I just feel that, unless you’re on a highway going a million miles an hour, it’s cruel to hit an animal and leave it to die at the side of the road. I lost a cat, Fox, this way…my poor sister found him when she went out to wait for the school bus.

And I have an awful confession to make, something that I never, ever talk about: three years ago on a rural highway, late at night while driving to Aspen, CO, a cat skittered into our path and fell victim to our tires. The sound of impact was hideous and we were paralyzed with what to do: Find an off ramp and go back? Slow down from 55 mph and look? We were filled with anguish and ultimately decided that it would be too risky for us to pull over and perhaps get run over ourselves (although wouldn’t that have been karmic justice).

Of course, a lot of this is case by case. Sure, I could see if someone is late to work and they run over a cat the last thing they want to do is go back and look at a dead animal…but these people are hard. Go check the collar, go see if it’s still alive, call the sanitation department, if anthing…Now, live animals running around poses a different question, particularly in regard to dogs. Josh and I have both been known for rushing out into traffic to rescue a run-away dog. I don’t even particularly like dogs, and yet I found myself running across a highway in Summit County in pursuit of a stray dog. I convinced him into my car and called animal control. I’ve even pulled over and not been able to convince animals into my car, only to find a nearby business and called animal control from there. There is something really heart breaking about a dog running around, freaked out, and lost.

Many of you will make the case for keeping your pet indoors…you’re right, it definitely decreases their risk.  I, however, have always let my cats outside to roam free.  I also had a friend in college who had all these animals stuffed into her tiny apartment and her cats started to chew their fur out.  “It’s a reaction to staying indoors in such small quarters,” she explained.  The idea of a sad, neurotic, cat chewing itself in response to being denied the outdoors kinda of stuck with me.  OK, I know many of you have indoor cats that love it, they’re fat and happy lying around your house all day…after seeing several flattened kitties on the road, I may have to consider it.