I Remember Why I'm A Misanthrope

[redbrunja]

On the way to pick up my mom's car from the mechanic, we found a cat that had been hit by a car by the side of the road.

She was still alive.

So we drove her to the emergency vet (over an hour away), listening to her harsh, wet breathing and encouraging her every time she went quiet and then coughed and kept breathing.

She was too badly injured to make it, so the vet euthanasized her. I won't go into the details - suffice it to say, I'm really glad she was out of pain as soon as possible and that we were there so she didn't die alone by the roadside.

As we drove back home, my mom and I had a cheerful conversation on all the instances we were involved with of animals getting injured and killed and how people consistently fail to rise to the occasion, instead sinking under it and revealing what self-centered, over-dramatic dickheads they are.

Which leads me to whatever fucker hit this in the first place and then kept on driving.

Bastard.

I just have no words.

None.

The only good part of the evening was getting the best coffee I've had in years from an Arco.

Now I'm going to go pass out - I wake up for work in six hours and counting.

Thursday is my day off - if you commented on my lj or replied to a comment of mine that's likely when you'll hear back from me.

Comments

[tobu-ishi.livejournal.com]

My grandfather (a wonderful man, by the way, who just turned eighty) still sheepishly remembers me, at age seven or so, shrieking furiously at him to stop and go back after he hit a dog on the freeway.

In retrospect, an interstate freeway is very difficult place to go back for an injured animal. Still, when he brought it up last week, it startled me that he still remembered the incident when I didn't, and seemed to still feel a bit guilty at the memory of my shouts of, "You hit that dog!"

It'll be interesting, if I ever get a car of my own, to see how things play out in my own driving career.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Still, when he brought it up last week, it startled me that he still remembered the incident when I didn't, and seemed to still feel a bit guilty at the memory of my shouts of, "You hit that dog!"

Frankly, I'm glad he does.

And I truly hope that you never have to deal with dead or injured pets. I've had to deal with it three times now and honestly? The last one that I recounted in my post? Was the best experience with it that I ever had. The others still make me furious and hate people.

A bit of advice - if you have an emergency vet, program the number into your cell. Hopefully, you'll never, ever need it. I just did that, because at the time this happened, if my mom hadn't had the phone number of the vet memorized, we wouldn't have known who to call.

[tobu-ishi.livejournal.com]

I've dealt with several dead and dying pets of my own, but never another's. (I was lucky, I suppose, to avoid either seeing or hearing too many details about the most recent, which involved a raccoon attack.) If my compassion is ever tested in that way, I guess all I can do is hope I can make whatever difference is possible at the time.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I guess all I can do is hope I can make whatever difference is possible at the time.

That's true with most things, I think.