Can you hear the violins playing your song?

In all fairness, you too are an asshole. It sucks for the cat that it was hit, sucks for your son and also really sucks for the driver to either hit or witness the animal being killed.I don't have a strong opinion about cats being allowed outside or not,but it was the chance that was taken and didn't turn out well and that is your mistake putting others in such a crappy position.

As usual, the people commenting are dicks with no sense of compassion or empathy. Cats have better lives outside, but they die sooner. It's a known fact.

John, it's sad to lose a pet and friend. But I think gloworm might be suggesting it's wrong to blindly attack the driver here. If you want an "outside animal", don't live in a city. Or if you do, be ready to roll with the punches--whether delivered by bike, car, or bus.

IA *does* confirm the stereotypical Portland tendency toward needing over-wrought, excessive, and borderline false empathy...e.g. Type 2 in this story didn't owe anyone an "apology". That's just insincere bullshit. Then again, whatever it takes to keep your neighborhood mellow I guess. But "FUCK YOU" is probably not part of that equation, IA.

It also is not a 'known fact' that cats lead better lives outdoors.
If you truly love your cat, keep them indoors.
And leash your dog when walking them.
It is ultimately the responsibility of the owner for this tragedy.

Anyone who hits a possibly living object with their car and doesn't even hit the brakes is an undeniable dick.

Man, the sanctimonious comments from the assholes waiting in the wings; feverishly trying to play "gotcha" with their comments, is unbelievable here. Some IA could write, "Today I saved a baby from drowning", and have 10 assholes writing how they were actually selfish pricks for making themselves feel better at the expense of babies who don't drown.
Cat person didn't say their cat being outside wasn't risky; they called asshole on a person who wouldn't stop after hitting an animal, for fuck's sake.

Congratulations. Your otherwise unremarkable 3 year old is now in the 99th percentile of Understanding Death and the Human Condition.

@ Dizzy: some of the commenters on here are trying wayyyyyy to hard to show off their "cynic" tattoo ironically inked onto their bicep. You can hear the snivel in their posts.

I had "outdoor" cats as a kid and even out in the country, they got into trouble. In 15 years, my cat got run over once, poisoned twice, and beat up by strays cats, dogs and raccoons dozens of times.

If we'd kept him indoors, none of that shit would have happened.

I have no sympathy for people who expect their cats to live more than a few hours if they're left to prowl around outside. If you're not ready to have your cat squashed by a speeding car, don't fucking let it out.

As unpleasant as it sounds, I'd sooner kill a cat than swerve into another vehicle, a house, a pedestrian, etc. Nobody wants to have to make that choice, but by letting your cats outside, IA forces them to. Who's the asshole?

Chunty:

Since the Anon was about people and not cats, I'm still going with Type 1.

pdxM8, keep trying, you'll form a coherent sentence eventually.

I,A this is truly your fault, if you had an indoor only cat, your cat would be inside right now and alive as I type this. Outdoor cats are vicious murderers, they kill something like 100,000 critters in their lifetime while being outdoors. Plus, they can get into fun fights with possums, raccoons, wolves, owls, cats, dogs, cars, poison, fleas. Possums love to eat cats. I don't know about you I,A but all outdoor cats have fleas, I suppose you enjoy having a flea ridden home.
Besides, your cat could of been one of those idiot cats that sleeps on car tires and doesn't wake up as the wheel starts moving.

chicostix sounds like the type of person who aims for small animals in the street.

Our indoor cat has fleas. I'm not sure how, but he keeps having them.

He's not allowed out because he's an aggressive jerk. He does, however, REALLY want to be an outdoor cat, and occasionally manages to slip out. Since he live indoors and has no practical knowledge of the outdoors, he could very easily get hit on one of his ventures. Though he is a total jackass of a cat, I would hope that if someone hit him, they would at least stop. I'd probably be pretty apologetic myself.