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Image source, Salòme Van Leuven
Salòme Van Leuven's six-year-old cat Tubbs was found dead after being hit by a car
By Charlotte Rose & Chas Geiger
BBC News
Campaigners are pressing for a change in the law to require motorists who hit cats to stop, report what has happened, and seek help from a vet.
Drivers in the UK already have to do this for accidents involving "working animals", including horses, cows, sheep, pigs, goats and dogs.
But the rules do not apply to cats or wild animals.
The issue will be debated in Parliament later after 102,436 people signed an e-petition backing the change.
The government says it has no plans to change the law because it would be hard to enforce and would be unlikely to change drivers' behaviour.
Cats Matter, a group which campaigns on the issue, claims 230,000 cats a year are involved in road collisions across the UK.
It says that, while a quarter of these accidents are immediately fatal, in the other three quarters of cases cats can be saved if they receive emergency veterinary treatment.
Cats Matter co-founder Mandy Hobbis says at the moment the government regards this as a road safety issue, when it should be seen as an animal welfare one.
When drivers do not stop after a collision, cats can be left in the road "crying for help, in pain, in agony, scared", while people walk or drive by thinking "it's just a cat", she says.
Image source, Vets Now/Shuttershock
Image caption,Research has found that cats who are young, male and crossbred are most likely to be hit by a car.
Ms Hobbis believes cats and dogs are treated differently more generally under the law.
While it has been a legal requirement for owners to get their dog microchipped since 2016, so they can be easily identified, it became compulsory for cat owners to do the same only on 1 January.
Owners now have to get it done before their cat is five months old or they could face a fine of £500.
Ms Hobbis hopes that as more cats get microchipped, it will become easier to reunite them with their owners when they are killed or injured and taken to a local vet.
MPs will debate the petition in Westminster Hall. The government initially responded in February 2022.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said: "Having a law making it a requirement to report road accidents involving cats would be very difficult to enforce and we have reservations about the difference it would make to the behaviour of drivers, who are aware that they have run over a cat and do not report it."
Ministers say they understand how distressing it is to lose a pet in this way.
English (US)