I hit a cat this morning I was driving up our hill, very slowly, because we lost a cat here ourselves 2 years ago, and suddenly a cat comes running down the sidewalk on the opposite side, veers across the road and DIVES in front of the car. I slam on the brakes and hear a kind of shuddering sound, no bump. The cat runs away down the hill, and then I notice that it's been chased by another cat who has stopped and is just watching. I found no blood, but a little fluff of under-fur, which could have been from the cats fighting in advance.
I've been around ringing doorbells (including one a s s h o l e who said "good riddance! they **** all over the place here!" and laughed ) and managed to find the owner.
The cat is at the vets. His leg was swollen, and he was breathing raspily.
Please tell me that the raspy breath is from pain, and that a broken leg kan be mended... I try to tell myself that I probably saved that cat's life, no other driver would have been driving so slowly or reacted that fast, but I still feel terrible about causing this cat and his owners so much pain.