You’ve passed by this gruesome scene a hundred times: a lifeless body of an animal lying on the side of the road after being hit by a car. You shake your head sadly as you drive by, thinking that the animal was surely killed in the collision.

But how do you know for sure that the raccoon, deer, cat, or dog on the side of the road isn’t just lying there—still alive and suffering—unable to move because of his or her injuries?

Read more here.

We found a cat like this. The only reason we knew she was alive was the way the headlights from our car reflected in her open eyes. My sister went outside to make sure and found the cat alive and only slightly injured, just dazed from the shock of the impact – most likely with the road surface (we think someone dumped her from a moving car).

We took her home with us and then to a vet. She wasn’t really injured; she’d just broken a tooth, and apparently she’d recently had kittens. We never found out what had happened to the kittens, but clearly the family who owned her didn’t want her anymore. Despite that, we did keep an eye on Missing Cat ads for several weeks. Not surprisingly, no one showed up to claim her. She remained with us for the rest of her life and became dad’s baby.