I accidentally destroyed somebody’s cat.

When i (23F) was 19 i was watching a friends neighbors cat for them. I am an extremely clumsy person and i had gotten up from the couch and forgotten to step over the cat. The cat screamed in the most heart wrenching way as i stepped on its tail. It darted across the room like a missile and i could hear it crash into something. I turned to see a birdcage upside down with the cat attempting to claw the poor bird to death. The cat somehow got its own paw caught in the cage and in the struggle crushed the birds neck. It then realized it couldn’t get to the bird and it started chewing on its own paw, probably in pain, until the bone was outside of its own fur. I looked at the poor cat and knew it was going to die without veterinary care. So i grabbed the cat and stuffed it in my tote bag and took it to the vet. I left the house a wreck. On the drive i could hear the cat meowing in pain and the sound of blood dripping from the bag. I knew the cat would be okay but the neighbors bird wouldn’t be. I was so paranoid and scared that my friend would hate me or i would get in trouble for this. I obviously told the vet the truth but i was so worked up that my friend would see the charge on the bill and figure it out.<br><br>I love animals, after this even though i hadn’t meant to do it, i had to tell myself that accidentally crippling and maiming a cat is not okay, even if i didn’t mean to.|=<br>I did end up picking up the cat though with a heavily bandaged paw covered in stitches and brought it back to the neighbors house and cleaned up the bird and the cage. A few days later i told my friend what had happened and she laughed and said that the neighbors bird was like the CharlieSheen of birds and she was secretly happy it was dead. I obviously didn’t tell her everything that happened but she was so calm about it that i felt a little better.<br><br>Edit: wow this was more popular than i thought it would be. Thank you for the kind words and judgments that aren’t too harsh. I’m glad you enjoyed hearing my pain.