dead cat on the line noun used as a representation of something that is wrong or immoral US,1970
There’s a dead cat on the line, Eleanor. And you’d better wake up and smell it. — Candy Dawson Boyd, CharliePippin, p. 32, 1987
If one comes in there like a scalded dog, the others in that hole know there’s a dead cat on the line somewhere. — Foxfire Fund, Foxfire 11, p. 266, 1999