Rabbi Avigdor Miller used to say something along the lines of:
If one sees a dead animal in the street (cat, squirrel, etc), he should say ‘Hashem I am not going to eat that animal, because You commanded me not to eat it [due to it being a non-kosher animal or nevela]’. One who verbalizes his intentions will then receive a Schar (reward) for his avoidance. If he just walks by, although he surely has no desire to eat the animal, he will not receive any reward for his avoidance of eating it.
I’m not sure of his sources for this, but I definitely heard him say it.