Why can cats disappear for ages?

We feed a bunch of stray cats near where we live(we also end up neutering them and taking them to the vets when they have issues - had half a dozen die this year) we have had cats coming to eat every day then disappearing for months and even years in one case and then reappearing as if nothing has happened.
The lass whose cat it is, says she would not get a cat again as much as she loves it, due to this reason of just upping and leaving. She has 2 distraught kids that are in limbo with not knowing where cat is.
 


The lass whose cat it is, says she would not get a cat again as much as she loves it, due to this reason of just upping and leaving. She has 2 distraught kids that are in limbo with not knowing where cat is.
Sad to hear there's no news. Leaving home is not something all cats do. I've had 10 cats over the years and none have ever gone missing or been absent. I do, however, keep them in overnight and they only go out when I'm in the house - they continually pop back for treats or just to 'check in'.
 
Absolutely love our cat although he's just cost us £800 for a bite on the head. He's got one of those collars on and is grounded for the next three nights. Its going to be a long three nights.

In terms of the cat/dog debate, I was up in Scotland once and some woman was taking the dog out for a walk. She said "come along then" and a cat appeared through her garden gate then the three of them went trotted off for their exercise.
 
Just found a dead cat in the road in front of my house. Poor fucker looked like it was just sleeping but must’ve been clipped by one of the arseholes who speed round the estate. No collar so just put a note on the local FB group and will take it to the vets if no one claims in the next couple hours. The Mrs wants to get one but I’d never have one on the street until the try some traffic calming
 
About 30 years ago one of our cats didnt return home for a couple of days so went out searching / calling his name at garage doors and sheds in the estate. On getting back I saw him looking out of next door neighbours window - problem was they had just gone on a fortnight's holiday that morning!
Didn't know neighbours surname but I knew he was in the police so I rang local station in hope that they might have contact details or something. Best they could offer was advice that I feed the cat through the letterbox - I asked if they could suggest how he could pass his sh*t back out?
Finally they did allow me a ' supervised' break-in via smashing a kitchen window ( back in the days of single pane glass and putty 😉). Got the cat out, replaced the glass and repainted the surround.
Owned up to neighbours when they got back just in case the repair job wasn't good enough
 
Unfortunately not mate. There have been about 4 really good sightings (he is a grey almost blue colour which thought was rare), but each time have went to see these sightings, it has been someones actual cat.

3 weeks tomorrow the cat has been missing. It is chipped and hopefully no news is good news from no calls to say cat has been found dead etc. But looks like potentially just gone and lived with another person or got so far away from home it is lost.

Sorry to hear that mate. It is hard losing a pet but I really believe that it is better to have loved and lost them than never have had them in your life at all.
Be sure to let us know when when it returns, i have complete faith it will. 🙏
 
Just found a dead cat in the road in front of my house. Poor fucker looked like it was just sleeping but must’ve been clipped by one of the arseholes who speed round the estate. No collar so just put a note on the local FB group and will take it to the vets if no one claims in the next couple hours. The Mrs wants to get one but I’d never have one on the street until the try some traffic calming
One of ours was found dead in the street 2 years ago while we were on holiday :cry: She hadn't been hit by anything, she had a heart murmur and from the reports of the people who found her (who rang us straight away as Mr P's mobile is on the collar tag) she was still alive but poorly and she died in his arms :(:(:(. No physical damage to her at all, so it was probably her heart. It was really sad, but we knew she had a heart murmur, and it was just her time.
 
Sad to hear there's no news. Leaving home is not something all cats do. I've had 10 cats over the years and none have ever gone missing or been absent. I do, however, keep them in overnight and they only go out when I'm in the house - they continually pop back for treats or just to 'check in'.

I think a lot depends on the personality of the cat, how they've lived before the current ownership, which sex they are (males generally have larger territory) and the people in their house. Cats can often be less child friendly than dogs so overly attentive but well meaning children can make a cat "move out" depending on its personality.
 
I think a lot depends on the personality of the cat, how they've lived before the current ownership, which sex they are (males generally have larger territory) and the people in their house. Cats can often be less child friendly than dogs so overly attentive but well meaning children can make a cat "move out" depending on its personality.
Yeah, I've mentioned before my sister's cat left home for a quiet house up her street when her kids were young. I must admit mine aren't overly friendly with other people, apart from the rescue cat who apparently has neighbours who he visits, probably from way before I took him in.
 
Yeah, I've mentioned before my sister's cat left home for a quiet house up her street when her kids were young. I must admit mine aren't overly friendly with other people, apart from the rescue cat who apparently has neighbours who he visits, probably from way before I took him in.

I didn't think that Yoffie was massively friendly with other people until 1) I saw her playing with the young lad who lived over the road 2) I wondered why a random oriental woman was taking photos of my next door neighbour's drive until I saw that my cat was doing a feline modelling session for her.

When I was a youngster, we had a three legged cat who was something of a wanderer (there's a long story there about him). During winter, we had really heavy snow when he was out and we got very worried until we spotted him looking out of the window of a house not far from opposite at the back of our house alongside their cat. (amongst other things, he seemed to live outside the territorial hierarchy of most cats, not sure if this was down to the lack of one front leg)
 
I didn't think that Yoffie was massively friendly with other people until 1) I saw her playing with the young lad who lived over the road 2) I wondered why a random oriental woman was taking photos of my next door neighbour's drive until I saw that my cat was doing a feline modelling session for her.

When I was a youngster, we had a three legged cat who was something of a wanderer (there's a long story there about him). During winter, we had really heavy snow when he was out and we got very worried until we spotted him looking out of the window of a house not far from opposite at the back of our house alongside their cat. (amongst other things, he seemed to live outside the territorial hierarchy of most cats, not sure if this was down to the lack of one front leg)
Brilliant. My sister's cat only had 1 front leg due to a road traffic accident. He chose a house with other cats but didn't interact. The rescue (Zeb) I took in used to be best mates with my oldest cat (Gideon). He would come calling for him, and they would go off together nutting their heads like big daft lads. However I got another cat before taking him in and their previous friendship doesn't seem to have lasted. Cats!
 
Brilliant. My sister's cat only had 1 front leg due to a road traffic accident. He chose a house with other cats but didn't interact. The rescue (Zeb) I took in used to be best mates with my oldest cat (Gideon). He would come calling for him, and they would go off together nutting their heads like big daft lads. However I got another cat before taking him in and their previous friendship doesn't seem to have lasted. Cats!

Claude was also an RTA, when he was wandering. He belonged to our next door neighbours who, maybe, weren't the best pet owners. He was run over and a family found him, took him in, insisted that the vet tried to keep him alive when, with the severity of his injuries, they recommended euthanasia. He survived but lost his leg. The neighbours discovered this and insisted that he came back to them. A short while later, one of our family noticed him outside, unable to get shelter in a massive storm and we brought him in for the night. The next part is obvious (he was ours except in the eyes of the neighbours' 6 year old daughter). At the same time, Claude's brother was found dead on the bridal path near our house (killed by what we'd assumed to be a trained dog, with the owner going to hunt rabbits on Cleadon Hills and using any animal they saw as practice). This happened to a cat from the house two doors from us and then also to Claude (cutting a long story short). It was pretty awful, in part because, whlist he was a wanderer, he was killed within 20 metres or so of our house. This was the first of a couple of pets we had that died prematurely, which made me cautious of further pets. Much as I'm sad that Yoffie died, she was 19 (well, 18-20) so had a proper, full life.
 
Unloyal little fuckers.

We rescued our cat from a lass who is a renowned scruff, went to see the cats and she said there was 2 available. I said what do you want, she said whatever is in your pocket. I had 7 quid. She said that will do! Went home with the 2 covered in fleas.

Gave one to our lasses (no) sister (no) and we kept the other.

He now lives with an old women down the road and is fat as fuck coz she feeds him better then my lass feeds me.
 

Back
Top