Where do all the missing cats go?

I have always had cats and my experience is that they come and go as they please. Some cats are adventurous and some prefer to stay indoors. Cats get into all sorts of scrapes (hence 9 lives). Unfortunately some people don’t like cats and will poison them with antifreeze or shoot them with air rifles.
I don’t even want to think about them being savaged by staffs/Pitt/American bull terriers.
I can accept deaths by misadventure, that they find a new nicer home with better food. But the cruelty of criminal men is abhorrent.

Yep, daily posts of cats going missing in my area - some turn up but most are sadly killed on the roads. I’ve always had indoor cats who have had access to our garden only and have lived long, happy lives.

A friend of mine lost their cat for over a year. Then one day random day the cat came back home. Having boarded a train home by themselves! 😄

Apparently cats go away to die, as in they crawl into bushes and the like, so that could sadly account for some of them

Foxes, I imagine, or shot like vermin when they interfere in people's gardens. Or injured and die in a bush and the rats eat before dawn.

Also weedkiller 🥺

There have been several sightings of Eagle owls in the UK. They are capable of taking cats.
My cat stays in at night.

We lost our 10 month old cst recently. He was missing for a week and was found by chance in the neighbours dense shrubbery. Curled up and never woke. It was only a series of quite specific circumstances that we were able to bring him home, otherwise we would still be looking and wondering.

RIP Splodgey boy, you were the best cat

They go for a wander and then someone starts feeding them and they end up staying at the new person's house.
My fucking neighbour steals other people's cats like this. She tempts them with the finest treats and once she's gained their trust locks them in her house and keeps them as indoor cats.
She did this to another neighbour's cat until the cat became ill and then took the cat back to the original owner who paid all of the vet bills. When the cat had to be put to sleep thief neighbour came round to say goodbye and was wailing. Original owner was not amused.
A month later she stole another cat, this time from a small child.

Sometimes if cats are unwell and sense the end is near they disappear off to die somewhere quiet. One of ours did that. She just disappeared and never came back. She was old with a thyroid problem. Probably curled up in a hedge somewhere.

Killed on the road, taken in by someone else, turn feral, end up in a rescue.

round here a lot of dead cats get eaten by birds, circle of life

Small animal road kill often doesn’t last that long. Between scavengers and being run over multiple times, the remains get dispersed.

The cat redistribution system does its job most of the time, I think.

If dog fighting is an issue in your area that could absolutely be why. Cats are often used as bait, to get the dogs aggressive. It’s awful and a reason mine won’t go out and roam)that, traffic, and people stealing cats who have a home).

There’s such a large number that aren’t chipped (legal requirement) and go missing. If they get picked up by a rescue they will get rehomed as no proof of ownerships if they get in a rta I know my council hold unchipped cats for a week and chipped for a month before they dispose of them. Also a lot of people don’t keep chip info up to date so again most likely will go into rescue

Most of them are at my dad’s 😉. He is a magnet for other people’s cats. Went around the other week and there were 5 either in the house or garden. None of them his. They just like it there!

I’ve lost 2 on the road and the bastards that hit them just left them to die. I think most that go missing long term are dead sadly.

I chose my current house specifically for my cats to try and keep them safe and they are territorial little buggers so no waifs and strays come here. But in the past we have rehomed many a stray, it’s true that cats won’t stay where they aren’t happy.

Something similar happened to us. Our cat was being looked after by my grandad when she escaped and ended up living wild for two years. Fortunately for her, she got lost in a quiet cul-de-sac full of kind, well-off elderly ladies who clearly took turns feeding her and letting her nap in their houses. One family even tried to adopt her—until they discovered how badly she shed her winter coat. Miraculously, they took her to the vet, who scanned her microchip and got in touch with us. I was convinced she’d died, so it was quite a shock. By then, we’d already adopted a puppy and were expecting our first baby!

Round here the most recent posters say 'not chipped' 😡 and 'doesn't respond to name' and 'very shy'. Responsible ownership starts with chipping. I really hope the new rules on chipping will stop that from occuring.

In the country I'm from, council/road workers have to check chips on dead cats/pets, and keep the body in storage (frozen) for 2 weeks. I think it's pretty shit that that isn't basic here. There is no obligation to microchip, but most people do because they know they'll get their pet back, and it's only €40 or so.

I wonder this too! My cat went missing 3 years ago - it’s a long story but we never got him back but I spent a lot of time on the local lost pet facebook group! Yes some find their way back but many don’t!

I cat proofed my garden when I got 2 new rescues! There are just too many horrible things happen to cat!

I see those posts too. When the cat is clearly well fed and has a collar FFS leave it alone to go home.

I think a large proportion get “adopted”

any found cat post on social media and the comments are all aw you have a cat now, he’s chosen you, it’s the cat distribution system at work.

it seems acceptable to just keep a cat that wanders in your direction.

i hate the “cat distribution system”. It’s just condoning theft/catnapping.

at least make some sort of half arsed effort to find an owner.

One of ours went missing shortly after a house move - turned up in a nearby forest 2 years later!! A woman living in a cottage in the grounds had been feeding her but grew concerned as winter began that she could actually be a homeless cat. Cats Protection volunteers were able to trap her and scan her chip - most bizarre Saturday evening of my life when they rang and told me they’d found DCat..! We were all totally convinced that she was long gone after no traces or sightings for years and to be perfectly honest I didn’t think she’d still be living.

I think they all move to my area. My local FB pages are full of the opposite posts - 'I found this cat' with picture of obviously healthy cat, wearing a collar, clearly been out minding it's own business, and been scooped up and whisked away by a random person.

I've wondered this myself. Apparently some cats (and dogs) are stolen to train fighting dogs on (is this what you mean by "lamping"? Where I am, lamping means hunting hares, deer etc by night with greyhounds or lurchers, using powerful lamps shining across fields to locate prey (as their eyes reflect the light)).

But anyway - what happens to the corpses of all these cats and dogs used in dog fighting? They are evidence of a crime committed, so presumanly can't be disposed of in bins, and since these activities seem to take place in towns, there isn't much space to bury them without arousing suspicion. And you wouldn't think people would want to put them in their cars to take them elsewhere...so what happens to them?