is it possible for a cat to disappear from the family home for months or years then one day just come back?

[adam7485]

hello. we had a 16 year old black cat. about 5 years ago he just disappeared. we were guessing he just went away to die as i know that is common and we never saw him again. so posting really for traffic. have you ever had a cat that vanished one day, you thought you wouldn't see them again then they appeared totally out of the blue?

Yes. It is rare and I know people say cats stay around places but some do roam. We had one years ago that went to the next village and was spotted from time to time then just turned back up one day. We also have a feral female that turns up every couple of years for six months, normally around Christmas, has some kittens in a barn then disappears again.

16 years is a good age though, so likely he has died.

My mum’s did and she was really old. Disappeared around age 15 and came back 2 years later! Lived another 2 years after that.

Yes, they get their paws under some gullible schmucks table and pretend to tolerate them in exchange for food love them, then, just like that, their mood changes and off they jolly well fuck without a backward glance.

Yes. We had a big old Tom who did that all the time. He would wander off for days/weeks - then saunter back. Fat as ever. We think he had a few homes.

Our tortie dcat vanished. 6 months later I found her very local just sat under a tree. Nearby house said she had been living rough. No idea why when we lived literally 2 streets away. She had a few smashed teeth and was thin but was back to her old self in no time at all.

Very possible - cats roam.

But as yours was sixteen when she disappeared, I would suspect that, as 21, she is no longer with us, unfortunately.

ah thanks all. i know he would have died by now i would be gobsmacked if he was still alive lol. was just posting out of interest as i read something once about family cats just disappearing, living wild for ages then suddenly turning up again.

My friend had a cat that disappeared for over a year and then came home unexpectedly so it does happen

I cat-sit for a lady who has six cats, one of which I pretty much never see as he disappears for weeks/months on end, and then returns as if nothing has happened, lol.

One of my cats has gone missing 3 times now. The first time he was only gone for 7 weeks!
The second time, he was gone for 18 months over the winter that we had he Beast from the East.
The third (and hopefully last) time he was missing for 2 years.
Each time he has been found rather than made his own way home but we have been very lucky to get him back.

In Aberdeen recently, a cat that disappeared 10 years ago was found. It was picked up as a stray 2 miles from its old home and identified by its microchip. I think this is an exceptional case, though, and my personal experience is that ours didn't reappear.

I have heard of cats turning up a year later. One had travelled quite a few miles to return to his home after a couple seperated and one party took the cat to a new home. Our boy left a few months ago. I still have a feeling he may turn up someday.

Yes!! My mum inherited two cats from her dad when he passed away. Anyway, one strolled out one day and never came home. Six months passed and then suddenly he strolled back in as if nothing had happened.

A few days later my mum was walking to the shop and she saw said cat in the garden of a man a couple of streets over. The man was petting him and she asked him how she knew him. The man said mum’s cat came by everyday and he had nicknamed him ‘big boy’ 😂

Yes, one of mine did. I wasn’t expected it but was thrilled.

This happened to us. Many years later, we realised that one of the neighbours had nicked the cat and kept her inside so we never saw her out and about.

I had a cat that left several tears later it came back, curled up next to me and died.

My parents had 2 cats. One disappeared for years then came back looking ill. After spending a couple hundred quid at the vets it got healthy then buggered off again. Not been seen since, but it will be long dead by now. Our theory had always been that someone else took him in, but as soon as he got old and needed money spent on him at the vets they decided it wasn't worth it so it went back to my parents.

I really hope so, my little Boo has been missing since January

Yes. One of mine visited less and less frequently, until it was about once every 6 months. He comes back much more now he’s an old boy (about once a fortnight).

They’ve always been outside cats as there is just farmland behind us.

Someone local to me lost a cat (Isle of Wight) and it turned up in Scotland a week or so later. It had got into a removals van.

Yes. We had a cat that left. He came back quite a few years later with an infected leg with a cat claw stuck in it. We treated it and he stayed for a few days then was off again. We lived near countryside and think he was living wild. He was always a hunter. It was odd as he was part of a litter of 3 that was born to our cat and we kept them all. He just didn’t seem to settle to being a pet. His two sisters lived to a ripe old age in comfortable domesticity.

We had a cat that disappeared and then just turned up on the doorstep 6 months later.

He was pretty thin and the pads on his paws were rough and sore looking (some were bleeding).

We think he got into a lorry that was collecting apples from the farm next door and was taken quite a distance and somehow managed to walk home

Yes. He'd been run over and the people who did it took him to a vet, had him fixed up and adopted him. He was with them for 2 years before he came back to us (only 3 streets away).

Yes, one of ours did. She just disappeared one day, then turned up a few months later looking thin and dirty. We thought she fell asleep in a truck or lorry and got driven miles away. It's amazing how they find their way home again.