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Original poster

Do you have a wandering cat?

25 replies

CurlewKate · 14/10/2023 15:42

If so- how long was their longest ever wander?
Carlos came home after 13 days recently. She's usually only gone for 3 or 4.

OP posts:
CheshireCat1 · 14/10/2023 15:47

Ours wandered for 3 months, he’s not been so bad since he’s been back probably because he realised that he’s on to a good thing here.

Original poster
CurlewKate · 14/10/2023 15:57

Oh, god-3 months😮😮

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 14/10/2023 15:58

Neutered? Mine normally come home each night.

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Cats
Funkyslippers · 14/10/2023 16:00

Well mine wander but always come back for dinner!

fatbottomgirl67 · 14/10/2023 16:18

We have one that went for 7 weeks at one point. Regularly vanished for a week or 2. Now he's got a bit older[11] he stays nearer home. Yes he is neutered but loves going on walk about. Luckily we are very rural so has so far never come to any harm.

CheshireCat1 · 14/10/2023 16:21

Mine is neutered but he still wanders, he’s a bit of an adventurer and also goes for walks with our dog. He does stay a bit closer to home now though after his last adventure.

RoseBucket · 14/10/2023 16:22

I see ours for about 24 hours every few weeks or so. She works on local farms.

BigBoysDontCry · 14/10/2023 16:22

As a child we had a part time cat. Arrived in October and left every March until one year he never arrived, presume deceased. 😢

Crooklodge · 14/10/2023 16:26

Ah jeez, ours disappears every summer for a couple of days. I'd die if he disappeared for weeks on end.

2023shady · 14/10/2023 16:35

BigBoysDontCry · 14/10/2023 16:22

As a child we had a part time cat. Arrived in October and left every March until one year he never arrived, presume deceased. 😢

Not my cat does that
Vanishes for months in summer, until I'm frantic and then appears like "where's the ham then?"

Original poster
CurlewKate · 14/10/2023 16:40

@Wolfiefan
"Neutered? Mine normally come home each night."

She's a spayed girl. Despite the name....

OP posts:
Sonolanona · 14/10/2023 16:47

7 weeks... but the vet thinks he was probably hit by a car and a bit brain damaged.. I found him in a field and he was SO happy yo be found. He wasn't very bright to start with!

My Mum looked after a neighbour's cat who went walkabout and reappeared 6 months later!

My current cats 1) I see him regularly but he's moved in with our retired neighbour!!!
2) My rescue... mostly with us but slopes off elsewhere every so often!

flufferknutter · 14/10/2023 16:51

Mine was kidnapped once. She was 18 months old and dh had to leave her out in the secure garden whilst he did the school run. I arrived home from work half an hour later and she was nowhere to be seen.

We worked out that the nearby troublemaking tom had probably chased her out of the garden. I put up flyers and searched the estate. She was missing for the next six nights, but then turned up one morning minus her collar and not dirty or hungry, so we reckon someone had took her in and kept her captive - my flyers were all over the small estate and village - and she'd then spotted an opportunity to escape and made her way home.

Original poster
CurlewKate · 14/10/2023 17:26

@flufferknutter I don't want to spoil your cat's being kidnapped anecdote- but ours always comes back happy, clean and well fed, but not smelling of someone's house but of outside...

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 14/10/2023 17:31

Ha! Our old neighbours had a boy cat called Jess! Maybe keep in for a couple of days then let out in the morning.

looking4pup · 14/10/2023 17:33

Oh my god I panic if mine doesn't come in at night lol

looking4pup · 14/10/2023 17:33

Well slight exaggeration as she doesn't come in ever night but I do wonder where she might be.

Usernamesarenoteasy · 14/10/2023 18:01

I don't have him any more as he passed a couple of years ago, but my wanderer was always gone for weeks at a time. The longest was about 9 or 10 weeks I think.
He always used to stroll home as though nothing had happened!

Original poster
CurlewKate · 14/10/2023 18:08

@Wolfiefan "Ha! Our old neighbours had a boy cat called Jess! Maybe keep in for a couple of days then let out in the morning."

Postman Pat's black and white cat was a boy called Jess!
Oh, I don't really want to stop her. I quite like having a cat I coexist with rather than own. My need for cuddles is amply supplied by her brother, who never goes out of ear-sight of a packet of Dreamies....

OP posts:
Lottie4 · 14/10/2023 18:53

Toby used to disappear for 48 hours. Over timecqe found he used to go next door and sit on neighbours lap, go opposite for a sleep on their bed and spend lots of time opposite (different house) sleeping in tge chaps greenhouse, on his lap and eating.

TheFormidableMrsC · 14/10/2023 19:09

Mine disappeared for two weeks. Got in a van it seems and ended up in Central London. I live 40 miles away. Got him back though. Thank God for his chip!

Wolfiefan · 14/10/2023 19:45

My concern wasn’t stopping them roaming. Just like them in at night. We don’t have a cat flap and the risk of accident or injury is much higher at night so if ours start not coming in we let them have a nap when they do turn up then put them out about lunchtime. They then reset and come in at night for food, cuddles and sleep.

Tutufruiti29 · 15/10/2023 16:58

My cat (male) will go out every night at about 7pm and doesn’t come back till 7am the next day…he once went away for 3 nights. He then just proceeds to sleep all day, there are a few other cats on the street and I’ve seen them all walk off together 😂

AnImaginaryCat · 15/10/2023 17:08

Months.

He's neutered.

I think he's a cat version of a bigamist and I'm the one that pays his vet bills!!

Figured this as only once (and back when he was young) has he come back looking disheveled and delighted to see me. Now he just strolls in after his absence, healthy as anything and acts like it's no big deal, stays a week then disappears again.

LoobyDop · 15/10/2023 17:18

Mine always gets a bit adventurous at this time of year- I think all the exciting smells of autumn are irresistible for her. Currently her tracker informs us she’s spending most of her time in an absolutely enormous garden with a network of ponds about 300m away. She always turns up home in time for tea, though 🙂

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