Not cut out for cat ownership

[KanelbulleKing]

He's 3 years old and has aged me by about 20. I'm not cut out for this. He disappeared a year ago and came back around 8 weeks later looking like an extra from the Walking Dead. Stayed in pretty much afterwards for 6 months. Then disappeared again for a week. I was beside myself with worry and then he strolls in, happy as Larry, without a by your leave.

I'm just getting over it and he bloody disappeared again. 2 weeks later he was found half starved and trapped inside the local hospital. Every time he's not in now when he usually is I'm having a panic attack. The bugger has reduced me to a nervous wreck.

I'm going to trade him in for a goldfish.

I'd be building him a catio.

I'm very tempted.

Catio or cat proofing, mine gave me several grey hairs too.

Cat proofing isn’t as pricey as you think.

You could decorate a catio, outdoor rug, chair, cushion, big planter full of cat nip.

He obviously is a tinker and a daredevil with little common sense. I think I'd also be building a catio or at least cat proofing the garden so he can't get out.

Or there are cat trackers. Although if it comes off you can find the tracker if not the cat.

Is he neutered or is he going after lady cats, by any chance?

Is he neutered? When we found our boy he wasn't and would go off wandering, literally living in peoples gardens for days stalking their lady cats. Once the vets were happy he didn't have an owner and allowed us to neuter and chip him he was completely different.

Is he neutered?

In the first year we had our boy he went missing and also caused all sorts of mischief for himself costing our insurers over 5 grand. Little fucker. We love him though, even though it can be hugely stressful worrying about them.

Is fencing off the garden/a catio an option?

Yes he's neutered.

We live in a large village, surround by flat open fields. So whenever he disappears we know he's somewhere within the village, so trapped. At least after his last escapade everyone knows who he is now.

As gamerchick said, he has no common sense. When we were going camping in the summer, it was only as he hooked up the trailer that DH noticed the little sod had squirrelled himself away inside the trailer as it was being packed. He nearly got a week in Denmark.

Could you fit a GPS tracker to his collar?

He doesn't have a collar anymore. He takes them off as soon as he goes out. Became quite expensive to keep replacing them. But I would love a GPS tracker. I wish we could track him from his microchip.

Just come in 5 hours late and headed straight to bed. Totally not bothered.

He doesn't look at all bothered! It sounds like he enjoys doing "cat stuff" but yes I would age rapidly too.

I know the feeling. Mine are house cats and the panic if they ever go out the front has aged me my 20 years!

He nearly got a week in Denmark.
I've had nightmares about that sort of thing more than once - bringing the cats somewhere and then being afraid that they'd escape and disappear and we'd never see them again. When I was a teenager, my parents decided to bring our cat on holidays. We did a 3 hour drive with her crying all the way, spent a week in a mobile home in the summer with all the doors and windows closed, then drove her (crying) home. I'd rather never go on holidays again than go through that with our two.

I would definitely cat proof, I couldn't stand the stress of a wandering cat!

He's gorgeous BTW!

I can't work out if he is contrite or plotting his next adventure.

Somebody recently went our local airport and got pulled over by security-the xray had shown up a stow away-their cat! It had snook in and gone to sleep, they had to call a friend to come and collect it! Our main concern is our dcats fascination with Tesco vans!

I saw the stowaway cat. Poor owners must have had a shock walking into a private room to be presented with their cat who’s supposed to be at home.

I do wonder if on his 8 week disappearance he was working his way back from a neighbour's holiday destination. Our town/village isn't big enough to be lost in it for 8 weeks.

We had a roamer, barring the interludes he was recuperating from the last excursion, I spent most of his life worrying and panicking that this time he wouldn't come back. Needlessly, as he died peacefully at home of old age.

Not quite as bad as Denmark or the airport, but dcat 1 narrowly missed a day at school when we noticed the pe kit bag appeared to be rustling in the car. I'd only had ferals or farm cats before her, and however domestic or friendly they were had far more sense than to play stowaway.

We joke the ours goes on lads weekends. During the working week he is clockwork. Up for breakfast, out for the day and meets me on my walk back home for dinner. Friday night however; white Russians woth the lads and who knows when we will see him if it's a mad one. Maybe Saturday maybe dinner Sunday. He's a bachelor (neutered) but can't be tamed.