We moved to a house in the country three years ago, and there was a stray living here. We fed him daily and he's been around more and more regularly. We set up a bed and heat lamp for him in the external utility room (with the door open) and he spent last winter sleeping in there.
A few months ago, he had a seizure on the patio and we brought him to the vet. He had a load of infections and parasites, so he stayed in our downstairs loo for a week while we treated him for those. Then we let him out, and he went back to his usual routine. The vet said that even though he's very small and has enormous paws for his size, he's probably about ten. We have noticed that he tends to sit down gingerly and shuffle himself into specific positions, as if he has sore hips.
For a few weeks now, he's been coming into the sitting room and sitting watching telly with us. We've been giving him bits of dinner, which obviously helps, but he comes in when there isn't food, too. He'll happily sit there for an hour blinking at us. Yesterday he came up onto the couch beside me to investigate, and stood on my leg for a while. So he's getting more relaxed with us, though he doesn't like hands going near him and will slap us with his gigantic paws if we try.
We're planning to sell the house and move back to town, and I'm wondering if it's better for him to leave him where he has always lived, even though the new owners might not be cat people and he won't have a warm bed and regular food supply, or try and bring him with us and try and keep him warm and fed. Which would be the less awful of two traumatic options for him?