Cat trauma

[JellicalCat]

My cat who is 13, never normally goes out at night. On Thursday night, she did at about 2.30 in the morning. It must have woken me up (we have a microchip cat flap which clicks when they come in and out) and I was instantly on the alert. She didn't come back in (which she would normally do within 40 minutes) so I got up at 3.30 and went outside to call her. No sign. I then got dressed and trawled the local block in case she'd been in an RTA - but thankfully found nothing. She didn't come back and so I've spent most of thursday night and whole day yesterday in a knot of extreme anxiety. Did everything recommended - reported her missing on local facebook pages, leafleted all the neighbours in our road and those parallel (which is her normal territory); if people were in, I asked if I could to round the back of their houses to call her; rang the microchip company - the lot. Anyway, we went to bed early because I was shattered and at 11.30 I heard my phone ping with a message. Some people who live half a mile away and very worryingly, across a busy main road, had found her in their back when they had opened the door at 11.15pm and read her name and number of her name tag. We picked her up at midnight and she is home. I cried with relief all the way home. So now is the big problem. I am now totally neurotic about letting her out again. I am certainly going to lock the cat flap at night from now on but I'm worried that she will stray again. Why would she have gone so far outside her territory? I read on the internet that they can get chased by other cats but she is a big robust cat who's not frightened of other cats - more the other way round, so why would that have happened? Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated.

[Kay]

She might well have been driven off by another cat - she is not young any more, and may feel flight is better than fight. Keeping cats in during the hours of darkness is always a good idea. as RTAs are far more likely at night.

It's a bit of a myth that cats can always find their way home - some can but others easily get disorientated when they find themselves in unfamilar territory. It was fortunate she ended up in a garden of people who made the effort to contact you, and your efforts to locate her are very praiseworthy. Cross fingers she won't take off again.