Older cat strays far, gets lost - to almost exactly same area

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Khanly
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Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2021 8:00 pm

Older cat strays far, gets lost - to almost exactly same area

Post by Khanly »

Hi friends,
This is a longish story as I feel it’s important to give as many details as possible to shed light on my cats’ behavior. Thanks for reading.
My older rescue cat has always been an indoor/outside cat. He was three when I adopted him and he had been on the street, although rural. We have another rescue, a female.
A year and two months ago we moved from Stockholm, Sweden to Washington DC. I kept the cats indoors for the first two months in our new urban home. Both cats always came home to have dinner before 5pm. They both have collars with address and telephone number and in 10 years+ have never strayed from our house in Sweden.
In early June, my male cat was let out and didn’t come back. I started an informational campaign on the intenet, but I received only dead end leads with look-alikes. Then in late July, a resident of a neighborhood 2 kilometers away texted to say he had found my cats collar. I then hired a dog tracker and constantly went out to call and reacted to new leads.
One early morning, a woman in the collar’s vicinity mailed me and told me she had trapped a cat very similar to mine. This woman spent the whole night waiting for him to go in the trap and is a hero. Her theory was that my cat had accidentally ”taken a ride” with a vehicle and subsequently was lost.
I went to her house and the cat was indeed mine. I took him home and he was indoors for at least 1 1/2 month till I determined it was not right to keep him inside as he pined to go out and if her theory was correct about him taking a ride, that would mean he didn’t ’intend’ to get lost. When he went out after that, he had a ’GPS’ device and another collar with address etc.
For three more months he always came back.
Finally, here’s my mystery;
In late November he didn’t come back again. I started searching and I have to admit I gave up around Christmas. I was going out of my mind and felt he must have a deathwish and probably went to die, which they are known to do.
Yesterday, a woman mailed me with a picture of my cat and she says he’s been around her house for about a week.
Her house is almost EXACTLY in the same spot where he was trapped the first time.
What’s going on with my cat? Is he demented and this could be challenging his sense of location? Why the same place?
Does anyone have any information on this strange behavior?
Unfortunately, my cat is not home yet and this may not end as well as the first disappearence.
I’m grateful for any insights, known cat behavioral science or other thoughts.
Thanks a million!
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