About three months ago, my three-year-old male black cat went missing. Today, a family friend a few streets away called, saying she had found a friendly, skinny, obviously lost house cat, and asked if we'd like to come take a look to see if it was our Hugo. Unfortunately we never had Hugo chipped, and he had no distinctive markings whatsoever, so all we have to go on are our impressions.
This cat (I'll call him Maybe) LOOKS just like Hugo. Same body type. Maybe's eyes and ears look very big, but that's just because this cat is very skinny. Hugo was completely black, but Maybe has a few stray white hairs throughout, and a few white hairs scattered on his chest - but I don't know if those can pop up under stress?
Most of all, Maybe doesn't seem like he remembers any of us. Hugo was very, very attached to me, Maybe doesn't seem to have more than a passing interest. Our other cat, Lucy, who is normally very skittish about EVERYTHING, ran right up to him to try and play which seemed to indicate that she remembered him, as she doesn't do that with any other cats - but Maybe growled at her for over a half hour. That's another thing - Maybe is very vocal, where Hugo was not. Maybe meows, purrs, and growls and Hugo rarely did.
So, I guess my point here is - one, do black cats get stray white hairs under duress? and two, can a traumatic time in a cat's life make them change as much as all that? Cat PTSD? Cat Amnesia? Wishful thinking?
This cat (I'll call him Maybe) LOOKS just like Hugo. Same body type. Maybe's eyes and ears look very big, but that's just because this cat is very skinny. Hugo was completely black, but Maybe has a few stray white hairs throughout, and a few white hairs scattered on his chest - but I don't know if those can pop up under stress?
Most of all, Maybe doesn't seem like he remembers any of us. Hugo was very, very attached to me, Maybe doesn't seem to have more than a passing interest. Our other cat, Lucy, who is normally very skittish about EVERYTHING, ran right up to him to try and play which seemed to indicate that she remembered him, as she doesn't do that with any other cats - but Maybe growled at her for over a half hour. That's another thing - Maybe is very vocal, where Hugo was not. Maybe meows, purrs, and growls and Hugo rarely did.
So, I guess my point here is - one, do black cats get stray white hairs under duress? and two, can a traumatic time in a cat's life make them change as much as all that? Cat PTSD? Cat Amnesia? Wishful thinking?
