Hello all,
I posted a thread a few weeks ago about my cat Niko. I was concerned that he had started to take extended "vacations" from home. He's always been an outdoor cat, but would always return home to "check in" every few hours. Over the past 2 weeks, he's been disappearing for days at a time. He certainly isn't neglected or unloved, but I figured that his disappearances coincided with the increased visits from my nephew, who's very loud and high energy.
I found out where he's been sneaking off to.
He came home about three days ago, but took off again. Yesterday, a lovely old lady with Parkinson's comes to my mother's (I no longer live at home, but can't afford to have Niko with me at the moment), and says,
"Your cat has been staying with me."
Turns out she lives a few doors down on our street. Niko's got a license, so she either phoned the vet to figure out whose cat he is, or maybe someone in the neighbourhood told her, as Niko's pretty well acquainted with the block.
Turns out that Niko and another cat have been visiting this old lady lately. She had a cat that passed away about a year ago with whom Niko and this other cat were friendly, and would visit. She said since our cat has been coming over so much, she was concerned that his owners would be worried about his whereabouts. She says our cat and this other cat refuse to leave her alone. She's not angry about it at all as she adores cats. She says they're great company. I'm glad she appears to understand that he does have a home elsewhere, and seems content with him as a "visitor", and not a stray she can freely take in and call her own.
I'm relieved that he's being welcomed by this lady, and isn't out frozen in the snow somewhere. I'm just curious as to whether anyone here has dealt with this kind of behaviour, or something similar. Could this be a phase? My mother's house has been something of a zoo lately, and it always gets hellish there around the holidays. I was sort of joking that Niko can probably sense the tension in the air, and needs to take a break.
But I am actually pretty worried. He's an older cat (13 in March), and this sudden desire to go with this other cat to this old lady's house all the time has me concerned. I'm worried that he's either decided to leave us forever, or that he can feel that he's going to die soon and wants to live out the rest of his life somewhere quiet and peaceful.
He used to visit our next door neighbours every single day, as they also have a cat Niko's friendly with, and they love him. But he doesn't even go to them, anymore. My mom says that when he does come home, he sort of seems intense, as if he's on a mission. He goes around the house, appearing to inspect every room, has a nap, grooms our other cat and plays with her, and then it's back out. What's with this urge to go down the street to stay with this woman?
I posted a thread a few weeks ago about my cat Niko. I was concerned that he had started to take extended "vacations" from home. He's always been an outdoor cat, but would always return home to "check in" every few hours. Over the past 2 weeks, he's been disappearing for days at a time. He certainly isn't neglected or unloved, but I figured that his disappearances coincided with the increased visits from my nephew, who's very loud and high energy.
I found out where he's been sneaking off to.
He came home about three days ago, but took off again. Yesterday, a lovely old lady with Parkinson's comes to my mother's (I no longer live at home, but can't afford to have Niko with me at the moment), and says,
"Your cat has been staying with me."
Turns out she lives a few doors down on our street. Niko's got a license, so she either phoned the vet to figure out whose cat he is, or maybe someone in the neighbourhood told her, as Niko's pretty well acquainted with the block.
Turns out that Niko and another cat have been visiting this old lady lately. She had a cat that passed away about a year ago with whom Niko and this other cat were friendly, and would visit. She said since our cat has been coming over so much, she was concerned that his owners would be worried about his whereabouts. She says our cat and this other cat refuse to leave her alone. She's not angry about it at all as she adores cats. She says they're great company. I'm glad she appears to understand that he does have a home elsewhere, and seems content with him as a "visitor", and not a stray she can freely take in and call her own.
I'm relieved that he's being welcomed by this lady, and isn't out frozen in the snow somewhere. I'm just curious as to whether anyone here has dealt with this kind of behaviour, or something similar. Could this be a phase? My mother's house has been something of a zoo lately, and it always gets hellish there around the holidays. I was sort of joking that Niko can probably sense the tension in the air, and needs to take a break.
But I am actually pretty worried. He's an older cat (13 in March), and this sudden desire to go with this other cat to this old lady's house all the time has me concerned. I'm worried that he's either decided to leave us forever, or that he can feel that he's going to die soon and wants to live out the rest of his life somewhere quiet and peaceful.
He used to visit our next door neighbours every single day, as they also have a cat Niko's friendly with, and they love him. But he doesn't even go to them, anymore. My mom says that when he does come home, he sort of seems intense, as if he's on a mission. He goes around the house, appearing to inspect every room, has a nap, grooms our other cat and plays with her, and then it's back out. What's with this urge to go down the street to stay with this woman?
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