Why do cats often wander away?
So, I have been relishing meeting Proxy each time I go for prayer since I cannot have him in my house. My 2-year old son almost convulsed the day he went to the mosque with me to pray and Proxy came close to him. This has given me a further reason not to think of bringing Proxy, or any other cat for that matter, into my house.
Ok, so it happened that Proxy just suddenly stopped coming to the mosque totally for about two weeks. We felt concerned so much so that we started looking around for it together with the owner but all our efforts proved abortive. What could have happened to him? We were left forming different hypotheses. Could it be that he has been hurt by a wild animal while hunting? What if he has been killed by neighbours that have a phobia for cats just like my wife and my son? Has he decided to permanently leave in search of a mate? All these and more likelihood for his disappearance were discussed while we were searching for the animal
The whole episode reminds me of when @mobbs cat just went awol a few months back and he was also greatly concerned. I told him the cat would most likely just come back on its own and I was proven right at the end of the day. However, I did not feel the same optimism with Proxy. Nigeria is a place where pets do not mean anything and animal cruelty is normalized. Something bad could have happened to Proxy, so I thought.
The search party gave up after a few days of trying and I personally hoped for the best, while expecting the worst. Just a day after giving up, the owner broke news to me that he heard Proxy's cry around the compound at midnight. He went out immediately to call him but Proxy never showed up. He started searching again at midnight but all to no avail. If anything, the news warmed my heart that Proxy might not be dead after all.
Two days after the initial observation, Proxy, all of a sudden, just showed up around the mosque's premises just when we were about to observe the evening prayer. He looked a bit different and was very hesitant to come into the mosque when I called him. I stepped outside the mosque and called again, this time, he came running. I gently patted his head and carried him into the mosque. I found something for him to eat and he played inside the mosque for the entire evening just like the old good days. Things seem to have returned to normal since then.
But really, why do they wander away like that?
Apart from Mobbs's cat and Proxy, I have heard a couple of other cats wandering away and never to return, or to only return after a while. A couple of theories, or let me say hypotheses, exist to explain this behaviour in cats.
One of such hypotheses is that cats can wander away/get lost as a result of hunting for prey. Cats are generally carnivorous in nature but most domesticated cats are given foods that look nothing like meat. Hence, they may never be satisfied until they go hunting and get meat for themselves. During hunting, they may sometimes chase their prey far away beyond their territory and get lost while at it. Of course, this seems like a plausible excuse for Proxy's temporary disappearance. I published a post a few weeks ago about Proxy going all out to hunt.
Another hypothesis is that they can wander away in search of a mate, especially the male cats. Mating and reproduction represent important characteristics of sexually reproducing animals and living organisms in general. Well, this also seems to fit-in into the case at hand. Except one is asexual, life would be totally boring without a mate. Cats have been reported to sometimes wander quite far beyond their familiar territory in search of mates.
Lastly, cats can get missing due to territorial disputes. The animal loves to protect their territories, especially the male ones. The fight for territory can be a fierce one in some cases and the losing side might have to settle somewhere else away from his original territory. The owner of Proxy has spotted him fighting other cats in the environment before his disappearance. Perhaps the fight also made him lose his territory temporarily.
Do you have experience of cats wandering off? What was the story like? Feel free to share it as a comment below this article.
Thank you all for reading.
Resources
- https://pethelpful.com/cats/Why-Do-Cats-Leave-Home-or-Runaway-and-Not-Come-Back
- ttps://www.purina.com/articles/cat/behavior/how-to-handle-territorial-aggression-in-cats
- https://catsinternational.org/the-cats-view-of-territory/
- https://www.thesprucepets.com/the-cat-mating-game-552391
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Yeah cats are strange. My cat sometimes gone for a day or two, and I don't know where it went.
Most of the ones I know usually come back though...
https://twitter.com/gentleshaid/status/1365965117448404994
Aha thanks for the name drop, and yes Smash is doing well, fatter than ever though despite my efforts to get him dieting...my other cat is so slender and fit by comparison so I dunno what gives. Anyway:
So happy to hear another good ending here! Keep 'em safe. I have some thoughts about how/why below this now increasingly over-worded comment.
This is the main reason I was concerned - don't get the impression that China is a pet loving compassionate land. Animal cruelty is as legal as getting out of bed in the morning, and almost as common. The amount of footage i've been exposed to via either random uploads onto social media of dogs being skinned alive and piled on top of others still living, with a man casually chuckling about it behind the camera, or flamethrowered alive, high heels stomped and slolwy gouged through the eyes and brains of a kitten, and so forth... it's nightmarish.
My local neighbourhood - literally the block I live on, had one guy arrested, not for animal cruelty, but for the illegal sale of cat meat to local restaurants, meat which he found by swiping cats off the street and hanging them in bags in his apartment (almost 1,000 it was reported - some with collars still on). And that isn't even the only time that's happened!
And of course, the animal rescue groups I'm in are reporting similar insane cruelty almost daily. This place is NOT safe for cats so It was especially scary for Smash because he's an indoor cat. Chompy was born and raised on the streets so I would have more confidence in her survival.
That being said, my mother's cat in the UK disappeared a little before smash, and never came back... until 10 months later, when somebody found her based on the description nearby, weight lost but otherwise fine. Crazy cats.
As for why cats leave, a couple of other things i've learnt is to be careful when collaring adventurous cats. I'm farly suspicious Smash got his caught somewhere and got stuck, and it took days of starvation to get the desperate enough instinct to survive for him to get out. Just speculation, but that is known to happen often.
Another is competition. I see a kind of rotating roulette of street cats in my area as they all battle for territory. Some come and go as they win or lose their fights, while the big brute one (who I call 'boss cat') sticks around for the long term. He's not evil, just fat-faced and fearless
I never knew China has it that bad. At least, Nigerians don't just snack on every meat - not cat's. And yes, I think competition and territoriality plays a huge role in their disappearance most of the time. A couple of days after this post, I saw Proxy in a free for all fight with another cat just nearby. He later picked a swift race when it seemed he wasn't going to win, but thank goodness, he came back around that day.
Perhaps it's the diet. Street cats seem better off hunting for prey and feeding on meat, unlike the conventional cat foods being sold around. Remember, cats are naturally carnivorous.