I stayed up all saturday night. I was busy on my computer doing work,
and also freeing up space by burning some video clips I have to DVD.
At 3am I checked outside and called him and whistled. I saw one of his
female friends next door hiding in the drive under some cars and
scampering towards the front garden. No sign of him though.

I was going to go out looking for him at 7am just at sunrise when I
thought there would be more chance of spotting him. At 6am though I
was downstairs and just popped outside the door, whistled and called
him. And he came rushing up our driveway! Couldn't believe it! He
wouldn't stop miaowing. He didn't look like he had lost weight or
anything so we still firmly believe someone in the neighbourhood is
feeding the cats. He was very hungry though and ate tonnes and tonnes
of wet and dry food and drank loads too.

He was also quite filthy. His beautiful white bib was dirty.  I
believe that part of the time for maybe the last couple of days he may
have been into a coal chute or in someones garage and couldn't work
out how to get out for a while. The first two days I'm pretty certain
that someone else has been feeding him because one of the neighbours
who telephone has a male tomcat who is neutered and he had been
missing for a week as well. Our cat may have even tried to visit a
large Rottweiler who lives not too far away who he used to live with
and grew up with from being a kitten. He may have spotted him with his
owner and tried to follow.

As far as the neutering goes yes I take your point and believe me it
has been and is being discussed. However you should note that I am not
the owner of the cat, my sister is as I have stated previously, and it
is not my liberty or right legally to have anything done.

I'd also like to say that my sister is not irresponsible. She had
intended to get him neutered at 6 months of age but went through a
very difficult period in her life at that time and it just didn't get
done.

Also a lot of people have commented that it is contributing to the cat
overpopulation etc. Yet you don't know what region or even country we
live in, it may just be an assumption, and you don't know whether we
have a cat overpopulation problem here or not, you also don't know our
personal circumstances.

We might be quite affluent and may intend to get a female cat for him
and have kittens which we may keep one or two of them and let other
people we know take the others as pets, and after they had the kittens
we may then intend to get them neutered and spayed.  I am just being
hypothetical here (we don't intend to do that;) I am just making the
point that its not really good to judge unless you know all the facts
of the situation. We may live in a country of animal lovers, a country
where there isn't any cat population problems, an area without many
other cats, a country where it is illegal to neuter or spay a cat, or
even a country where it is quite normal for domestic cats to roam
freely to help with rodent or bird problems, and for their population
to be controlled by nature and the laws of natural selection. I am
just saying here that you just simply 'don't know' so should reserve
judgement.

Personally I have nothing against neutering, spaying or vasectomising
cats, and it is probably a good thing to have done and has it's
benefits. It does depend on the circumstances. It most cases it is
probably a good thing to have it done especially in areas with lots of
cats.

The only thing I am personally completely against as far as cats go is
declawing and confining indoors. I've said my piece on that in this
group in the past though and don't feel the need to say any more or
start an argument with those that disagree. That is their choice as
owners of the cats, well as long as it is legal to do in the country
they live in, and it is also my sisters right what she does or doesn't
do with her cat. I suspect she probably will have him neutered and
possibly quite soon but that is her decision and I won't influence it.

The main thing is that he is now back home and my sister is very
relieved. They were a bit bemused that he came to me simply when I
called him from the door, when they had spent hours searching the area
and doing a mass leaflet drop that cost a lot of money ;)  They will
probably be getting phone calls for the next couple of weeks from
people spotting him.

He has been really affectionate since being back though, rolling
around on the floor, miaowing a lot and especially purring loads. He
has been pampered quite a lot since his return.

John