Well, obviously he's having a good time out there, so there's no need for
him to come back yet.
My Micky who is a roamer comes home to sleep in the house when it's getting
really cold outside and when the first snow falls.
During summer he sleeps in the shed or under bushes or on the garden chairs
and only comes inside when hungry, plus he demands some cuddles.
So I guess you must wait until Christmas before you can really give up. If
he doesn't show up all winter, then I'd give up.
When it gets cold you should hang up his pic again in case he seeks shelter
in someone's house.

carola

I'm so sorry that Albert hasn't come home yet, it must be just awful
for you.

Our first cat, Jasper, would disappear every year or two and stay away
for 6 months. There was no reason obvious to us for these absences but
we would see nothing of him for months and then he would turn up, eat a
whole can of food and settle down in the most comfortable chair to be
fussed over and adored. He did differ from Albert in that he was not an
indoor cat and was a bit feral (long story). However, he survived alone
in the bush all that time and I don't think he was with anyone else
because we lived in a small community and if any had him they would
have told us.

I hope this helps. All cats are different but it is not unheard of for
them to return after long absences. I hope Albert is one of them.

All the best
Kate

I'm really sorry to hear Albert has not come home yet.

My mother-in-laws cat Sandy (a big ginger tom) went missing for approx 3
months, he was allowed outside but only went out the odd half hour here
and there.  One day he just never came home, my mother-in-law was up the
wall worrying, she went around all the neighbours houses, posted leaflets,
tryed all the cat rescue shelters but to no avail, she eventually had to
accept Sandy was not coming home.  Early one morning she thought she could
hear a cat crying, she went to the back door and there was Sandy, he
looked very thin and was very dirty, he looked like he had black oil on
his fur.  My mother-in-law thought he may have been locked in a garage or
shed.
So there is still a tiny hope of Albert coming home, I hope he does.

Tina

I was at the shelter once when a woman claimed her cat that was missing for
four months.
When I was growing up, my kitty George (I was under six years of age, so I
don't remember it clearly) was missing for several months.  Just after
christmas till spring I believe.  Mom says she had given him up for dead and
given away all his food and bowls, when he showed up skinny and scraggly.
She believes he got caught up in a basement or ditch for the winter.

Good luck!

I only recently read about your sad tale of Albert. I used to read
this group regularly years ago, and sometimes check back. I'm so
sorry he's run off, and I hope you can find peace from the feelings
you have over it. Accidents happen.  This leads to my story.

My sister has had a problem with indoor cats getting out mostly
because of her kids - twin 5 year olds. She used to have 3 cats,
but one got out and was killed on the road in front of her house.
She swore the other two wouldn't get out. Problem is that young
kids don't always know how to shut doors properly, don't know that
by standing in the door with it open can lead to pets getting out.
She's now trying to instill that responsibility on to her kids, but
in the meantime, her 8 year old (maybe older) boy cat, very
skittish, got out. She told me he hadn't been acting right in the
past weeks and she was convinced that when he got out he was going
to find a place to die. Well, I was HORRIFIED. It's one thing that
he got out, but an 8 year old cat ready to die, and she didn't see
anything wrong enough to take him to the vet??  Well, unrelated to
your question, we didn't talk for months because I believe pets are
a responsibility that you don't let them get sick enough to "find a
place to die" at 8 years old, let alone any age. I pleaded with her
to go find him and as time went on I was afraid he probably was
dead, but not because of illness.  Long story short (well, ok, this
is already long) our mom also told her how upset I was that she
didn't go out actively looking for her cat and at this point 3
months had passed. I got a call one night from my sister. She said
Tigger had come home. Amazing to me because it was soon after I
told my sister that if she didn't go look for him, hang signs, call
the shelters, I would never speak to her again. Ever. She yelled at
me because she thought I called her kids bad. NO! Not bad!
Untrained, not understanding how their actions could cost the life
of a living creature, and YES, I believe 5 year olds can understand
this.

Any way, I believe Tigger was nearby the whole time. He was a timid
cat. Still is. This was last year, and while he was found skinny
and scraggly, he was well. He wasn't ill. But she got him.

Sad for you - it's very hard to lose a good friend.  Since you asked,
I'll share a story.  We bought a rural home last year from a couple who
were unable to take their 2 wonderful Siamese cats with them to their
new residence. Although both are confirmed outdoor cats, they're also
extremely affectionate and sleep on the covered back porch every night.
Several years ago one of them went missing. Although the family
searched everywhere for weeks and alerted all the neighbors, they
finally gave up and mourned his loss. Our area is rife with wildlife
and they were resigned to the idea that Moonshine had met a sad end.
Six months later guess who showed up, dirty and thin, but happy to be
home and welcomed with open arms.  It was tough for these nice folks to
leave the kitties behind - we encouraged them to come by and visit
them, which, happily, they do.

Hoping that Albert is just a "two timer" and that you'll see him again,
NT

I once had a cat that went missing for about three months and showed up back
home with his tail gone but none the worse for it.

Bobbicat and Scarycat showed up in our window well early one december.
Clearly they had become lost during a snowstorm. We took them in and fed
them and took care of them but giving every possible chance to find their
way home. They were collar less, so we put collars on them just incase they
did find their way home. THe collar had a message explaining that they were
being cared for. In Early spring Scarycat disappeared but Bobbicat stayed.
By late summer Bobbicat disappeared for a day and showed up again with a
note on his collar thanking us for caring for him and that he actually lived
next door. We walked over and introduced ourselves and there was Scarycat.
Bobbicat live with us for the next year with only an occasional visit to his
real home.

When Bobbicat died (she was over 20 years old we found out), we got our own
cat Mr. Bonkers. He is strictly an indoor cat but has plenty of friends
visit him. Two of them from acrosss the street can come and stay for weeks
on end and then disappear for months on end only to reappear for a few more
weeks. We walked over to our other neighbors and expalined to them that
their cats were visiting us just so they knew why their cats were
disappearing.

Well, for your own peace of mind, you should probably stop expecting him
to return home. After a month it becomes more and more unlikely. If he is
still alive, he's probably perfectly happy where he is so is less likely
to come back.

Having said the above, we had a cat who went missing. After about a month,
we gave up searching and assumed he'd been killed or had found himself a
new owner. Then every so often people would mention that they'd seen him
around. We didn't pay much attention as he was one of a brother and sister
who looked quite similar so we just assumed that they'd seen his sister.
Then about a year after he went missing, he turned up at the house as if
nothing had happened and settled down to eating and then went to sleep in
one of his favourite corners.

We eventually found out that an old and senile woman down the road had
"adopted" him and shut him in her flat. She'd feed him fresh meat/fish all
the time so on the odd occasion he did escape (when people reported
sightings) it's no wonder he went straight back there! In the end though,
the building management found out she was keeping a cat in there and
kicked him out so he wandered back up the road to us.

Good luck!