Please excuse this long message, but I wanted to give the full background.
I have an indoor/outdoor male cat, about 3 years old, who we trapped and neutered when he was a half-grown kitten. His feral mother brought him and his sister to our house, and they adopted us. Over time, this male cat became tame and is now extremely affectionate. He is also intelligent and curious about the world around him. Until recently, he would come into the house between midnight and three AM and sleep and eat and be cuddled until about 6 PM when he would go outside to do his cat thing. In past years, there were two or three occasions where he was away from 2 to 5 days and we didn't know what had happened. In the past two weeks, it has become the rule rather than the exception. The weather has warmed up, which I imagine is part of the reason.
Last week we were walking in our town and went over to see the new porch that is being built on to the Community Center building. It was about dusk. As we were chatting about the building, I heard some meows and there he was, coming out from under the porch. The area is probably about 100 square feet, a typical crawl space, new construction smell, with gravel on the ground. I see no features that would attract a cat other than a good place to conceal itself. No signs of anyone feeding him, nor water source.
He was glad to see us and spent a lot of time rubbing against us and purring. I tried to pick him up to take him home, but he was having none of it. So we left him. I found him there on the next two days when I checked. On the third night he came home to eat and sleep. He seems healthy and his behavior is normal aside from this preference for the porch of the community center.
After that one night, he went back to his new place. We checked on him yesterday. He apparently likes to watch all the activities of the area: people walk by, there are games being played in the fields, it's easy to hide if someone comes to close. I know cats do not like changes in their environment, but as far as I know there are no changes here. Several other neighborhood cats do come by from time to time, and he does not like them. We also have raccoons who come by to eat the cat food and who we don't discourage. But there seemed to be a live and let live vibe.
We are concerned for several reasons. This is definitely a change in behavior. He can't stay healthy if he eats only every 3 or 4 days. People have recommended keeping him inside, but I feel this is not a good option as he gets very unhappy if not let out when he's ready. He's more visible down there when he's watching things, and you never know about crazy people, though he is very good about getting out of sight if he's alarmed.
Any thoughts on why this has happened and any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
I have an indoor/outdoor male cat, about 3 years old, who we trapped and neutered when he was a half-grown kitten. His feral mother brought him and his sister to our house, and they adopted us. Over time, this male cat became tame and is now extremely affectionate. He is also intelligent and curious about the world around him. Until recently, he would come into the house between midnight and three AM and sleep and eat and be cuddled until about 6 PM when he would go outside to do his cat thing. In past years, there were two or three occasions where he was away from 2 to 5 days and we didn't know what had happened. In the past two weeks, it has become the rule rather than the exception. The weather has warmed up, which I imagine is part of the reason.
Last week we were walking in our town and went over to see the new porch that is being built on to the Community Center building. It was about dusk. As we were chatting about the building, I heard some meows and there he was, coming out from under the porch. The area is probably about 100 square feet, a typical crawl space, new construction smell, with gravel on the ground. I see no features that would attract a cat other than a good place to conceal itself. No signs of anyone feeding him, nor water source.
He was glad to see us and spent a lot of time rubbing against us and purring. I tried to pick him up to take him home, but he was having none of it. So we left him. I found him there on the next two days when I checked. On the third night he came home to eat and sleep. He seems healthy and his behavior is normal aside from this preference for the porch of the community center.
After that one night, he went back to his new place. We checked on him yesterday. He apparently likes to watch all the activities of the area: people walk by, there are games being played in the fields, it's easy to hide if someone comes to close. I know cats do not like changes in their environment, but as far as I know there are no changes here. Several other neighborhood cats do come by from time to time, and he does not like them. We also have raccoons who come by to eat the cat food and who we don't discourage. But there seemed to be a live and let live vibe.
We are concerned for several reasons. This is definitely a change in behavior. He can't stay healthy if he eats only every 3 or 4 days. People have recommended keeping him inside, but I feel this is not a good option as he gets very unhappy if not let out when he's ready. He's more visible down there when he's watching things, and you never know about crazy people, though he is very good about getting out of sight if he's alarmed.
Any thoughts on why this has happened and any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
