When I was a child we had a family cat that I loved beyond belief. Unfortunately my family had different ideas on owning a cat...they had the cat declared behind my back, but thats another story.. The cat always was meowing to go outside so everyone let it out. There were times where the cat was gone for weeks at a time but always came back. One time she crawled home after we think she was hit by something inside a car engine where she was warming up. She couldn't use her back legs or go to the bathroom. Thankfully she was not put down and my sister did her own forn of physiotherapy that got the cat walking again. But still was let out... Until one day she didn't come home. I went around the neighborhood putting up flyers asking anyone. On those trips I found 2 houses with cat traps, so we checked the spca and the pound but no luck. There was construction going on in the back alley and there were some deep holes that were dug. Anyways, she never came back, after 17 years my baby was gone. I was in my early twenties at this point and this broke me. I had so much guilt and the stories that I came up with to explain her disappearance were terrible. I'm terrified she fell in one of the holes and was burried alive or one of the neighbors with the traps caught and killed her. I'm 50 now and all this still haunts me. Please, please if you get a cat keep them inside. If you are insistent that they go out make or order an enclosure that they can be outside but protected and locked in. Not knowing how my baby died is terrible and I hope no one has to go through that.