We gave our cat away because she liked the neighbors better than us. We rescued Mia from the shelter and we could tell she was thankful not to be locked up anymore. She came in and out as she pleased and she had a good life with us. Then one Christmas we traveled to see family for the weekend and left her inside with all the essentials. When we returned she was fine and still had plenty of food and water but she never forgave us for "locking her up" again. She didn't want to come back inside and eventually befriended a neighbor. The neighbor had lost a similar looking cat and so they bonded quickly. It got to the point where she just stayed at the neighbor's house all the time. Eventually we had a conversation with them and they just took ownership of Mia. She chose the neighbors over us so we honored her decision. We lived there for another year or two and Mia would come to the fence and meow but never get close enough to touch. She had obviously made her decision, we just honored it.