When Ruby went missing, I also thought if someone had her , as it was mainly weekend she was away, made me think if someone was off work at the weekend, and let her out Monday Morning, although she did come back so hungry so maybe she was just locked somewhere, or trapped, guess we will never know. She now only goes on the decking in the garden and any sudden noise she is straight back in.
We are having so much trouble lately with two strays, two huge and I mean HUGE tom cats, they lived 4 doors up, with an old lady ( I think they have always been strays but she fed them) anyway she is in hospital,and they keep coming in our garden for food, I made the mistake of feeling sorry for them and feeding them, and now they wont go, and every time Alfie goes out they pick on him, so its a bit of a nightmare at the moment, he does try and stick up for himself and Ruby but these two just tower over him, and they look like fighters, I think its just a case of Alfie marking his territory at the moment and looking after his sister, bless him!
I really hope Poppy comes home soon, she sounds such a character, at least your doing all you can, we used some tips of emptying the hoover bag around the outside of our home front and back and up the road, put my daughters clothes on the line, and sprinkled the cat litter around too, as it was really rainy when Ruby was missing, so if she traveled out of her zone, we think she couldnt smell her way back, we did that on the Sunday afternoon and she came back on the Monday morning which was also the first dry day we had since she went missing, so it may have been that, that helped her...
Sending prayers for little Poppy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx