Hello again, Since Basil left, I seem to have read every article ever written on the psychology of missing cats and how to find them. I have only read those written by sensible cat - people/shelters etc. The main thing seems to be that, with a neutered male, he is more likely to be very close to home. Even if he has been chased or frightened, he still should be not too far away. It also seems that a scared cat will hide under houses etc and not reveal himself. What puzzles me about that is, eventually he is going to want to move - for food and water. So, that being the case, why not venture home? Or, are they so scared that they stay hidden forever? We have a motion activated camera on the terrace where the cats enter the house. It is on overnight but he has never shown up. Some article say that such cats are often absorbed into the feral population. Where we live, is a relatively new part of the village and in seven years I have not seen any feral cats in this area. The far side of the village is much much older and I have been told that there are lots of cats roaming about although I see remarkably few on my searches down there.Most cats around us seem to belong to neighbours. So far , although we have had numerous responses to our fliers and posters, there has been no confirmed sighting of Basil. Every time I get a call I go to investigate immediately and usually, I will return again to that area. He has been 'seen' all over the place but ironically, not anywhere near his home. To the back of us there is countryside fields and vineyards for several miles but no houses. Do you think that he could just be hiding in the countryside. I have always assumed that he would stay close to houses on the offchance of finding food, but obviously I know nothing about cats. When our neighbour's cat went missing for 6 weeks I always assumed that he had been living rough out in the fields but that was before reading all these articles. Tomorrow I must go with a friend to our townhall to see if anyone has reported finding a body. Horrible but it must be done. Wish me luck.