Disappearing George

A couple of weeks ago I posted about our new cat, George. Well, he's becoming a bit of a handful.  One day last week we lost him. He wasn't around when we got up, didn't come to be fed all day, didn't use his litter tray. Three of us searched the house from top to bottom, twice. Looked under every bed, in cupboards, behind sofas, nothing. So, we decided he must have got out somehow. Stu and Luke went into the garden and searched that, but nothing. A few minutes later, there he was on the kitchen stairs, just wanting to be fed. So, he'd been inside all the time. No idea where. Yesterday morning we lost him again, this time he'd got out of the cat flap, which I'd unlocked. So, we searched the garden, our neighbours' gardens, the surrounding streets, nothing. He still hadn't appeared by midnight, and we knew he hadn't eaten so we were worried. At 1am I went searching again, nothing. Woke at 5.30 so tried again. This time - success - he was in our neighbour's garden, and came when I called him.

Picked him, up, gave him a cuddle, brought him inside fed him, and locked the cat flap. That last bit is important!  Went back to bed. Got up a few hours later - and he's gone again. This time we know he's inside. But where?? It's now 6pm and we haven't seen him for over 12 hours - he hasn't appeared, made a noise, or eaten. Where the hell is he??? He's HUGE, and we live in a small house - where on earth can a cat of this size hide, and why?

Edit:

So there we were eating our Christmas Eve meal, when we saw him in the garden, and he calmly came through the cat flap (which was only locked one way, which we now know was important....)
he ate, was fussed, and tried to get out again. Which was when we realised he was getting though the locked cat flap by getting his paw under it and pulling it towards him. Clever cat!

Introducing George

When my beloved Rocco died earlier on this year, I didn't want to replace him straight away, and we had a few holidays and trips away booked so it didn't seem fair to get another one if we weren't going to be there. But, last week I decided it was time. So I went to the cat shelter, but they only had kittens, adult cats who needed to be adopted in pairs, or cats who they didn't want to rehome with other cats. A bit disappointing, so I sent an email to a rescue charity, and within 24 hours they had a match! Someone had an adult male and they were moving into rented accommodation and couldn't take him with them. they sent me a photo of what looked like a largish long haired tabby and I was hooked.

So, drove with Luke to Dinnington to pick him up, with my cat carrier, which is not huge. It was only when I got there I realised how big he was!  It took two of us to get him into the carrier, and he cried all the way back. But, with lots of TLC he has soon settled in.

Here I am struggling to hold him just after we'd got him home - not a brilliant picture of me - I instinctively shut my eyes when a flash goes off!

He is HUGE!  Lovely silky long fur, a mane and tufty ears. There's been a suggestion that he has some Maine Coon in his background.

A lovely temperament, but still a bit shy. Our other cat, Ruby is not sure what to make of him and has retreated to our bedroom, but I'm sure they'll get along just fine. I've had to lock the cat flap to keep him in, and she is loving the fact that there's a litter tray so she doesn't have to go out in the cold. This morning I let her out into the garden where she ran round for about half an hour, then came in and crapped in the litter tray....

In the last day or two he's socailising a lot more, and sitting with us. Here is in front of our Christmas tree. He's like a baby lion...