The reason I don't think Tobias could have been "adopted" is that he would not get near any human other than me. After Fox had lived here for awhile, they bonded, but when Fox first arrived, Tobias wouldn't come near him. It took my good friend, who is a cat person, a week to finally get close to him when she stayed with me one time for a couple of weeks.

I couldn't keep a collar on him. I tried. I had to use breakaways so that he didn't strangle himself. They lasted maybe two days each. Neighbor would find it hanging on his fence or whatever. He did have a chip. I called the pound. At that time, they didn't automatically check for chips (5 years ago) which I think is criminal.

If Tobias were injured, he made his way here to heal. Before he was "mine, he got himself ripped up pretty good and came here. I brought him in, cleaned him up, made a bed for him in the utility room, gave him food and water. After that, I decided he was mine. Or maybe he decided I was his.

Tobias would not have gotten lost. What I was afraid of was that he got shut up in somebody's shed or garage for several days. That was the hottest summer we'd ever had in my memory. Believe me, I'd rather think someone adopted him. However, he would have escaped someone else the first chance he got and come back here.

I used to whistle for him and he came running. Wherever he was, he came running. He spent a lot of time in the woods behind my house which is part of a city park. A wild animal could have gotten him. We had an aggressive raccoon that had made its home in my yard in some bushes. He didn't scare. Could have been rabid. Animal control came and got him. He had threatened Tobias. If there one out there, there could have been others.