Our cat is 3 years old, for the first year we kept him in the house. When he was 2 we started leting him outside, he got out via a little small window in out down stairs toilet. He slept inside in at night, in the morning I opened the window so he could come and go as he pleased. This worked well for a good few months until he decided he wouldn't come home at night, he missed the odd night here or there, but this past 3 months or so he's rarely ever seen, he hasn't been home since Monday evening for example, yes he is still living, I drove past him last night, we have a big green down near the back of our house, I drove in last night, there he was lying on the green quite content sleeping. I stopped the car and shouted at him, he looked at me but wasn't the slightest bit interested, never came home.

So my question is why would he be doing this? Is he getting looked after elsewhere? On the other side of this about 2-3 months ago another little cat has started living in our back garden, she is quite small so I would say a young cat, she spends her days sleeping on our trampoline or on top of our oil burner. She's no fun though as go anywhere near he she runs off. I have started to feed her, why she moved in I don't know. She used to follow our cat everywhere but now she's taken over. Could she be keeping our cat away?

I should add he did get the snip.

Cats are like people. You get all manner of different personalities, some being ultra loyal, and others just not caring and will doss down wherever they feel like.

In your case I doubt it's anything to do with the female cat in your garden. Maybe he just prefers an independent life getting food wherever he can. Quite probable that someone else, or even more than one other person is feeding him on a regular basis.

I'd consider getting another cat if I were you, as I don't think yours wants to stay at home. At least you know he's OK though.

The little female would seem like a suitable candidate, she seems to like being in our garden however I think she's feral, she is scared of people.

Get a dog.

Dogs are a hassle.

I'd say he's getting food elsewhere. He sounds like a bit of an outdoor cat from your description, so once he can get food from somewhere else, there's little reason for him to return to home base.

The people feeding him must be pretty close neighbours, though. You could try asking your neighbours and finding out who it is? If they stop, he might return back to you for food. But he sounds like mostly an outdoor cat anyhow - some are - and so you might never find he is a lap/fireside cat (not until he is older, maybe).

One way to find out if he's being fed (I'd wager he is) would be to put a collar on him with a message attached asking the feeder(s) to call you. If puss is genuinely happier elsewhere then let him go - cats are like that. Is he chipped? You'd need to update that if he is relocating himself.