I grew up in the country too w cats, and it is surprising how far they go out. We had a cat once that disappeared for a couple of weeks and we found him (only a mile away that time) and he had a perfect hole through his ear where some 'un-named' person shot him. We had another cat once that disappeared for several months and then one day showed up at the house w a huge swelled knot on her head just over her eye. I think it was tumor, was a long time ago, don't remember now. She was bright white, don't know how she was surviving out there or where she was. Maybe someone else was feeding her but she would have had to go a long ways because we didn't have friendly neighbors close by.
