Your cat is not gone.
My cat marshmellow (yes, marshmellow, the greatest name for a fuckin cat. ever.) Ran away for 3 months and he was an indoor cat, so we thought he was gone for sure. Was in the winter time too.
There was even a "marshmellow impersonator" that we had never seen before in our lives, only until marsh ran away. He looked just like marshy, but it wasnt him, and this cat had a diamond collar around its neck!!!
Marshmellow came back 3 months later. Fucking best cat in the world. I woke up one morning to see him dead a couple years back. he lived almost 20 years, never aged, never showed signs he was sick. anything. This is because this cat was given unconditional love till the day he died. He hid his pain till the day he died. The most unbelievable cat there ever was. I cried like a 5 year old kid when he died. So did my mom.
He died of cancer btw.
Dont lose hope, Ms. Bossette <3
@tech - sorry to hear about that man. you may have even told me about it before. i have had the loss of a dog as well. His name was Boomer. He actually died right around the time i started getting into combos 10 years back for MK Deception. I could go into it. Its another great story, but ill save it for another day. RIP Boomer. He was a golden retriever btw.