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As for a spayed cat’s being abandoned, there could have been all kinds of reasons: people had to move

At some time before we moved in (possibly two years before, no one seems to be able to give a time frame) the one bedroom apt. in what once was the milkhouse was rented. For various reasons the largest of which was that the water froze and pipes burst at the barn floor level and the only way to repair would have been to jackhammer the concrete floor of the barn and the concrete pad in front of the barn door. In other words, it would have cost a substantial amount. Plus if they fixed it, they would have to get permits, and then it would have been discovered that water for the apt. was tapped into the water supply for the barn, which came off the well for the house, so whoever paid the electric bill for the house paid for pumping water for the milkhouse apt and the cattle in the barn. That would have been ok if all three were used by the same person, but became an issue since the owner at times rented all three units (barn, house, and milkhouse apartment) to different people... In other words, to fix it right would require two more wells, one for barn and one for milkhouse.. Suspicions are that the last person to live in the milkhouse apt. was forced out by the water situation.

Anyway, when we moved in no one had lived in the milkhouse for at least a year. The owner allowed us to store stuff in the milkhouse since the barn was not water tight (and it eventually collapsed). While Bobbi was still outside she would always try to get into the apartment when we went in to get stuff.

One day I let her in and she proceeded to walk through the place as if she knew where and what she was looking for. Most cats if they are in a strange place spend a lot of time sniffing and looking at every inch before they venture further. Bobbi walked through the entire place as if looking for.. someone, not bothering to investigate as if it were new and strange to her.

We have surmised that if she was abandoned here, it was by whoever rented that milkhouse apartment last.

On another note, since she is no longer here I was able to move/vacuum areas that I couldn't get to with her here - the vacuum freaked her out. In that process I unearthed a couple of dessicated hairball yacks and in one there appeared to be some very dry roundworms. None of the hairballs she yaked out in the open ever exhibited them but in reading up on the critters, they are not always noticeable and can get into the bloodstream much like heartworm in dogs and cause heart issues. If something like that was going on all the while, it would at least explain why she went from seemingly healthy to deathly ill almost overnight.

We never pilled her for worms because she never showed any evidence of having them. We have pilled the kitties we took in from outdoors, one of them yaked roundworms and it was very obvious. Strange if this is the scenario that they would only show in a yakglop that was deposited in an out of sight place, but what I read says it is not unusual to see no evidence..

I think the lesson here is that if (more accurately 'when' given that we attract stray felines) we 'rescue' another feline from the great outdoors it gets wormed whether or not it shows symptoms. Unfortunately, that lesson comes too late to have done Bobbi any good.