This story really makes me mad. We lost one cat in July to disease, and the other one shuck out the door October 22, and we still don’t know his whereabouts.
We had him for 5 years, he was my buddy. I can only hope he’s ok. Maybe someone took him in and is feeding him. He had a collar, and he is chipped. I don’t believe we have any cat eating families in the neighborhood.
Stealing someone’s pet is despicable.
Black dogs disappeared all the time from yards in Maui when we lived there.
If I remember correctly, you live in Illinois like I do. There are many new arrivals in the state that don't know how to report roaming animals and instead decide to keep them for themselves by offering food and water. I've seen it. An asian student in my apartment building put up lost cat fliers some years ago. A day or 2 later I spotted the cat in an apartment building window directly across from mine. He got his cat back..