Funny. That did not seem to be the contention of the owner. Because they seem to have accepted the fact that their pet strayed.
I think you might be engaging in a bit of projection.
In my experience cats patrol a large area which they consider theirs. But they almost always return at feeding time. If they don’t who’s to say if the cat was stolen or strayed. When growing up we had quite a few and none of them ever missed more than one or two days. Even the barn cats kept regular mealtimes so I find the stray theory for a cat that was a pet farfetched.