Lost Cat?

I get asked quite a bit to help people find their Lost Cats. In the past month alone, I have been asked about 10 times and I've helped every single time. I spend many hours doing so by counseling owners on what to do and where to look, borrowing traps, following up to see if there are any updates, and continuously reassuring owners not to give up that they can and will find their lost cats. I'm always amazed how quickly so many people come together to help the owners of these lost cats. People who have never met go out looking for hours for these cats and they spread the word all over the internet. It's absolutely amazing and it's such a wonderful thing. However, at the same time it consistently breaks my heart. To be honest, It absolutely devastates me.

You see I deal with lost cats every single day. Just a different kind of a lost cat. I deal with the cats who live on the streets and have to find a warm safe place to sleep every night. I deal with the lost cat who has to find his own food and who is at risk every minute. I deal with the lost cat who you choose to just walk by and not bat your eye at. I deal with ferals and a feral is a lost cat in every sense of the word. Every week I plead and ask for people to help me trap these lost cats so we can get them vetted and make them healthy. Every week I plead and ask for people to help me recover these lost cats in a basement or garage for a day or two so they can get well from their surgery. Every week I plead and ask for people to spread the word about us and how we help these "lost cats". However, my cries and pleas go unanswered. No one jumps in to help them. Everyone continues to ignore our lost cats.

What makes an indoor lost cat any different then ours? Why are you so quick to jump in and help an indoor lost cat, but yet you can ignore the outdoor ones? Our lost cats came from your lost cats. Are our cats any less of a lost cat because they live outside and not indoors? Do they not still love, purrr, and hurt the same? You tell me what the difference is? You tell me and them why they don't matter and another cat does? Why?