How could the world remember the cats nobody owns? 🐈

Stray Cats is the working name for an idea — open source, non-profit, and very much unfinished. It starts with the cats I’ve come to know in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, and a simple question: what if every stray cat had an identity, a history, and a network of people who care about it, and meeting one took nothing more than a photo? There’s no app yet, and no code. Just stories, questions and half-formed ideas — and I’d love to hear yours. Prefer to listen? There’s a 90-second audio introduction. Been here before? See what’s new.

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Ciccio, a black cat, and Tenkilo, a cream cat, in a tiled courtyard, with Ninja grooming among the potted flowers

The cats nobody owns

Where this idea started: a house full of cats in Puerto Escondido, and a question about who looks after them.

Close-up of Lucia, a young calico cat with a black patch over one eye

The cat outlives its caretakers

Everything I know about these cats lives in my head and on Instagram. When I leave, it leaves with me.

Mountain Lion, an orange-and-white cat, peering at the camera from behind a black railing

Ninja, Naranja, or Milo? Many names, one cat

Some of ‘my’ cats are clearly well fed somewhere else. I don’t know where, or what those people call them.

Mika Ella, a tabby-and-white cat, and Ciccio, a black cat, curled up together on a sofa

All talk, no code (for now)

Why I’m deliberately not building anything yet.

A tortoiseshell cat walking across a sunny street with its tail held high

Naming the thing: Stray Cats

Every project needs a code name. Here’s how this one got its name.

Close-up of Ciccio, a black cat with yellow-green eyes, looking straight at the camera

A photo is an introduction

When people meet a cat, they take a photo. What if that photo introduced them to the cat, and the cat to everyone who could help it?

Ninja, an orange-and-white cat, lying on the ground mid-meow, healthy and well fed

Ninja, the talk of the town

Ninja was skin and bone when I arrived. Not everyone who loves cats can afford to feed them all, so what happens to the ones left over?

Ninja, an orange-and-white cat, lying on the ground, mid-meow

The Building Blocks

Twelve concepts the system will need to understand, long before anyone writes code.

Ninja, a pale orange-and-white cat, standing on a garden path, with Ciccio, a black cat, lying behind and looking at the camera

Meeting a Cat

Meeting a cat should take one photo and feel like a small gift. But the gift is for the cat: every meeting adds to its story and helps the people who look after it.

Lucia, a calico cat, seen from behind, its black, orange and white patches clearly visible

Cat Identity & Multiple Names

How do you model one cat that has three names, two homes and no clear owner?

Encounters: Every Meeting Adds to the Story

Each time someone meets a cat, they add a little to its shared history.

Mountain Lion, an orange-and-white cat whose real name nobody knows, sitting next to an empty food bowl

The Care Network

Many people quietly care for the same cats with no coordination. What if they could find each other?

Carlitos, a grey tabby with yellow-green eyes, looking up from a tiled floor

Education & Awareness

Many of the dangers street cats face come from things people simply don’t know. Awareness may help cats more than any feature.

Hootie, a black cat wearing a collar, sitting in a garden beside a cat statue and red flowers

Stray, Pet, or Somewhere in Between?

Many ‘strays’ are someone’s pet, and many pets live like strays. Ownership is a spectrum.

When a Cat Goes Missing

A missing cat is one of the hardest things a person who loves cats goes through. The people who’ve met that cat may be the best chance of finding it.

Several cats resting in a paved courtyard behind a fence

Privacy & Animal Safety

Location data about vulnerable animals can be misused. How do we protect them?

Open Data & Tech Stack

Thoughts on how the app could be built, hosted and kept sustainable as a non-profit.