The idea

An encounter is any moment a person and a cat cross paths: a sighting, a feeding, a photo, a vet visit, a funny video. Each one adds a little to the cat’s history. No single person needs to know everything.

Today these encounters live in people’s heads, camera rolls and social media posts. What if they could all attach to the same cat, so the next person who meets it inherits that history instead of starting from nothing?

Meeting is the easiest encounter

The most common encounter is simply meeting a cat and taking its photo. That’s why Meeting a Cat is the way in: one photo is enough to start. Everything else is optional and can be added in a tap or two:

  • A name, if you have one for the cat (it joins the others; it doesn’t replace them)
  • What it was doing: eating, sleeping, waiting at a door
  • How it looked: healthy, thin, limping, ear tipped, with kittens
  • Who’s caring for it: “I fed it”, “it’s been to the vet”
  • A story: “she only eats if you sit with her”

The place is recorded at the level of the neighbourhood, never the exact spot (see Privacy & Animal Safety).

From cradle to grave

Some encounters are milestones: a cat’s birth or first litter, a microchip, sterilisation, an injury, a recovery. And one day, its death. A cat’s record should be able to hold all of it, including an obituary, so the people who knew the cat can remember it together.

Many small encounters, one history

One encounter says little. Hundreds, from many people over months and years, become the cat’s history: where it’s usually seen, who feeds it, how its health has changed, which cats it spends time with. That history belongs to the cat, and outlasts everyone who added to it.

Open questions

  • What’s the least someone has to record for an encounter to be useful? A photo? A place?
  • How do you make recording an encounter as easy and pleasant as taking the photo itself?
  • Should stories and personality (“she only eats if you sit with her”) matter as much as facts?
  • How do you ask for a useful detail (thin? limping?) without making it feel like a form?