Ideas

These pages collect the concepts and questions that come up in the stories: how a cat could have one identity and a growing history, how meeting a cat could be the easy way in, and how all of it stays for the cat’s benefit and for the people who care for it. They’re not requirements or a product plan, just my current thinking, written down so you can poke holes in it. Tell me what I’m missing →

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The Paper Collar

A loose paper strip around a friendly cat’s neck asks, “Is this cat yours?” It isn’t a new idea, but StrayCats could make it a bridge between people who use the platform and people who don’t.

A tabby-and-white cat sitting on the gravel verge beside a road at sunset, with an arrow pointing to a hand holding a phone showing a StrayCats screen with three options: Find or add a cat's record, Get help, and Local resources

Make Help Easier to Find Than Dumping

If help was as easy to find as a public toilet, fewer cats would end up by the road. A lost cat and a dumped cat look the same, so prevention has to come before proof.

A tabby-and-white cat looking up, wearing a leaf-patterned paper collar, beside three reversible paper collar designs (leaves, cherry blossom and a starry night), each with a pattern on one side and the StrayCats identification on the other

What If Every Cat Could Carry an Open Identity?

An idea for a global, open standard for cat identification: a collar anyone can scan, with no app and no single company in charge.

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.

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

Education & Awareness

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

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.

Open Data & Tech Stack

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

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?

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.

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?

Encounters: Every Meeting Adds to the Story

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

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?

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.