My parents' last 4 cats had been ones that wandered onto the farm and decided to stay there. No collars or anything. Mum fed them and 3 of them ended up staying with us for up to 20 years (smudge, the oldest cat we had). Two were soft as anything and would lie in the sun wherever they wanted without a care, or sometimes in my clothes cupboard or even in the airing cupboard underneath the copper tank if it was really cold. One of them didn't tame up properly though, and spent 3 or 4 years outside, only daring to let my mum stroke her when it was getting it's food out in the shed. Sadly that one was found run over. The gorgeous Burmese Tom suddenly dissapeared one day after being with us for 5 or 6 years. We like to think he was just keen to move on and be soppy with another family, but our old vet thought that someone probably picked him up out on the lanes one day to be sold, he was a lovely cat.