When she first showed up in our garden, we knew nothing about her — not her name, not her age, not where she came from. Just that she was thin, hungry, and only appeared at night.
We looked after her for months. Then one day she fell seriously ill and we rushed her to Vet4Pets in Leyland. The vet scanned her microchip — that's when we learned her name was Pebbles, she was ten years old, and she'd been missing for close to a year. Vet4Pets happened to be her previous clinic too, and through them we reached the original owner — but their new household couldn't take her back. So Pebbles officially became ours.
We're grateful to the Vet4Pets team. They didn't just treat her — you could tell they genuinely cared about this cat.
Where was she during that year? Which garden did she sleep in? Who fed her? Did anyone notice when she got thin?
No answers. That chapter of her life doesn't exist anywhere.
How many cats are living the same invisible life right now — seen by people, fed by some of them, but with none of it ever written down? ManekiGo is my attempt to change that.
Module 1: The Community Cat Map (CatDex) — making invisible stories visible
Anyone who spots a cat can photograph them, pin the location on a map, add tags, and leave a note.
Why a map, not a post? A cat's life has coordinates — the corner she naps on, the garden she appears in. In a social feed, it's a photo and then it's gone. A map connects observations across people and days into a story.
Community tags: "Friendly," "shy," "neutered," "please don't feed." Collective knowledge about a specific cat used to live only in the heads of a few neighbours. Now it can be written down.
Comment wall: Every cat has their own thread. "She was limping a bit last week — is she alright?" A note like that might reach an owner faster than any formal alert.
Follow vs. claim: You don't need to own a cat to care about one. Any cat on the map can be followed — updates, new sightings, community notes.
Module 2: Lost Cat Reports — what a map adds to what Facebook groups already do
People looking for a missing cat usually post in Facebook groups. It works, but posts get buried.
Post vs. map pin: A Facebook post reaches whoever happens to be in the right group, at the right time, before newer posts push it down. A ManekiGo report stays pinned to the exact location where your cat was last seen. Anyone who opens the app in that area sees the alert automatically — no algorithm, no group membership needed — until you mark it resolved.
Privacy: Your identity stays anonymous — the community sees your cat's photo, description, and last known area. Contact details are optional, never required. Minimum data, user in control.
Anonymous claiming (outdoor cats): If your cat roams outside, a neighbour may have already mapped them. You can quietly claim them — others only see "🏠 claimed," not who you are. Sightings show neighbourhood-level location only. Your address is never shared.
Module 3: The Private Care Diary — after a community cat becomes yours
When Pebbles came home, that was the start, not the end. The vet said to watch for changes in appetite, activity, hydration. "Watch carefully" is easy to say — harder to do without somewhere to actually record things.
Quick-Log: Under ten seconds per entry. Pick an activity type (12 options), status (6 options), add a tag (18 options). Not a diary — a low enough barrier that you'll actually do it.
Health Insights: Your logs are checked against guidelines based on veterinary care standards, flagging patterns worth noting. Not diagnosis — every insight is labelled for reference only, not veterinary advice. So you walk into the vet with "appetite down three days in a row," not just "she seems a bit off."
Export and deletion: All logs can be exported. Your account can be permanently deleted at any time, data included.
What happened to Pebbles during that year, I'll probably never know. But at least from now on, the next cat's story doesn't have to disappear without a trace.