Okay conspiracy theorists to the front:

1) Has the CIA kitnapped the aging moggy for to be replaced with a robocat of antenna whiskers, the first mouse-powered satellite spy device?

2) Has the ALKIDA conspired to catnip said feline what to feed it with combustible bits and dip its tail in paraffin for to set No. 10 alight as almost done in WWII by the Germans in Goon Show: Tales Of Men's Shirts?

My current favorite:
3) Douglas Adams was right, and the white alien lab mice who really run things are clearing the ways to the centres of power, so Humphrey had to go, and if Clinton were still in office, Socks would be gone, too!