Maine coons? Coolest cats ever and as big as many dogs with a dog personality.
I’ve had cats for 40 years and all have been indoor/outdoor cats. (food, water and litter in the house) Cats love to hunt, or to pretend to hunt. Traffic or other dogs haven’t been a real problemv for us, coyotes, yes. But coyotes won’t go near a big cat like a MC.
My last cat was put down at age 15 due to liver failure and he went outside every day. Always slept in the house at night of course.
One caveat, never let a declawed cat outside.
I am going to get adopt a Maine Coon when I get my place. Maybe 2.
Yours sound most like my last beloved cat.
As a child we had our first family cat. He was wonderful and lived entirely in the house his whole life. Died at 11 of intestinal cancer (blockage).
My last cat (looked much like the 1st) was intended for indoors, but met up soon after housebreaking with my sister’s stupid flaky cat when she came in to live with us again (basement apt). He discovered she was urinating anywhere she wanted and soon, he stopped being housebroken too and did the same thing. We gave up and tossed him out. He became an outdoor cat (as did the dumb girl), and very good at it. Over the years we had a few cats come and go, but he was always boss no matter what, and stayed in our areas.
As he got older, he sometimes slipped in and we got to trust him more and more to use the litter. So he got to be more of an in/out cat. I even moved far away into an apt and he was just fine staying in the area of the apt even though it wasn’t our old home. He spent most of the time inside but I let him out to try to minimize the cat litter issues.
By the time we returned home, he was mostly indoor, but still went out.
Also - he treated indoors as his vacation time. Excellent hunter outside, but disinterested in mice indoors, even right in front of him. He became useless indoors for pests.
LOL. that is SO true. We have two cats...they are indoor/outdoor. Many is the time we have watched from the window as we observe them "hunt" a squirrel...as we are indoors begging them, KILL IT, KILL IT! It has never happened. They crouch, slink, and stalk as if their very existence depends on capturing the squirrel...only to eventually just sit. 6 years now. Never finished the job. We're pretty sure they are mentally "limited". :)
Our vet has indoor/outdoor cats...our cats have all their rabies, leukemia shots..and all their claws. :)