Cats like to be outside; in fact, they almost worship the out of doors. Shutting them up inside goes against nature. - I, of all people, know. “Brutus”, our cat who rejected all the names we gave her (Zippy, Lambchop - both rejected), only gladly finally accepted “Brutus”; not caring that I don’t like the name. She acts up, thinking I control the weather; driving me nuts with her nagging until the thermometer gets up to at least freezing before I’ll let her go out. She will come inside when it’s well after dark and she has run herself ragged outside. - The rattlesnakes & copperheads out here are in hibernation right now; but I dread springtime when the sneaky snakes and predators are out. Cats still have the *wild* factor in their makeup; believe me.
Oh, I’m sure the cats still have the ‘wild factor’.
We’ve been fortunate with the cats we’ve had over the past 20 years; they’ve all been rescues/adoptions who mostly never knew anything about the outdoors. Once in a while they escape out a door, and immediately ‘pancake’ - they think they want to be out there, but once they are they’re scared!
I keep two rescued pigeons, and the cats are the same way when they manage to sneak into the ‘bird room’: once they’re in, and look up and see those fat birds, they ‘pancake’ :-)
-JT