In the fine newsgroup "rec.pets.cats.health+behav",
itty (Sherry ) artfully composed this message
within on 03
Sep 2004:

I think that keeping a cat inside is OK if the cat has always
been an indoor only cat and doesn't know any different. I

Sometimes they'll surprise you. I would imagine a former roaming
stray would be miserable suddenly indoors. Not always so. My
Biskit will hardly stick her nose outside. She knows the great
outdoors isn't what it's cracked up to be. :-)

Gotta agree with Sherry. Of my two, one was a stray (now about 3-
1/2 years, had him nearly 2-1/2 years now), the other was feral the
first 4-5 months of her life (she's now about 1-1/2 years old).
Neither try to get out, but I do have an enclosure in the back yard
which the older (former stray) loves and only goes to that door to
go out, and "out" isn't available to him all the time, mostly just
on weekends. The former feral has no interest in "out" at all, but
is slowly warming to the idea of the enclosure and will sit out
there for a while.

--
Cheryl