Indoor only cats

[D gn]

I know this kind of an old thread but I found it when searching for thoughts about keeping cats indoors. I remember the first time I saw my kitty - she was prancing around my backyard, scrounging around the bird-feeder (maybe because she had seen squirrels there?) and running around to her heart's content. Now, granted, she was very thin and hungry, she ravenously ate all the food I put out for her, but otherwise she seemed to be happy enough. But because we live on a busy road, and have packs of coyotes in the neighborhood, I felt compelled to trap her and make her an indoor pet.

She seems happy inside, but like most cats she likes to run, jump, and pounce. I sometimes I wonder why she couldn't go out and run around the backyard now and then just to chase the bunnies, chipmunks, squirrels and birds. When we used to have terriers, they'd have the run of our fenced in yard where they could dig holes and chase little animals all day and then come in at night after a day of fun outdoors.

Do "indoor/outdoor" cats tend to stay close to home when they're outside? I'd like to be able to sit on the deck in the afternoons and let Kitty run around the yard if I thought she'd come right back inside when I called her. Is that a thing?

Dg n…..I don’t ever let our kitties outdoors, besides the near by streets, I’d be afraid of them getting hurt, or lost. We’re fortunate to have a ranch style house, spread out and a lot of running spaces, halls. We have the sunroom/screen porch, and several windows with a chest of drawers or table underneath windows.
If I lived in a rural areas, I might think of it differently.