When we got our kitty, Marigold, I wanted her to be inside. We live quite near a semi-busy road, and I didn't want anything to ever happen to her. This worked for the first month or so...and then she quit eating, went into a slump, and started peeing all over the house (even with clean litter boxes). We took her to the vet, had her checked all over, over-night for a urine sample and she checked out perfectly. The vet suggested maybe she just wanted to be out, and with sadness I let her go. The first time she didn't come home at night, I was frantic & couldn't sleep. But she showed up the next day, and she is a much happier cat now. She comes & goes as she pleases, and doesn't pee in the house anymore when she is in. Yes, I am still scared that one day she will be hit or something, but in the meanwhile, I don't feel that it is fair to her to coop her up. I should say, too, that she was grown when we got her, and had likely been out her whole life. I think I would feel differently if she had been a kitten and content to stay indoors from the start.