I know letting cats outside - free to roam - is much more common in Europe and the UK, but I just wouldn't want to take any chances. Of course, we live in a suburb of Chicago, with lots of traffic and two major expressways very nearby. But my fear would not only be the traffic, but the not-so-nice people that can even be found in "nice" neighborhoods. Tubby & Peanut do get to go outside, but it is on a leash, and I am out with them the entire time to supervise...but mainly to untangle them.

Turning a cat from an indoor/outdoor cat to an only indoor cat can be stressful, for both the kitty and you, but it can be done, and in my opinion, everyone is better off because of it.

I think a prime example of this is Fister. He was a feral, born and raised outdoors, who now spends most of his time indoors. I understand he still gets to go out occassionally, but his outdoor time was cut dramatically after his sir jury. Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, Randi or John, but I think if Fister can learn to tolerate the indoors, any cat can.

However, I have to admit that if I lived way out in the country somewhere, I might be more inclined to let my kitties out, but I would still be a very big worry wart while they were out, and I would kick myself so long and so hard if anything every happened to them.

This is a personal decision you need to make though, and as you can see by the amount of responses you've gotten, this can be a sensitive subject amongst kitty owners. But I wanted to let you know that it's not impossible to turn a kitty into an indoor only kitty. They are just so much safer.