I had an indoor/outdoor cat for eighteen years, but I can blame that on my family being immigrants. Ha! Personally, provided you're not just tossing the damn thing out and leaving it there for weeks on end, I don't see anything wrong with it. Morna had all her routine shots and physicals, was only allowed outdoors when we were actually home and was well known by all our neighbours*. She also had a collar and tag for emergencies.

However, back then our neighbourhood was much safer for animals and there was little chance of a sleek black cat with attitude getting struck by a car. If I were to get a cat now, I'd have to make a few adjustments: backyard time only and neighbourhood roaming on a cat harness with me right behind. There couldn't be anymore spending two or three hours inspecting every single yard on the block and bullying the much larger dogs that live here.

* Morna knew our next door neighbour and my aunt across the street best of all. One day the neighbour had bought a nice big fish in anticipation of her daughter coming for a visit and left it on the counter to marinate while she worked in her backyard. Unfortunately for her, she left the kitchen door open. When her daughter came home, she was in the shower and called out for her to go to the kitchen for a surprise. Needless to say, our very upset neighbour came over with a platter full of fish skeleton and glared at Morna, who was still licking her lips.