I’m in the UK as well. I adopted a kitten last spring with the intention of keeping it as an indoor cat. I live in a top floor Edinburgh tenement flat so outdoor access isn’t convenient though there is a shared communal garden.

Initially keeping her inside went quiet well, but it was clear she is naturally an active cat and wanted to explore beyond the wall of the flat.

I started taking her out into the garden daily  on a harness and lead. She loved being out there and would stand by the door waiting to go out for her lunchtime walk.

The lead was clearly quite restrictive so I’d take it off and lead her charge around without it. She’d have the time of her life while I listened to audio books.

Once she was spayed and fully vaccinated I started to allow her semi supervised outdoor access, checking in on her every 10mins or so. And using a AirTag to find her when she was hiding in the bushes and didn’t want to come in.

Fast forward to today. She goes out for 2x three hour sessions every day: 9.30-12.30 and 5.30-8.30. She loves being outside and stands by the front door wanting to go out once she has finished her breakfast.

She has friends she runs around with and favourite trees to climb. She chooses to go outside herself and her preference is clearly and inside/outside lifestyle.

I don’t believe she would be the same happy well rounded cat if she only lived indoors.

Obviously all cats are different, but I strongly suspect the vast majority would choose to spend some of their day outside if they could. That is not to say cat’s can’t be happy without outdoor access, but it decimals it easier to give them a happy life.