My cats do not have any problem with being indoors. They never try to get out when the door is open.
I attribute that to the fact that I lavish lots of love on them. I am constantly picking them up and hugging them and kissing them.
I also give them rides in pet strollers. I know that sounds a little over the top, but they love the good treatment. It also helps that these are two very intelligent breeds of cats.
My cat is lazy, so just lying down and watching things moving outside the window or watching Animal Planet is enough for her. I might look into getting one of those cat strollers so she can get some fresh air without getting picked up as a stray or tortured by kids. Maybe I can find a good deal on a cat stroller if I shop around.
Where I used to live, there were coyotes in our area. We had lost a couple cats to them, so we have learned to keep them inside. After we moved to a new house, I noticed there weren't too many outside cats. I soon figured out why. In my neighborhood, for some reason, it seems everyone owns a huge dog. Some of these dogs get loose quite often (it's freaky when you're outside watering and a huge dog comes running up to you). There's no way I'd let my cats outside with loose dogs around.
Probably for the same reason we don't see children running all over the neighborhood without adult supervision. We worry that something will happen to them and we want to keep them safe. It's never been an issue with my cat. She was feral (though use to being around people) and followed me home several times. I finally gave in and allowed her to stay. She's never made an attempt to go back outside.
Good point, Nakhash! When I was young, some 40 years ago, there were dogs, cats and kids outside all the time. To quote a famous line from The Wonder Years: Back then a kid could take a walk without being afraid of ending up with his picture on the back of a milk carton. These days you can't just let your kids play outside unsupervised. And although it's the law (at least it is here) that you can't let your dogs roam around outside, even if it weren't, I wouldn't let my dog roam free in the neighborhood. I did as a kid with no problem. These days I'd be afraid someone would snatch up my poodle. My sister almost had her Brussell Griffon stolen right in front of her house. She had him out there with her while she was gargening. He was up near the curb and a car pulled over and the passenger opened their door and called the dog. I guess they didn't see my sister bent over in the garden. She heard them try to call over her dog and yelled at them. They just took off. It's a scary world we live in these days. You can't be too careful.