I too believe in keeping cats indoors, no matter where you live. Here are some true stories about what has happened to some outdoor cats:
My cats Gowan and Sam both "disappeared" within 2 months of moving to a new home. I never found out what happened to them. Gowan was 2 and Sam was 14.
My cat Tigger ingested Anti-freeze. It was the saddest thing to see him acting like a drunken cat, then having to have him put down. He was about 2.
My mother's cat, (whose name I forget) disappeared from a rural area. Probably coyotes got her. She was about 1 yr.
My father's cat "Bump" lived to be about 6 or so - lucky - but she wasn't spayed early enough and nearly died giving birth to stillborn kittens (which I delivered a couple of, it was awful, I had nightmares for weeks). Finally she too disappeared, from a ruralish area, again probably coyotes.
Its terrible to contemplate what happened to these cats - how much pain they might have been in when they died. Cruel? I think letting cats outside is cruel, where they may meet fates like these at an early age.
My sister has two indoor cats. One is 12 (the mother of one of mine) and the other is about 8.
My current cats, Junior and Squirt, were indoor from day one. They are both going on 10 yrs old.
Cruel to keep them inside, eh? Where they lead happy, stress free, spoiled lives, free from danger and threat - they know no fear, are not jumpy, love to be held, are kittenish, affectionate, and purr constantly?
Uh huh.