My cat is male and he likes to go outside in summer. He doesn't like winter much but will even go out in the cold just to be outside. Sometimes I'll let him out when it's 5 degrees F and he'll disappear for hours and I'll be worrying because he can't possibly be out in that kind of cold then he'll scratch at the door and comes in like it was no big deal. I don't know where he goes during those times. He kills mice and birds only very sporadically--mice more than birds. But I do have to check his mouth before I let him in--he doesn't always kill what he catches.

He was an indoor car for the first two years of his life but he started dashing outside when I'd open the door so there was no preventing him. So, he's an outdoor cat now for about 7 years and that's not going to change. He has his own gang. They come up on the porch at night and mewl for him to come out and he goes crazy wanting to go outside and it's such a ruckus that it's easier just to let him out and get some peace and quiet. Then god only knows where they go and do. He may come back in 30 minutes or he'll be gone all night.

Once I saw him in the backyard nose-to-nose with a big possum. When I opened the backdoor, the possum sauntered off into the shadows behind the garage and the cat followed him. About a half-hour later he's pawing at the front door and acted like nothing happened when I let him in. Sometimes he comes in with big patches of fur missing after fighting another cat. He came in with a reverse mohawk. "What happened?!" I said as I tenderly touched his perfect little head. He made a mewling sound and purred. No big deal to him.