Stuck on the indoor/outdoor debate

I have a cat. He is two and his name is Bou (Boo),

He is an indoor cat. I live a hop skip and a jump away from mountain lion, bob cat, and coyote territory. In other words, it is not safe for my house cat to be outside.

In general he is a very happy and content and extremely spoiled cat. He has human and canine friends alike. His best canine friend charlie and him wrestle constantly and his best human friend (me) play a lot too. 

But... it just.... bums me out. 

Sometimes he sneaks out. And when I find him I watch him for a minute or so relish in the grass, rolling on his back and enjoying the sun... and it makes me so sad to have to go pick him up and bring him back inside. 

He has been managing to sneak out a lot the past couple days because he has made a friends with a black cat who has moved here recently, which is what brought me to bring this up now. 

I know it is better for his health in the long term.... but sometimes I wonder if it sacrifices his overall wellbeing. It is not like he spends his days meowing at the door. Just when he sees an opportunity he takes it. 

Thoughts?

There are options!  Cat enclosures would give him some outdoor time; but keep him safe (although his new friend wouldn't be able to get in).  They can be done in virtually any size and configuration.  Another idea is harness training him!  Some cats take to it quicker than others; but I know of several cats who really enjoy their harnessed time outdoors. 

Personally, I don't have any issues with keeping my cats 100% indoors.  Up until a couple years ago I had a cat since kittenhood that never set a foot outside (ok, maybe a foot once or twice, LOL).  But she was fine and while she was modestly curious to look outside and maybe sniff and look out the open doorway, she had no interest in bolting out.

Our current two are the same way.  They are about 6 years old, and as far as we know they have lived their lives inside at homes or in the shelter (where sadly they spent months before coming home with us).  We appear to have their history all the way back as they came into the same shelter as kittens, and so they were apparently picked up in a hoarding or similar situation when they were kittens.  Not sure if that had them outside or not.  But they don't show interest in bolting out, just looking.  Of course, if the door were open right when a chipmunk or bird was getting their attention, then yeah maybe they'd chase it.

The idea of cats sneaking out is really alien to me.  I've never had a problem with that.  I'm aware that there's a cat in the house and make sure not to leave doors open and that has been enough.  So I think, if you wanted, you can prevent him from getting out there.  And regardless of how you approach this, I think you want to do that anyway, because the one thing you definitely don't want to do with predators around is have him be outside unsupervised.  That is asking for trouble!

All that said, I'm not sure there's anything truly wrong with giving the cat supervised time outdoors, either with a harness/leash or in a protective enclosure built for that purpose.  This can be as simple or elaborate as you like.  Just keep in mind that it may not cure him of dashing out open doors (could even encourage him!) so you will still need to keep an eye on that aspect.  But if you make it routine enough, I think it has a decent chance of having him understand when it is time to go out and such, and maybe that will in fact cure him of dashing out.

When I was growing up, we had a cat that could never be contained. She was a kitten when we got her and even at that age she was going for the door. When we kept her indoors all of the time she was mopy and unhappy, so she ended up being and indoor outdoor cat. We live in the forest so directly in coyote and mountain lion territory. Our cat ended up living 17 years and died at home of something completely unrelated to her outdoor lifestyle. 

In contrast, we had two young cats that we bottle fed as kittens that were allowed in and out as well. Both of them disappeared never to be seen again in the first year of their lives. So there definitely was danger in having them out.

With our old cat we did have established times when she was not allowed out. She wasn't allowed to be out when it was night, dawn, or dusk since this is when predators pose the most problems. She did spend many nights outdoors during her first several years of life though since we didn't establish this rule until the two younger cats disappeared.

Our current cats are both indoor cats entirely since we decided that this was best for them and neither seems thrilled with the outdoors. Carrot likes to go out on a leash and harness sometimes, but doesn't usually enjoy being out there for very long. The kitten, Angua, seems excited by the outdoors through the window, but doesn't seem to connect it to the doors just yet. We plan to harness train her later as well.

I think ultimately it is a decision you have to make based on quality of life vs risk. You can pick select times the cat can be out and do what you can to minimize danger, but of course the danger will always be there. The danger is still there with harnessing a cat or putting it in an outdoor cat run since cats can escape from these with enough motivation and time (especially if harnesses aren't tight enough or runs aren't built to be sturdy enough). Ultimately the choice is yours based on what you feel is good for your cat.

As long as you cat had plenty of play time indoors, then I honestly believe that's enough to keep them happy and satisfied. You can however, train them to walk on a harness and leash. I trained my cat to become accustomed to walking on a leash with a harness when she was a year. She was nervous at first, but now she loves it! She gets a walk every 1-2 days for about 30-40 minutes so her outdoor curiosity is full filled