One becomes the guardian of the little critter, and has a responsibility to protect the cat, by giving it a safe home, instead of leaving it to the whims of birds of prey, large dogs, and yes, they DO kill cats, I am very sorry to say, having seen it happen when I was a little girl, a trauma for me, not to mention the cat, which will be with me forever, not to mention non-domesticated critters.
They actually do have a responsibility to protect the other life forms on the planet from their cats, and provide their own cat friends with food and water and a place to use a cat potty, so the cat has NO NEED to go outside for maintenance.
Turning a predatory animal loose on other small critters, or allowing it to be vulnerable to larger predatory animals, not to mention cars, and vicious children, or grown cat-haters is a moral crime on the spiritual level, and a real crime in a lot of towns which insist people do NOT let the world look after the animals they are required to protect.
Thank you for posting this material, douglas9.