Keep him in the house if you want him to be home and safe. Our 19 yr old cat was done in by a "helpful" neighbor who thought he was a stray and took him to the pound. He never recovered from that. For 15 years he had been an inside/outside cat with no front claws. After the pound episode he quit eating and had all kinds of other problems. We had to put him down. Stupid woman who took him.