He was trained to use the litter box inside and he is abiding by that
training.
Gail

Could be Marjorie is a total idiot.

It's just his personality. Some cats do want to use the box
exclusively--that's really a good thing--monitoring litterbox use is a
good way to detect illness. It really kind of fits the personality
you've described--he doesn't sound too adventuresome and isn't a
roamer. ( a good thing, too!) He likes the comforts of home.
Out of my five, I have only one who is like Ringo. The others do their
bizness outdoors if they happen to be out at the time.

Sherry

Cringes? No, that's not so. He doesn't cringe. He's a scaredy cat. It's his
personality both indoors and outdoors. He spooks very easily. He reminds me
of a horse we once had, aloof and very very tense but when he slept it was
like a coma sleep. Ringo begs to go outside. He loves being out if the
weather is good. Even when it is pouring he'll ask to go out and then will
sit on the back porch and whine, willing it to stop raining. He definately
wants to be outside. If he didn't, he'd be inside and I'd be perfectly happy
about it. He stayed indoors for many months until it got warm, and then he
started marking up the entire house until we let him out. From that moment
on, not one single spray indoors.

As I said, we don't have neighborhood dogs. Well, we probably do somewhere,
but we live in a very isolated spot up a large hill quite far from the road.
We've never seen a dog off leash around here (quite steep fines) and very
few on leash. In order for an onleash dog to go up to our house, his owner
would have to brave our hill which isn't for the feint of heart, and be
willing to trespass on very marked private property. Dogs are the least of
my worry. And our cat is the only pet in our compound of 4 residences, much
beloved by the neighbors who welcome him into their homes if he's ever over
visiting, which is quite rare.

I wouldn't say that either. He's perfectly well equipped to handle his
outdoor environment. He has a safe hiding place both indoors (linen closet)
and outdoors (under the porch) and he tends to spend a lot of time in those
places. But when he's outdoors he loves to trim his catmint plant, eat
around the chives, sniff all the flowers, and wander under the bushes where
it's cooler than in the direct sunshine. He has killed a couple of field
mice, so he's capable of being remarkably catlike when the mood strikes him,
but mostly he's a very watchful, careful, serious animal. That doesn't mean
he's not begging to be outside.