making an outdoor cat indoors?

Question
My grandmother passed away a few months ago, leaving behind her 13 year
old male cat, Thomas.  Thomas (and all our cats) has always been
indoor/outdoor cat since we live very rurally.  Tom was originally my cat as a
kitten-but hated living w/ other cats, and ran away frequently and finally
disappeared.  Years later, we found him by chance at the local shelter.  That's
when he went to live w/ my grandmother.  My grandmother's house is next
door to my parents'.  Since her death, Tom has been living w/ my parents.  
There are two other cats and three dogs-two of which definitely like to chase
the cats.  At first, Tom kept going back to my grandmother's house, but w/
the cold weather he's stopped going outside at all.  Also, when he first moved
in w/ my parents he was forced to stay indoors for long periods of time in an
attempt to get him to claim the house as home, and he never seemed to mind
this.  He is clearly unhappy w/ my parents-at first he was marking all over
the house, but this has abated somewhat.  I am about to move into an
apartment and Tom could come too-but he'd need to be an indoor only cat.  
He could be the only cat again, and I'd love to have him w/ me.   He would be
the only pet.  What do you think?  Could he handle being an indoor cat?  And
would he be traumatized moving again after only 6 months w/ my parents?

Answer
Hi
well in my opinion, it would probably be the best thing for Thomas, especially considering his age and the fact that he could bean only cat again.

Of course there will be a period of adjustment, but with a little effort I think he will settle in just fine. older cats are not as active as younger cats and so as long as the apartment has lots to keep him amused etc he should be fine.

I have several pages about moving home with a cat and how to keep and indoor cat happy for more information.

here are the links to my pages about this
/moving-with-cat.html
/indoor-cats.html

I hope they can be of some more help.
I wish both you and Thomas a happy life in your new apartment.

best wishes Kate