keeping Siamese cat in at night

Question
My cat is about one and a half years old. We live in a forest area and he has been neutred but is still getting into fights with another cat at night. He's had an eye operation and now has cuts on his head, round his mouth and cheeks. I've started encouraging him to go out in the day and I've begun to keep him in at night.

Will it distress him to stay in at night though? It seems the nature of most cats to go out overnight.

Also, if I were to go back to letting him out at night in the future, would he be at even more of a disadvantage encountering his adversary again? (He may lose whatever fighting/protection skills he now has?)

Answer
Hi It is really tough to keep a cat inside day or night that has been used to running free... HOWEVER... the risks outside outweigh the desire of the cat. I would recommend all cats stay inside all the time because of the risk of poisoning, wild animals, cars, poisons (antifreeze is a real problem in the winter), diseases, parasites(worms and fleas) and as you have encountered fight wounds. It will not do him any harm to be inside at night and I would really encourage you to work towards this. The average age for a cat that is allowed unlimited access to the outdoors is 3-4 yrs old... and totally indoor cat on average lives over 15 years old.
Teresa