Tldr; cat enjoys the outdoors, neighbour losing her shit about it. Am I in the wrong for letting my cat roam outside freely? Is she in the wrong for losing her shit over a cat being outside? I have a cat. My cat has been an indoor cat his whole life but has always wanted to go outside, so I've recently trained him to be an outdoor cat and he loves it! I leave the back door open and he goes into the backyard, hops the fence and wanders around, or just sits on the fence watching cars or people go by. Sometimes I take him for walks with a leash on, (most of) the neighbours seem to really like him and the other day while we were out, a neighbour stopped while driving and chatted with us for about 20 minutes and couldn't believe her eyes at how well he walked, etc (pleasant conversation). We also talked about another neighbour who has 3 cats and lets them out in his backyard, although their chubby and just lay just outside his property.

It all started last year when I was home and the cat was out. I got a call from a neighbour who brought my cat into her house (he has a collar with my phone number on it, and a tag to say he's vaccinated, neutered, etc). She said he was just wandering and looked lost so she brought him in. So nothing bad. I just said "oh no, I live across the street and he's been loving the outside lately, just let him out and he'll come back home". She did, and everything was fine.

It was starting to get cold outside so it was one of my cats last times out before it started snowing. I get a voicemail from that neighbour who seemed much angrier and threatened to call the SPCA if she saw him outside again and I “shouldn't be kicking my cat out of the house”. I left a voicemail back asking what her problem is, and I explained that he isn't causing anyone any issues, I didnt kick him out but he begs to go out, he has access to the house the whole time, and asked if he was causing her any issues. She never called back. I figured at this point she might have understood that since he isn't causing her any problems, why is she causing us problems?

Now just today, the first bright day with double digits temperatures, he's excited to get back out. After a while I noticed I had a voicemail. I listen to the voicemail and it's this neighbour REEMING me out. Swearing at me and threatening to capture my cat and call the SPCA. Now I'm not a very aggressive person, and it's very rare that someone raises their voice at me, this really caught me off guard. My cat strolls in the back door, having a good ole day as I decide to call her back to repeat the message from before and tell her I don't appreciate her tone of voice, it's completely uncalled for. No answer or call back since.

Now from what I notice of her. She has at least 1 big dog (maybe 2, I can't remember) and I NEVER see her taking it for walks. I just remember seeing it one summer chained in front of her place. I also rarely ever see her leave her place. AITA for letting my cat outside?