Glad you've made contact. I guess it is an attention thing, but IME, cat's are pretty much opportunistic, and will 'explore' any open garage, door, etc, in case there's a chance of food round the corner, whether they're really hungry or not... Either that, or if they have eaten, they'll ignore exploring and curl up for a snooze... what a great life!
As it happens, these last few weeks, 'my' cat is hardly ever ready to stay in the house - unless it is actually raining, of course. She will curl up on my garden, or more often, on a neighbour's garden (better maintained lawn, nice and smooth, and a bush in the centre so she can lie in an area of shadow and not get too hot). When she comes in for food, she immediately goes back to the door to be let out (no flap) and while I've sometimes found her willing to come in at midnight, 9 of 10 times she comes to the door, and then, knowing she might be 'stuck in the house' all night while I sleep, turns on her heels without entering the porch.
As you say, the autumn weather may discourage staying out all night !
I think pouches a bit expensive too, but 'my' cat had eaten lots of the dry go-kat biscuits and seems to have few decent teeth left, and having tried various pouches, like Somerfield's own (5 for a quid until the bumped the prices up to 29p each) I found Poundland were selling 4 Whiskas pouches for a quid (they now sell 3 for a quid), and Iceland must have noticed a drop when they stopped doing 4x Whiskas for a quid, as that deal is back on (and despite 'my' cat being a mouser, she will 'come running' (she's 10/11 too) when she spots me at the window with a pouch in my hand!
I look after a cat (hence 'my' cat) - as someone else put it, you don't really ever 'own' a cat as they clearly 'have their own mind' - as a result of the cat becoming friendly with me where I used to live.
It was one cat of several living at one of my neighbours' homes (we got on well, both being cat lovers, though mine had died at age 16 in 1990, and I had not replaced her, as I live alone and wanted a chance to travel).
However, this cat was spending less and less time at home {they had an older cat who 'queened it' in the neighbourhood, but got on OK with the younger cat, so not a cat/cat problem).
Anyway, long and short was that after an operation went badly wrong, my friend went into coma, had strokes and other problems, and she could no longer cope in that property, so with compensation from hospital, a few years on, they moved away a few miles to a bungalow.
Some time before moving, the elder cat, Polly, died, unfortunately (age 15 or 16). The younger one had been spending less and less time indoors that summer but even after Polly died, didn't seem to want to spend time with the family - not sure why, Karen was upset about it.
Anyway, family moved, leaving cat with me (she knew me, knew neighbourhood, and the arrangement works well) Where they moved to, they knew there were some wild-ish cats, and foxes, and some busy roads, so if their cat tried to 'go back' to their old home, hence compromise, with option of her living with them if she seemed unhappy. (They now have a couple of dogs, so she's 'stuck' with me!)
I have since moved to about half way between where the family used to live, and where we had been neighbours. Cat went for a walk with me around the estate the first day (OK, some think walking a cat is unusual, if it's a problem, they can get over it as I'm happy to walk 'my' cat!) and never looked back. Second day, I popped out into the garden with her (so she had a familiar face nearby) and no sign of her thinking about going back the few miles to previous home. Sorted!