Who would not love cats? My wife and I always were dog lovers.
Do you remember the quote from the movie "The War of the Roses" (1989) with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner? Danny DeVito resumes at the end that "dog lovers should marry dog lovers and cat lovers should marry cat lovers". I even asked my wife before marriage if she is a dog or a cat lover. Both of us were dog lovers, as I already wrote.
But then something happened. Our neighbor's young cat befriended with us. At that time we refurbisehd my parent's house and didn't even live there. But she came to us rubbing her head on our legs and even jumped upon us while we were sitting at the first meeting with her.
Every time we came to work there she also came to visit us. During a cold winter with much snow she came although she had to plough through the snow and got wet.
As we moved into the house in 2011 she visited us every day and some time later she moved into our house. The neighbors were more than okay with it, since my wife paid for a complicated neurosurgery that cost 2000 Euro. After the surgery they didn't even come to us to look how their former cat recovered from the surgery.
We had some very happy years with her and I told the female neighbor that her cat is the biggest gift for us in our life.
Here she is, our Lilou. She died on March 8 (International Women's Day), 2019.
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We have to give up something(s) either way. Because of the care involved, maintenance and expense, it's the best choice for me to not have a pet(s), despite the pleasure I miss. I love watching nature/animal shows and videos. When I watch them and when I cat-sit, I re-think my decision but the answer is always the same. I'm grateful that I can be honest with myself and live authentically. Thank you for your consideration. 
