If you live in an apartment, just don’t get one
Reasoning edit: pets, especially cats, will leave a smell all over furniture. Cleaning becomes an even worse chore due to the fur. They also require “house training” in order to not chew/claw/destroy most stuff that’s lying around the house.
Thats the main argument for me. I keep hearing neighbors dogs barking alone all day, it seems so sad to me…
And I can’t tell if its a historical norm or if we’ve essentially seen a huge increase in the number of lonely pets. I get the feeling that having a family pet is part of the american ‘white picket fence’ package, but that was conceived in a time when married women were usually SAHM - in which case dogs at home are constantly kept company.
I’ve often said to people that pets should be shared with neighbours, so they can stay as active as poasible and not be too much of a time drain on one family (E.G some dogs need to walk twice a day, or run once a day) but people don’t generally seem interested in a pet’s happiness.