If you have someone in the family who doesn’t like cats, owning and raising one becomes even more difficult. A lot more finicky than most dogs, you really have to learn the pros and cons before making that purchase.
One thing many people don’t consider when they decide to get a cat is the lifespan of the pet and the fact that they need to be responsible for the health and well-being of the cat for between 15 and 20 years. It’s a long term commitment.
As with people, the personalities of cats are many and varied. Ideally you will find the cat whose personality is matched to your own, but good luck with that.
There are many excellent books available at libraries and bookstores that will give you a good description of the type of personality to be expected from the various different breeds of cats.
Some breeds of cats require a lot more attention than others. Somey cats tend to live inside more often than other breeds, cats that are happy to run around outside and keep themselves occupied.
Cats with longer fur will tend to shed had a lot more fur about the house which will require more cleaning as well as requiring more grooming, which means you will need to spend more time looking after them.
Cats are a lot more independent than dogs and thus more difficult to train; this is something that you need to realize and accept.
If you like to travel a lot or you are away from the house a lot of the time, you will need to arrange some other person or service that can mind your cat and ensure that it gets fed regularly. My in-laws travel in a RV so they take their cat with them.
It is always worth considering where you’re living and whether the environment is suitable for owning a cat.
And one thing that surprisingly many people don’t consider before getting a cat is whether any person in the family is allergic to cats. There are quite a large number of people who are allergic to cats.
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