What effort and cost? They're so cheap and easy to take care of.

Maybe I'm being too generous since I am using dogs as a reference point.

We have 3 cats and just got a puppy. The dog is already much more beloved and worth the higher effort than the cats have ever been. Cats are basically dry goldfish that you can play with and pet a bit. Dogs are part of the family.

Travel becomes a lot harder if you have a cat.

Get a cat, save the planet!

Save the planet and simultaneously eradicate all the birds around you.

Travel becomes almost impossible when you have a cat. Can't leave decent amount of time to anywhere, sometimes just possibilities of what may happen is enough.

Not cheap nor easy

They are incredibly annoying

But are funny

That's why people keep them

(I got two)

Edit: if they can roam freely they are also a threat to many other life forms and bio diversity

> Edit: if they can roam freely they are also a threat to many other life forms and bio diversity

They are the most prolific mass murderers of animals in the western world. My vegetarian (cat owning) friend got very upset when I pointed this out.

My can't moves the distributed scat and bodies of a dozen mice into a centralized sandbox over the course of its life. Worth it for me.