I have two smaller-sized dogs and three cats (one spends most of its time outside per its choice) and a bird (that has its own room). My living room couch and counter tops are off limits. Other than that, my house is their house. My outdoor pets are chickens.

No pets for me, allergic to most. Started allergy shots therapy this past fall. Likely never will own, but in the last year a friend got a kitten and I was encouraged to play with it. It's the first time since childhood I've enjoyed an animal (iirc). The cat never goes outdoors and is never exposed to other animals. I still dislike the claws and finding fur on my clothing, but both are respectively mitigated by trimming and washing. If I ever lived with a cat it would be declawed, and even then I'd fear damage to my possessions.

Pets in most cases are non-native species that don't belong in nature. Outside cats are the worst, in that they kill songbirds, small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles in large numbers. Dogs left to roam kill fewer but larger animals and can be a danger to humans. In addition to the creatures they kill, outdoor pets are frequently killed or injured by larger predators, disturbed people, and vehicles.

Allowing any of the above to happen is not responsible behavior.

I have two cats, two fish tanks, and five non-venemous snakes. The cats have full access to the entire inside of my house. The dangers outside preclude letting them out, unless I would not mind losing them (to coyotes, stray large dogs, contagious diseases from raccoons and stray cats, traffic on the high way, etc). Both cats are in their prime, so they are very low maintenance. They largely choose to be in whatever room I am, day and night. They are wonderful company!

I love all creatures great and small. I have had what people call pets but never been entirely comfortable with the larger culture involving domesticated animals. THroughout my life i have often gone on solo backpacking trips for a couple of weeks to a month. I wait until the noise and the smell of cities, of people fades inside and out. I can tell because the wild things start walking up to me, sometimes I wake up with critters snuggled up alongside me sleeping bag. Birds and horses have always fascinated me, fish too, but octopuses captivate me to no end. My last real pet was a miniature boarder collie named Cyrus. After I caught my fiance carrying on with my boss I just walked out. I didn't have a place for him with me so I had to leave him. When I went back a few weeks later to collect him, she told me he was killed. Hit by a car running into the street. He kept running away trying to find me. Not sure I ever got over that, really, it still hurts down deep somewhere. Anyway, as a scout I studied falconry and applied for a Peregrine but unfortunately that was the same year the government listed them as endangered. My parents wouldn't pay for horse riding lessons so I also got work as a groom in northern kentucky hunter jumper stable in exchange for for cash and dressage lessons.

I couldn't live without something to "take care of". I am a nurturer at heart.

Unless a purpose bred animal suited for outdoor living domesticated pets belong close at hand, with at the minimum proper shelter.
This isn't negotiable in my world.
Spent the summit of my being dogless due to finances but as soon as that fog cleared we now have 2 and they sleep with us.
Life is too ***ing short not to have a companion animal. I'll do so as long as I'm able and can afford them. The only things I won't miss are the vet bills and dremeling nails.

Below hogging the bed but he's good at knowing when to scoot over.

Had two dogs and a cat until my ex moved out and took them with her. I'd like to have a pet now but I like to travel a bit so not easy.

No pets for me, yet

I am owned by 3 border collies and a blue heeler/leopard katahola they let me live in their house and only one insists that I share my bed.

I am a cat person but I lost my 16 year old L'l Buddy and just have not found a replacement. Not sure I want to at the moment.

I eat animals. I would never have a pet one. I want to not be tied down being responsible .

I spent most of my life thinking I was allergic to cats and always had dogs in my younger days. Then I discovered I was allergic to grass and trees, not cats. All the cats I'd been around were outdoor cats. Then this guy came into my life. A friend found him as a tiny kitten near a storm drain after a storm. I give you Hitch (after Hitchens) the lord of all pussydom.

Elvira hogging my lap. She left my neighbor to come and live with me on her own accord. I think it was because I treat her like a person.

Tiger-tiger was abused and neglected. After his owners moved and left him behind he started sitting at the edge of my woods watching me and meowing. He was in pathetic shape, but he was too fearful for me to approach. I gradually convinced him I was ok and would not hurt him. He is now a big Tom who loves to hang with me around a campfire and has a place on the bed.

No pets at the moment, but had plenty all my life otherwise.

I grew up in Haiti and rode my little Haitian mustang stallion, Lightning, constantly. I treated him as a person, as did everyone else, apparently.
Once, someone came to tell me that our mission Bible school's (outdoor, roof-only, raised cement foundation) cafeteria was selling homemade ice cream.

I was riding Lightning at the time (without a saddle or bridle, as usual), so rode straight over there, and up the steep steps onto the cafeteria floor, slid off and started pushing to the front of the crowd to buy a cup of ice cream.

I noticed Lightning's pricked ears nearby..he was also politely pushing through the crowd to the front of the counter, where someone bought him his own cup of ice cream.
When I returned to eat at the long wooden picnic tables with my Haitian friends, someone dumped Lightning's ice cream on the table, where he joined us, delicately licking his off the table top.
Nobody objected, or seemed to notice, or care, that one of the crowd of friends at the table was a horse, LOL!

When we were done, I slipped up on his back again, we rode down the steps and took off again.

I don't let the fish on the bed, the dog has a bed in every room and a bean bag by the pool, the Kat has the run of the house, she is a tart and sleeps where she likes on the night, also has her own entrance to her own enclosed jungle.

I used to have a dog, but domesticated pets require more time than a single person is able to give. I won't have another pet unless I eventually have a family, and at the age of 51 that is highly unlikely.

I grew up around dogs, and the amount which they enrich a family is immeasurable.

Any inside pets I have would have to be the two-legged, female type.

I loooooooooooooooooove cats / do0gs but I can't have them in my dept.

My buddy Jake

I have no pets but every ones place i go they do! But would love fish as first pet i may and will get soon!!

You’re not alone ..at least for the time being... I’m currently free of children, pets and a significant other ..and wondering if there was any significance to that order? I prefer clean; cluttered works, but clean should win.. Seems every family member short of my daughters is buried in cat hair … counter-walking cats searching for unprotected food..

Having had two dogs (one at a time), not battling fleas, ticks, dog hair, skunk spray, vomit, spilled bowls, muddy tracks, slobber, carpet stains, porcupine quills, scratched floors and the occasional ‘inside accident’ sometimes leaves me feeling as though I’ve died and got to.. Do miss my fish, though ~

I have a fish tank with 1 bully ???? so am only able to have 2 ???? . I wish I could have a small dog, but no yip-yip dogs. Had a great dog but moved to Florida a while back and gave him back to my ex. Was sad.

I feel like I live in a petting zoo. 5 cats, 1 dog, and a guinea pig. Do kids count as pets?

My cat tucks me in a night and wakes me in the morning. Her only boundary is not being able to go outside because she does not have front claws to defend herself (I adopted her from a coworker already declawed).

Although I can understand not wanting to have a pet in the house, that is how I feel about dogs mostly because I think they stink.