House rabbits are great, but they will chew anything they can get their paws on… up to and including wooden furniture legs, carpet borders and electrical cords.
It’s much harder to rabbit-proof a house than to cat- proof. And rabbits are much harder to keep healthy, and to cure if they get sick. IME, they’re not really good pets for beginner pet keepers or house proud people. 
YAHHHSSS!!!
Thank you!!
#saynotokibble 
This is important.
If they’re indoor cats, keep them active/entertained. This is what Jackson Galaxy of My Cat from Hell seems good at, creating a home where the cats have their own spaces and something to do.
**
Just like any animal, there is certainly a level of care & prep needed. Yes cats shed. I personally don’t mind it. I have 4 short haired indoor kitties and I sweep and vacuum at least twice a week. I should probably buy stock in 3M since I buy so many lint rollers, but I’m not surprised if some hair escapes and remains on my clothes. The joy & love they give is well-worth it.
I’ve been blessed to never have a furniture scratcher or Christmas Tree climber. I provide them with lots of cat toys and a wide array of cat scratchers and attention. They all get brushed and I trim their claws as needed. All told, a pretty low maintenance pet (IMO).
Some cats are really much happier with a friend to play with, so that is always something to think about.
They are little individuals with different personalities and quirks. Something that works for one cat might not work for another. I have one who won’t touch a sisal rope scratcher put loves a cardboard scratcher, so you can’t be too rigid with what you are willing to use. They will tell you what they want.
Some are more relaxed & chill than others - maybe adopting an adult cat is a good move since they are over their kitten sillies and depending on their history can have really excellent house manners. Plenty of cats are surrendered to rescues at no fault of their own (owner dying, moving to assisted living etc).
Cats shed and hair gets everywhere. I cannot wear black anything because of white cat hair.
That said, I don’t think they shed hair enough to be bothersome. We vacuum once a week. It isn’t a issue. The dog hair on the other hand, is more noticeable, as is dirty dog footprints from muddy paws.
You have to be able to tolerate cats. They destroy furniture and I just replace it as needed. Even with scratching posts. It gets shredded or peed on. Older cats tend to have issues with litter box use as they age.
Sounds like you are not a fan of cats at all. If your cats are peeing on furniture or having litter box issues, it is a big sign of medical problems.
Destroying furniture is absolutely not a given, it’s a behavioral issue that the owner needs to invest time working on.
Mine will not scratch the furniture when I am at home. They quite assidiously avoid it. However, when I am out of the house…well, that’s another story. I know they scratch the furniture because I come home and it’s clearly been scratched. But I can’t yell at them and even if I say "what did you do? I get the limpid gazes with the halos quite firmly attached over their little bonky heads. Brats. lol
But there is nothing like going to bed and having them all snugged up with me and waking up and everyone wants to a pet to start the morning and I get a kiss (lick on the nose) back. The hair and the other annoyances are insignificant.
I really don’t have too much to add as I don’t like cats, so I don’t have one. But I must say I have always fed my dog a raw diet and she does not shed. She’s a double coated breed and so many others talk about daily brushing and the shedding and the madness!! But I rarely have to brush her (like never but she gets a super dry coat and dandruff in the winter so I do brush her for that, but I get like 0 hair) and I’ve had her over a year now with little to no hair in the house. I also feed my girl dehydrated/air dried raw in the am as she’s a super picky eater. She loves it and it so simple to feed - similar to kibble as in scoop and serve. And has a much longer shelf life than kibble. She gets her raw in the PM when she’s more awake and hungry ha ha.
So I’m not surprised the no shedding with raw works with cats as well (plus with the little research I’ve read on cats, they should have 0 carbs - so no kibble/veggies etc).
So perhaps if the OP goes for a cat and does not like the hair, consider feeding a raw diet. Just my $0.02 on the shedding issue.
My grandmother did have a Bermese when we were growing up. I do remember him shedding and he was a bit of a talker/yowler, and the dander - everyone who was allergic to cats was super allergic to him, but he was a great cat. Lived a long, amazing life.
I feed wet and have done raw, and still have cats that shed. It’s a lot less than cats fed dry, but they do still turn over their coat. I comb two cats daily, and another two a few times a week. The two that are combed daily are long haired boys, and they just seem to be very blase about managing their massive amount of hair. It’s a lot easier for me to work a few minutes of combing into my daily routine than to do it sporadically, and it’s easier on the cats to have any loose hair or tangles dealt with for a few minutes a day rather than a bigger grooming session less often.
I agree with a lot of the above posters that cats are just more work than dogs. Their food is more difficult and costly, their nutritional needs are finer, they’re so STOIC that you do really have to watch them carefully for changes or risk that they’re very sick before they really act noticeably ill. Litter needs scooping daily or more often. I had a vet who called cats space aliens and yep, I’d agree :lol: I love them, and wouldn’t be without a few cats, but I’m always boggled when anyone talks about them as “dogs lite.”
I love my cats. But having lost my 3 elderly cats with medical issues at the end of life, I know you can’t really avoid them having accidents on the furniture. I have one elderly cat left and he is having GI issues. So it sort of comes with the territory. Dealing with urinary cystitis is not fun either. One of my cats had that as well.
Young cats tend to be healthy and not have issues but you do have to be prepared for health issues to develop as they age. If you can’t deal with occasionally losing some furniture or cleaning up a mess, especially with the older cats, then don’t get cats.
I will say I do think cats are easier to care for then dogs. Dogs seem to require more of an investment in training and time. Housebreaking and going through the chew stage… If someone is looking for an easier pet then a dog, then a cat is a good choice.
I vote guinea pig.
Or, why not an older toy Poodle? They don’t shed the way others do, although they do require grooming. Not destructive the way a cat can be. Often available to rescue when their senior owners pass or enter long term care.
If shedding is a concern a cat would not be my choice of pet. Keeping dog trained to not get on the furniture is doable. A cat… not so much. A poodle (or many many other breeds like Havanese, Bichon, Maltese) would be a good non shedding choice and if you keep them on a 2 month grooming schedule with a short haircut it won’t be that expensive. I don’t suggest DIY haircuts because as a former groomer I loathe seeing the hack jobs owners do to their pets. Another option of a not have to visit a groomer dog would be a Visla. High energy but they don’t shed much. I am firmly in the won’t own another cat after my youngest two are gone. I just don’t like them enough to deal with their many many negatives.
Very true!! I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your kitties. I love my seniors, but you are right that (much like us or any animal really), things can get more complicated with age. Every time I try to gradually introduce my 16 y/o to a 'healthier" food than the Fancy Feast Chicken pate - it really messes with her system. So Fancy Feast it is!
I had to PTS my heart kitty after his Pancreatitis took him really suddenly. His last week while were were trying to get a 2nd opinion and trying a different treatment was rough on our carpets. Multiple daily spot cleanings were called for, so I ended up renting a rug shampooer for the house. It was a price I was willing to pay.
One thing I like about the rescue I volunteered with is that they were very honest with potential adopters on the cost (emotional and mental) of having a kitty for life. None of us remain physically perfect as we age, and every pet parent needs to be prepared for that with their golden oldies kitties.
I agree, it’s not all just being a “correct” cat parent and you won’t have problems, especially as they get older. I have realized in the last two weeks due to its absence that Pilgrim, who was the oldest indoor and had been having increasing health problems the last year (thorough workup at the vet, meds, I wasn’t ignoring it), was responsible for 99.9% of throwing up episodes. He also used more than 1/8 of the litter and the food.
About shedding, am I the only “heavy shedder” among us? Personally, I mean. Honestly, I clean out my own hairbrush at least every other day, and I find plenty of my own hairs around as I clean the place. I mentioned it to my stylist once as she was giving me a trim, and she said that the average person sheds between 50-100 hairs per day. I would say I beat that. My hair is thick, but it sheds all over the place. Whenever people say they don’t want anything that sheds, part of me always wonders if they realize how much they and family members shed, no pets needed.
Boy I can hear that! My hair is down past my shoulders, and I usually have it tied back with the coated rubber bands. I still shed like crazy. My hair is streaked naturally with silver so it really shines on my coat. I find it everywhere and, yes my hairbrush! Terrible!
I must be a bad mom as I do not brush the cats. Two are short haired and groom themselves constantly. Puddin however, needs desperately to be brushed, and she will have none of it. I am thinking of having her shaved again, but I do not like doing that. I tried to seperate a couple of hairs stuck together recently, and she bit me. Not a hard bite, just a ‘don;t do that’! sort of a bite. She immediately jumped down, as she knew I would smack her for it.
Reading everyone’s comments has been very helpful, thank you for all the wisdom. After taking everything shared here into consideration, I don’t think I could love a cat more than a clean house (and the peace of mind that brings me!). TBH I’m struggling enough as it is with the hair my pony’s shedding right now … and that’s in an environment a 20 minute drive away ( though to be fair, static cling doesn’t help).
Plus DH just showed me this little internet nugget:
Oh that poor cat!! That is not normal. She must be sick. I do have one old lady who will cough up a hairball but actually, since I switched her to another food they’ve been decreased. I buy Clorox wipes specifically for hairball duty, luckily there’s not much carpet in my house and cleanup is typically easy.
Ugh. 13 is not at all “pretty good for a cat.” That poor girl should’ve had her nausea treated. I’ve seen kidney disease cats puke like that, or IBD.
So often even vets discount serious symptoms as “well it’s a cat 
” instead of recognizing a profound quality of life issue. What a shame.
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