CTLawyer – sorry I missed your post about cats – I think it was still in moderation when I posted. Cats are certainly easier to keep if you don’t have a yard for a dog, and they’re certainly first-class pets.
I don’t get the bit about having pets not being a “Jewish thing.” Maybe it wasn’t when people had just gotten off the boat and needed all their money for merely surviving. But times change. Twenty years ago sushi wasn’t a “Jewish thing” and now you can’t escape from it. (And I hate the stuff.) There certainly was no kosher Chinese in Europe. My Sefardi friends eat rice on Pesach, which I would never do. So why are we telling other people what is and isn’t “Jewish?”