I have 3 cats, all adopted from the street. They were all underfed (starved), dehydrated, sick, and very weak. One of them was so close to death we had to force her to stay alive.
For me, it’s not so much a question of whether not pets are ‘allowed’. Some people in the neighborhood told us animals bring ‘klalos’ and the like. I wonder what klaloh comes upon one who sees a tiny dying animal next to his door and ignores that animal.
Chareidim, especially in Israel, can be incredibly cruel regarding animals, and I find this disgusting and it’s one of my main reasons (if not THE main reason) for being more of a dati leumi-kind of person nowadays.
My cats have brought us much happiness, it’s a wonderful blessing both for me and my wife and for these cats. It’s incredible to see how much a cat can love a human; to illustrate, my oldest cat likes to takes walks with me while sitting in my neck, he sleeps next to me and often hugs me in bed (seriously). The youngest of the three is so happy to be with us, she won’t leave the house more than 2 or 3 meters and runs back home with amazing speed when she hears anyone approaching.
Of one of our cats, I know that before we rescued him, bochurim from a yeshiva in the neighborhood caught him, put him in an oven and were just about to turn it on when someone stopped them. I don’t let my cats go outside alone at all – not out of fear of what they may do themselves, but out of fear what people – especially chassidishe kids – may do to them. Especially the most frummest kids seem to think throwing rocks at cats (when they’re small) or setting their tails on fire (when they’re bigger) are very funny acts.