lol who's getting their "panties in a wad"? All I'm saying is (and this comes from 30 years experience of owning both cats and dogs) cats require just as much maintenance as dogs, it's just they require it in different areas, and it's usually the people who think otherwise that get them and then end up dumping them in a shelter. A "low maintenance pet" is a betta fish, not a dog or cat.
Really, it's something I see between dog and cat people all the time. People whose heart belongs to dogs swear up and down they are more maintenance and "harder" than cats. People whose heart belongs to cats swear up and down that they are more maintenance and "harder" than dogs. Just like in dogs, there's a difference between a cat living and a cat thriving.
I don't even own cats I just know people who *do*, and know how much work they put into their cats to make them truley happy and to make them a good house pet. You have to feed a dog, you have to feed a cat, you have to house train dogs, you have to litter train cats, you have to show affection to dogs, you have to show affection to cats (and for both dogs and cats how you show it depends on the breed), you have to provide mental and physical stimulation for dogs you have to provide mental and physical stimulation for cats.
Hell, I've had a cat person get snooty with me because a store chose our rescue to donate to for an event, rather than them, because "cats are the hardest pet!'