I have 2 cats now, and had to have one put down a couple of years ago. We decided that we wouldn’t get any more pets until the remaining two are gone – we’ve achieved a delicate balance that we don’t want to disturb if we don’t have to.
When my family dog died about 15 years ago, my mom said she didn’t want another dog, but she caved in and got a beagle puppy 3 or 4 days later. She works from home and found the place too quiet and lonely without a dog (the beagle sure kept her busy after that!). Over the years we also lost a cat, which was replaced within a couple of months (and joined by another about a year later), and so when the beagle died a couple of years ago, my parents decided not to get another dog. They travel a lot, and now that I’m not living in the city and my sister is in the outskirts, it’s not easy to have someone stay over when they’re out of town. They’ve got their two cats and are happy about it.
That said, I don’t think I could be without a pet for long. I’ve always had pets, and when my two kitties move on, I know I’ll start looking for a couple of kittens pretty soon after. When we moved to Toronto in the summer, we moved in stages, so I was staying here for a weekend alone (the cats and Mr. Fiance were at the old place cleaning up and stuff). It was so quiet and lonely – I don’t think I could do it for long.