I'm glad you've found a friend! I like dogs too, but I am a confirmed cat man now. Like you say, I appreciate that cats are a little easier to take care of than dogs. No need to walk them or to go out to the backyard to clean up after them. Of course easy for me to say, since they're my friends' cats, they do the clean up of the litter box. I might be singing a different tune one day when I'm the one having to do the cat box.
More on that cat. I had her a few years while I was living in Sitka Alaska. Amusing story. I went to my dentist right down the street. Cat got out apparently. When I was in the dentists chair the receptionist came in and said "Do you own a small black and white cat?" I replied that I did and she informed me that it was at the glass front door, little paws on the glass and screaming its fuzzy head off. They let it in to wait for me. The sad end to my cat was that Sitka has more eagles then most places have robins. She slipped out and was no doubt eagle snatched as many are there. Risky place to live, if you are a cat.