Our cats are mostly outside cats - no litterboxes!!!!! And we don’t allow them to do things like get on counters etc. They come in by the woodstove when it’s cold, other than that they pretty much they like being outside. We live on acreage which is mostly covered with trees, so they find things to do.
DH likes dogs - likes the neighbor’s dog, but they’re labor intensive, have to be trained, need much more attention than cats. Maybe that’s why he prefers cats.
When I was a teenager I worked at a no-kill animal shelter and I took home the cutest little kitten, she was a tortie. She lived until she was like 15, she was small and the calmest cat I have ever seen. She used to let the little kids in our neighborhood wheel her around in the baby strollers. My grandmother ended up moving in with us in a separate inlaw suite, she would wait for her to get off work and hang with her for a while and then come up to our house.
If I could get a cat like her I would get another in a minute.:)