Grew up with cats in the family, and since our cat died (almost 10 years ago) it’s been the longest I’ve ever been without a cat. Health stuff meant we couldn’t get another cat, but there’s still a cat-shaped hole in the house so we’re going to have to do something about it sooner or later.
While I was Uni I spent 3 years sharing a static caravan with two friends and between six and eight cats. It involved a heck of a lot of cleaning (24/7 access to the cat flap), but it was just how it was. If the tech had been available back then we could have made a small fortune rigging the place up with cameras and live streaming on the interwebs.