i'm a big animal person as well. presently have 3 cats, a ferret and a snake. ferrets are fairly common here (not SUPER common, but they have them at a lot of different pet stores). i had two, but one recently passed away.

i LOVE dogs and i grew up with them, but now i don't know if i can get one because of my cats. it's kind of tragic, but i love my cats so much and i wouldn't want to upset them. was never planning on having cats, but i worked at a cat rescue shelter for a while, and.... well, you know.