I do love to interact with all kinds of species, learn from them and whatnot. I totally do. But the words "emotional connection" or "companionship" are very loaded. Most usual pets don't care for my existence at all. Even cats would eat my dead body if they weren't fed. A dog does form a bond, yes. But still. Why would I want that? I even despise the concept of "having a pet". Who am I to enslave some animal to live under my reign? Spell it as romantically as you'd like, in the end, the animal does have to endure whatever you throw at it. I would not want such a "kinship". My kind of "kinship" would end at a racoon (or whatever) coming to my house, gets fed, interacts with me, and then goes on to live the life it usually does.

I'm aware of the history of housecats, but it surely isn't the majority of people who would just "suddenly now have a cat" because a stray wanders in. Sure there are, yet I would still wonder about the motivation of those. Which was the initial point of my reply. Would YOU do that? Having a sudden responsibility of at least like 200 bucks a month because a stray comes in?