How one answers this question depends upon personal preferences. Possibly, no two people are alike when it comes to likes and dislikes of pets in the animal world.

For mine, the worst pets are snakes, followed closely by rats, mice, and the rest of the rodent community. I am not particularly keen on lizards or any reptiles. Frogs are out and cane toads were never in.

Some birds may be okay but they squawk, make a hell of a mess in their food bowls, defecate in the most uncoordinated manner and take a lot of looking after.

I’m not particularly fond of dogs because they’re slurping and slobbering, can be quite offputting and I don’t like being licked by them. Maybe the one exception would be a border collie.

I don’t think sheep or cattle make ideal pets because they’re too demanding and take up a lot of room and feed bills can be quite horrendous.

That doesn’t leave too many out there, but I do like some cats. I don’t like furless cats, or cats with malevolent-looking eyes or cats that tend to be snarly and growly.

So cats with friendly eyes and a decent covering of fur that is not always inclined to shed, do it for me on the positive side of the ledger.