Well yes. After my last cat died, haven't got another. The house just isn't the same. Don't miss my mother at all, but the place seems empty without the cat. Thing is, we couldn't afford it, if something went wrong, and even if it didn't, it would be difficult. That, and there are things that would not take kindly to a cat jumping up and knocking over or playing with, nor would the cat take too happily to being covered in.
And the damage a cat could do to glassware...I reckon £1500 in about 30-60 seconds isn't unrealistic if I had everything set up somewhere one could set it down again, hard, on the floor from a drop and decided to go on the rampage, which would badly impact my capabilities even if the cat escaped harm. I can trust my old man, not to start opening stoppered containers with tanks of inert gas conspicuously lying beside them, but to a cat, that is probably the equivalent of painting a bullseye on the item or items in question.
This house in general..it is, well...rather the opposite of idiot-proofed. Its getting progressively more and more filled with technology, most of it fragile, at least the stuff in the house is, as all the metalworking and woodworking tools, and the lathe are in an outbuilding.
