Nowadays, more and more people would like to keep a dog or cat or some other kinds of pets. While this does involve some expense in terms of good and medical treatment, there are still many advantages to keeping a pet. First of all, pets are good companions. This is especially important for people who live alone and for older people who seldom go out. Some pets can help protect the house from thieves while some pets, like dogs and cats are so lively and energetic by nature that they can give happy hours to children and adults. Secondly, taking care of an animal also help children develop responsible attitudes and learn about nature. Some people claims pets are dirty. I don’t think this is altogether true. Responsible pet owners keep their pets clean and healthy so they will not smell bad. People also say that certain pets, like large dogs, can be dangerous. There have been cases of dogs attacking and seriously injuring little children. However, these cases are uncommon and are the result of bad owners. These people either don’t train their dogs properly or actually encourage them to be aggressive. So, the problems of pets being unclean or dangerous are in fact the problems of the owners, not the pets themselves. What’s more, it is said that raising a pet cost people so much. In my opinion, pets are good cleaners for the leftovers of family meals, so people can save money for sure. To sum up, there are more advantages than disadvantages to keeping a pet, especially for lonely people and children. In most cases, therefore, the cost is justified.