To keep a cat

Many of my friends have a cat in their home. I like to play with a cat when I visit them, but I have no intention to keep one of them by myself. Actually my apartment prohibits any pets, but it is not the main reason. If I wanted to do it, I will do anything to do it. I doubt whether they really deserve all kinds of my efforts to keep them. Once I had it, I would have to feed them every day, clean the room more often, pay a lot of medical costs without insurance and they wouldn't work for me at all. Plus, they would limit my life a lot; I can't travel for a long time, I can't live in my favorite room if it has no-pet conditions. All I can get from them is healing. Is it a so precious thing? Some one might say, a cat is a family, but I can't understand the feeling. I think a cat is a cat and not more than that. They might want to love human before doting on the pet.