Zuzu - it's not about the $$, it's about the love.
As I was just telling DH this morning while taking him to the train station that a former friend of ours who has 50+ cats (number fluctuates).. all her cats line up for laps when we used to go to her house as they're usually starving for attention. Our guys (I don't have that many kitties) are not that bad.. they're not going to die if you don't love them because they *do* get attention.