I have always had cats, and am seriously a devoted cat person. Cats usually despise me. LOL. Dogs, on the other hand, love me to pieces and I like them, but not the same as how I love cats. It IS different when you switch over to another type of pet... and hopefully not too abrupt. For me, I had an abrupt moment where a friend of mine gave me a live pet for my birthday once... a pet lizard.
I had no idea at the time, how to raise the creature, but luckily he came with instructions from the pet store where she bought him. I had to put him in an old aquarium with a heat rock and dirt, and go to the local bait store to buy crickets. They had to be brown crickets as the wild variety of black crickets were too fast for him to catch. So that was definitely a change for me as I wasn't just raising a lizard but also his live food as well.
I have raised mice, lizards, newts, cats, dogs, fish, parakeets, cockatiels, chickens, ducks, geese and pheasants, as well as a variety of smaller game birds. All in all, each were fairly forgiving during the learning curve, and it was pretty easy to get used to the new regimen that each new animal or bird gave to me. The hard part, I think, is housing the animals as many of them require shelters for protection from wildlife. I guess I like the challenge that a new pet offers, and my newest 'pet' is my banana tree. LOL. I spoil that thing rotten and it's only a plant. 
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