Depending on the pets, sometimes two can be less work than one. They entertain each other and play together, resulting in less destruction and less demand for attention from their owner. That probably all goes out the window with more than two though!
Hard for me to understand people having several pets. I had one and it was somewhat demanding
The threshold that someone considers “too many animals” is always the number they have plus one.
We have 3 cats. I don’t understand how my wife’s best friend does it with the amount of pets they have. They have 2 ferrets, 2 cats, and 4 dogs.
For us it’s feet
Pet feet cannot outnumber human feet, full stop. Otherwise you lose control and are no longer in charge.
It’s a working theory but so far has been accurate.
I see a couple of flaws
A person living on their own could have any number of fish, a single bird, any number of snakes, etc.
Depending on the pets, sometimes two can be less work than one. They entertain each other and play together, resulting in less destruction and less demand for attention from their owner. That probably all goes out the window with more than two though!