College Animal Adoption: Things to Consider

By Edgardo Hernandez, Jr.
Blog Content Contributor

College can be a great period of someone’s life. Over the years come new experiences and adventures, bringing both stress and excitement! The stress can be easily managed by some quality time with friends or family. Although this seems like a great stress reliever, not many college students have the luxury of having family close by or friends to hang out with, so there is always another option. A PET!

Pets are a great companion to have throughout a college career. They become one of your best friends and are always there for you no matter what! Probably just to try to get fed, but they are still there for you! Also, pets offer the best cuddles known to man and can be the exact Netflix partner you’ve been looking for.

Although, this much awesome doesn’t come without a price, literally. Have you seen how much a dog costs? Besides the price, some challenges do come with owning a pet. After all, it is hard enough trying to take care of ourselves. Some of these challenges include:

Time Commitment

Being in college, time is very essential and can make or break a student. If you don’t use your time wisely, you’ll get behind on work, skip meals, or even miss out on some classes. Now, with a pet in the mix, that is even less time for yourself and another thing to worry about. You must make sure your pet is properly fed, whether that be twice or three times a day, and kept hydrated while you are away. Since you will be away at classes, you must make sure they go to the restroom and they haven’t made a mess in the apartment once you return. As well, just like humans, they need attention and affection. Therefore, you must set aside some time to walk them and play with them. This is a major part of having a pet, because if you barely have time for yourself, you definitely won’t have time to take care of your pet.

Cleaning

As we all (hopefully) do daily, pets must be cleaned and groomed as well. Just because cats lick themselves frequently doesn’t mean they do a good job of cleaning everything. In addition, you must clean their area in case of any accidents and wash their bowls of food and water to make sure they don’t contain extra nutrients (dirt).

Cost Input

Adopting a dog can cost a pretty penny, starting from $200 and up at an average adoption center. I’m unsure about dormitory policy regarding pets, but in an apartment, owning a pet can cost up to $300 per month! That pet of yours better be cleaning or working to put some money towards rent because that is too much! Of course, there are ways to go around this by hiding your pets from management, though there is no telling how harsh the repercussions of getting caught may be.

For the topic’s sake, if you were to successfully go without paying the pet’s rent, there is going to be the cost of providing a place for them and the frequent expense of food for them. For us college students, we could use every penny we have, so think over this very carefully.

Overall, if you can look past these few challenges, then I don’t see why you should not adopt a pet! They bring nothing but joy to an owner and make the apartment feel whole. Pets are forever-friends and can make life a bit easier, especially for those who may not have much interaction. Take the leap and go adopt a dog! They’re waiting for a forever home, and that might just be with you!

Featured image by Edgardo Hernandez Jr.