If you’re a student who chooses to leave your room in order to study, be social, go to class, etc. then it is likely that you have encountered a cute dog, cat or sometimes chinchilla on the street. Everyone wants a pet in college. No one can object to having something other than a pillow to cuddle with, but having a pet is never easy. It’s time to review the pros and cons of having a loyal friend by your side in college.
Pros
Can’t stand the idea of talking to your roommate? Don’t want to go home with a random person you met 15 minutes earlier, but still want to cuddle? Pets can stand in for people. With a pet, you can have cuddling without talking. Pets are wonderful comforters unless it’s a fish, they stink at everything other than swimming and eating.
When you’re sad and have a pet, you can have a good long cry without having to explain what’s up. Owning a pet also forces you to go out more. Exploring nature by yourself is fun, but getting to explore nature with a dog or cat is a hundred times better.
A final pro is that you can use baby voice and most of the time people don’t judge you for it because they are doing it too. Only a select few can withstand the urge to use baby voice when a cute pet is around. It is confirmed that these people do not have souls.
Even though no one wants to acknowledge it, having a pet in college isn’t always jovial. Pets are expensive — all of a sudden people have to get a job because they have a mouth to feed at home. This could be labeled a pro, only because it could make one more appreciative of their parents because parents feed you as a child and that’s great.
Also, if you’re not an outdoorsy person a dog is an awful choice because you have to take them out. If you prefer the great indoors please don’t get a dog, settle for a cat or a gecko. A major con here in Madison is that not many places are animal-friendly so you either have to sneak your pet into your apartment in a suitcase or live on the outskirts of town.
The biggest con for having a pet is that you must be prepared for blocks of drunk college students to not leave your pet alone for hours, especially dogs and cats. For some reason, dogs and cats are considered best friends by drunk college students — probably because they also like to sit on the ground and eat lots of food.
Overall pets are great, but in the long run, it may be better to live vicariously through friends and roommates. It’s the better choice if you are not ready to make a lifelong commitment to raising a pet or being loved by many only because of your sidekick.
