In July 2024, I made one of the best decisions of my life: adopting my cat, Maple.
She’s the sweetest, cuddliest cat I’ve ever met, and I am so grateful for her every day when I come home to hear her meowing and trotting to the door with her tail swishing in the air. She’s sitting in my lap purring as I type this article, and I mean it when I say I don’t know how I got through three years of college without her.
Maple is my baby, and I love her, but she’s also a huge commitment (literally, she was 22 pounds when we adopted her, and she’s on a strict diet and exercise regimen).
I’ve talked to many college students who say the same things I did before getting Maple. “I grew up with pets and I miss having them around.” “I don’t think I could handle a dog with all the walks and the time commitment.” “I’d just really like to have a cat around.”
Having a cat in college has been so worth it for me, but it also takes a lot of thought and consideration before making a lifelong commitment. Remember that adopting a cat in college doesn’t just mean having that cat in college–it means having a cat for potentially the next 15-20 years.
So, if you’re considering adopting a cat as a college student, these are a few of the major considerations.
finances
Cats are definitely less expensive than dogs, but you still have to consider your finances. There’s the initial expenses — food and water dishes, toys, scratching posts, a litter box, a carrier and the actual adoption fee. But you also have to remember that there will be monthly expenses like food and litter, plus vet expenses.
Hopefully, your cat is healthy, and you only have to go to the vet for check-ups and vaccines. Many animal shelters already take care of spaying/neutering and vaccines (PAWS took care of all this for Maple), which is wonderful. However, you have to keep in mind emergency situations like a sick cat that can get very expensive.
I’m very lucky to say that Maple has not had one of these situations yet, but you have to be prepared to spend a lot of money if necessary. The shelter where you adopt your cat will most likely ask you about your financial situation to make sure you have a job or financial backing from your family.
time commitment
You don’t have to take cats outside to use the bathroom or take them on regular walks, but they still need your time and attention. Some cats are needier than others — there are very independent and very affectionate cats, which you may have to ask about when you visit the shelter.
With this said, I am a busy person and have always been completely fine taking care of my very affectionate cat, even last semester when I left for student teaching at 7 a.m. and got home from school and extracurriculars at 8 p.m..
The only way this works is because we got an automatic feeder for her. Since she is on a strict diet, this took away some of the variability and makes sure she eats the same amount at the same times every day. She has 1/2 cup of food daily, so we have a feeder that distributes 1/8 cup at 5 a.m., 7 a.m., 3:30 p.m., and 7 p.m..
I usually wake up with Maple curled up next to me like a teddy bear, and once I get up, she likes to follow me around and meow at me while I get ready, which has become our morning routine. I always make sure to play with her before I leave (she loves to chase string toys) and when I get home at the end of the day/while I’m cooking dinner.
Whenever I sit on the couch to do homework, read or watch TV at the end of the night, she lays on my lap. This is how we make sure she gets enough affection and cuddle time even with my busy schedule. Luckily, she also has my boyfriend popping in and out throughout the day for her to spend time with, too.
Even if you have an automatic feeder, you have to remember the commitment of scooping your cat’s litter and refilling their water, plus brushing (this is a daily task for long-haired cats like Maple, especially overweight ones). Cats also add additional cleaning time, like scraping fur out of your carpet, more vacuuming and cleaning up any messes they make throughout the day.
housing
Many college apartments don’t allow pets and some of the ones that do are incredibly expensive. I am very lucky that in my apartment, I had to pay a $50 security deposit up front and now only pay an extra $10 a month for Maple. Most places charge significantly more.
You definitely should check your lease if you’re even considering getting a cat, and if you’re considering moving next year, ask if the apartment/house is pet friendly. Some apartments are okay with cats but not dogs, some allow both and some allow none.
breaks and post-grad
You may have figured out that your apartment is pet friendly and that your college schedule is perfectly suited for adopting a cat. Now, the important factor for you to consider is breaks (Thanksgiving, winter, spring and summer break). Where do you stay over the long breaks? Can you bring your cat there?
For a week-long break like spring break, my cat was fine to be home alone with her feeder and lots of water while we went to Myrtle Beach for five days. We had a camera on her to check that she was okay, which she always was. However, over winter break, I took Maple home with me.
If you go home over breaks but can’t take your cat with you, you may want to reconsider getting a pet right now. Over summer, I live in State College in my apartment, so Maple stays home with me, but if I were going home for summer, I’d have to make sure my family was okay with her moving in with me.
You also have to consider post-grad. Will your cat be able to come with you wherever you go post-grad? If you’re planning on spending a year backpacking across Europe, you may want to hold off on getting a pet. However, if you’re planning on getting a stable job and moving to one location, just make sure that you’re prepared to bring your cat with you.
When we visited the shelter where we adopted Maple, we met another cat with a tragic story: she was adopted two years before by an international student studying at Penn State who said he’d take her with him when he left the U.S. after college. However, he didn’t do that and instead dropped her back off at PAWS days after graduation before flying home. His cat was clearly depressed and missed her owner, especially now that she was left at the shelter where she came from.
When you adopt an animal, they should be part of your family because they view you as their family. Before adopting a pet, you need to make sure that you will be able to take care of that animal for the rest of their lives.
mental health
A cat is a lot of commitment, but it is also important to consider the positives. Having a pet can be incredible for your mental health and can truly change your entire mindset.
If you struggle to get out of bed in the morning for yourself, sometimes having an animal that relies on you is exactly the boost you need to find the strength. It’s amazing the rush of dopamine you can get from waking up and immediately seeing a furry friend cuddled up against you. To know that you make that animal feel so safe that they want to sleep as close to you as possible is an amazing feeling.
Maple makes me laugh every day. She’s not always the brightest, and watching her roll right off the couch or get confused when she sticks her head in my purse and can’t see is so fun. She has the funniest facial expressions and brings so much joy to day-to-day life.
Maple also loves when we have people over, and people love to hang out with her. She makes nights with friends even more fun.
Most importantly, my cat makes me excited to go home. After finishing school and work and extracurriculars, I’m excited to walk in the door and see her waiting for me. If you’re someone with a lot of nighttime anxiety or someone who dreads going home at night, a pet can be an amazing solution. I don’t even dread nights where I have tons of homework anymore because I know I’ll have Maple laying across my lap (trying to get to my laptop) the whole time.
finding your cat
Once you’ve decided to adopt a cat, you have to figure out where you want to adopt from and which cat is yours. I am a big believer that cats have a way of choosing their owners. We visited PAWS three times before we met Maple.
The first time, we had a great time visiting all the cats but didn’t really feel like any of them were “ours.” The second time, we once again had fun playing with them and visiting each room, but even the cat we came to see didn’t quite feel right.
For a few months, I was checking the website every day, and I still remember when Maple’s face popped up. At the time, she was Mila, but I remember thinking she was so cute had the prettiest eyes, and I really wanted to see her.
I had a small list of a few cats we wanted to see, so we walked into PAWS and let them know. We were connected with a volunteer, and I immediately told her we were looking for a cat that would be okay in a small, one-bedroom apartment with no other pets. We were looking for a lazy cat who didn’t want other cats around.
Before you go into a shelter, you should have your own list of what you need. Maybe you have a large house, but it’s very loud, so you need a cat who can handle that. Maybe you have a dog at home and need a cat who is good with dogs. No matter what your needs are, it’s very important that you express them when you visit a shelter so that you can meet the right cats for you.
The website should also have lots of information on each cat for you to check out before you go in. I highly recommend looking through it so that you can narrow down your list a little–there might be 100+ cats there, and it can be nice to know which ones you want to prioritize meeting.
There were some young, energetic cats that immediately had to be taken off our list because they’d feel too cooped up in our tiny apartment. However, the volunteer immediately told us that if we were looking for a lazy cat, we had to meet “Mila,” who was basically just a big sleepy pancake. She was also surrendered because she didn’t get along with the other cats in her house, which meant she could only go to a home with no other cats. This was perfect for us.
As soon as we met Maple, she perked right up, soaked up all our attention, and wanted all the pets. She completely ignored the other people in the room, dodged them when they tried to pet her, and came right back to us. We visited a few other lazy cats, but immediately knew that she was the one for us, even when we found out she needed to be on a strict diet and was a little high maintenance because of being long-haired and overweight.
She took mere minutes to make herself at home in our apartment — she already knew we were her people, and this was her new house.
In the State College area, I cannot recommend Centre County PAWS enough. One of my best friends also got her cat from PAWS, and they are genuinely wonderful to work with. They are so kind, and you can really tell that they care about finding each cat a safe home.
If you adopt from PAWS, you should be prepared to fill out an extensive application, provide three references, have somebody who is willing to adopt the cat in the event that something would happen to you (in my case, this was my mom) and be interviewed. They really want to make sure that you will take care of your pet and consider them part of your family. They are so helpful with bringing your pet home and the adoption process itself.
In addition to PAWS, you can visit Wiscoy on Aaron Drive. There are always two cats there from either PAWS or the Clearfield County SPCA for you to meet and potentially adopt. The Clearfield County SPCA is also an option, but it’s a further drive.
If you decide to adopt a cat in college, I wish you all the luck, and I am so happy for you. It truly is life-changing and can be such an incredible experience as long as you feel comfortable with a big commitment to taking care of another living being.
Happy adopting!