There is probably a small amount of us who own a pet during college. What we don't know is the stress of having a pet in college is until we actually do it. As pet parents, we have to make sure our pets are well-looked after before we go out on a night on the town. Here are some valuable and highly useful tips that new pet owners in college can use and apply to their daily life. These will help make life flow without any stress.
1. Get your pet on a schedule.
Doing this helps your pet know what is coming next. They'll know when to go outside, when they'll get dinner, and when they get to go to the dog park. They'll be on your daily schedule. This is how it is with my dog, and it makes life so easy.
2. Keep their things organized.
You can easily make a bin for your pet that will hold their leash, poop bags, medicines, and any other essentials you have in your home. You can simply take a plastic bin and personalize it with puffy paint from the craft store. A once-simple plastic bin is now your pet's storage bin.
3. Join a monthly vet program like MyBanfield.
This is a must for college students to have for their pets because it saves so much money on vet bills. MyBanField has a monthly charge, but it covers things such as vaccines, bloodwork, urinalysis, and many other things.
4. Have a list posted in your home of a kennel and an emergency vet.
If you get in a car accident, or something else equally dangerous, and your roommate can't take care of your pet, they can take them to a kennel where they'll look after them. Just make sure you keep an emergency stash of food and such so that they can grab it. An emergency vet is good to have in case they get hit by a car and you're not the one home.
5. Have extras of everything. LITERALLY EVERYTHING.
In all honesty, it's better safe than sorry. You don't want to take your dog to the vet while using the belt of your bathrobe as a leash, do you?
6. Do all the grooming yourself.
We're all poor college students. However, you can save about $30 a month by bathing your dog and trimming their nails yourself. A pair of nail clippers go a long way, and shampoo is less than $20. Plus, you get to bond with your dog over bath time, even if they hate bath time.
7. Get some connections.
If you have friends that have dogs, see if they want to take turns taking the dogs to the dog park. You can take them one day, and they could take them the next day. They also come in handy if you need a pet-sitter.
