Owning a pet as a PhD student
Meow!
“Dang, you’re joining a dog lab!” Joked an upperclassman when I told her I was joining the Sheffield Lab.
Keeping pets is quite common among Ph.D. students. The most popular pets, of course, are cats and dogs, with cats a little more popular due to the long hours in the lab that most students have.
I adopted my cat, Lupe, soon after I moved to Chicago. I’ve always wanted a cat, and now that I have some financial independence and fewer physical limitations, adoption was a natural next step once I settled down.
Funnily enough, most of the people in my lab have dogs. But this doesn’t stop all of us from recognizing the importance of our furry companions in our lives.
The good
I anticipated and embraced the responsibilities of a cat mom weeks before I actually got a cat. I wanted to make sure to provide the best forever home my cat could have. If it weren’t for my partner who, seeing my hesitation but knowing I’ve wanted a cat forever, suggested “You’ll never be fully ready, just go for it”, I would’ve waited even longer before filling out an adoption application.
Most things that followed I expected: the newly adopted cat might be shy and hide when getting to a new home, they should have “their space” and tall places to perch on, they need scent soakers such as cat beds and litter boxes, they might be cuddle bugs but might also just prefer to sit near their humans without direct contact…
What caught me by surprise and overwhelmed me with gratitude is how much love and warmth this little creature brought to my life.
She is long and loves to stretch out; she is playful and possessive over her feather toys; she gets the zoomies and rejoices in random bursts of energy; she is too smart to get tricked into taking medications; she chirps at the birds landing on the short tree outside my window; she comes to the door when I get back home; she bumps at my arm to squeeze herself in my hug before stepping around my legs to find a comfortable sleeping position on my lap; she squints her eyes in satisfaction when I scratch under her chin…
The more we got to know each other, the more it felt like it has always been this way. I barely remember the time before this cat came into my life.
But giving away my heart is dangerous.
And the bad
It was the third day in a row that I came home only to find her food almost entirely untouched. While she remained loving and cuddly like her usual self, she was less playful. I tried to entice her with her favorite toy, only to have her run out of my room a few seconds later, dry heaving in the hallway.
I called her vet and set up an appointment for the next morning.
I spent the night googling her symptoms, looking throw treatments for possible causes, and growing more anxious by the minute.
“Meow”, she jumped into the bed, positioned herself where she normally does, and settled down facing me.
I looked into her eyes, and mine suddenly filled up with tears as I was overwhelmed with sadness to see her suffer and worry about whether the vets will be able to find a solution, especially when everything came back normal when I did comprehensive testing on her just two weeks ago.
She looked at me with her beautiful green eyes as tears silently streamed down my face. I couldn’t tell if she knew why I was sad, or even, that I was sad.
I woke up early, not being able to sleep, waited until it was time, and put her in her carrier despite her struggles.
She has grown more and more resistant and scared of going to the vet. My heart broke as she meowed in objection and unease. She vocalized the entire car ride to the vet.
We finally got to a waiting room, I described her basic symptoms, and she was brought to the back for examination, and upon the doctor’s suggestion, I agreed to an X-ray. After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor came back to show me the pictures. My heart which has been hanging by a thread finally relaxed into place — nothing too serious (ie nothing that requires immediate surgery). Names of medication were thrown around, and it was another wait to administer the first doses for her. It was an easier wait now that there was an action plan. The doctor came back with a final piece of news — she has a fever.
Even though it was “bad news”, I felt so relieved that the problem was identified, and that it was treatable.
We came home with a small bag of 3 different types of medication for me to continue giving for the next few days. She was a bit shaken up and ran to hide in my closet for the rest of the day.
But at least the scare was mostly over.
The verdict
The more we care, the more it hurts to lose. But I never regretted bringing my cat home.
Perhaps this newsletter should simply be called “owning a pet” since not much was directly related to Ph.D. student life. But it’s undeniable that having a furry companion brightened up my busy research life, and is now an indispensable, precious part of me.
Despite the time and energy (and money :P) that needs to be put in, I know that the things our four-legged friends give us in return are far more valuable.
10/10 would recommend.
