Living in dorms and apartment buildings with strict no-pet policies limits many students’ social circles to a furry-friend-free zone. But for some, having a pet is worth the extra effort. And for those that make it work, having an animal around the house has been instrumental in supporting their mental health.
Gillian Miller and her cat Oliver
Oliver Miller has fur the color of cream with dark brown markings, piercing blue eyes and that melt-into-your-lap plushness of most older cats. Gillian Miller, Oliver’s owner, is a sophomore geography and environmental sciences student at UO and has had Oliver since she was four. At the beginning of her sophomore year, Miller moved Oliver out of her family home and into her apartment in Eugene. Miller has to pay an extra fee each month to keep Oliver at her apartment but she said he is worth it.
“I’ve known him longer than all of my friends,” Miller said. “When I come home and none of my roommates are here, Oliver is always around, and he’ll come out to say hi. It’s like having a very low maintenance friend.”
Miller said having a pet at school has made school feel more like home, and being a pet owner has made her feel more like an adult — or as she would describe it, a single mother. Miller recently had to take Oliver to the vet and said it was a cool experience because she had never been so in charge of his health before.
“Your life becomes very self-centered in college. You’re only taking care of yourself and your day-to-day life mostly depends on you and your decisions,” Miller said. “It’s sort of a nice change of pace to take care of someone else.”
Miller said taking care of a cat is pretty low maintenance, but there have been some aspects of pet care that have been challenging. Oliver is a very attention oriented animal and likes to spend a lot of time with his people. Because of this, Miller feels guilty when she spends too much time out of the house.
“I can tell he gets frustrated when I’ve been out of the house all day a few days in a row. ‘Oh god I have to get home to my cat,’” Miller said.
She said this can be challenging on days she has a lot to get done, but coming home to Oliver makes it all worth it. Above all else, Miller recognizes the emotional support benefits of having a pet in college.
“It’s really nice to just pick him up and hold him if you’re having a rough time of it,” Miller said. “Sometimes my roommates will come home and be like ‘I need some cat time!’”
Lamar Davis and his dog Clover
Clover Davis is a perky little 6-month-old pomeranian chihuahua. When asked to describe her, owner Lamar Davis used one word in particular: derpy.
“My dog is pretty weird. She just has a really funny personality,” Davis said. “She makes the weirdest faces and talks to me all the time. I swear she’s like a human being.”
Davis is a sophomore environmental studies student at UO. He grew up with pets at home and missed the comfort of having animals around while in Eugene. Davis and his roommates were debating getting a foster dog in the fall of 2022, so when his boss offered to give him Clover for free last November, Davis happily obliged.
“Animals have always made me happier and boosted my mental health,” Davis said. “I wanted a dog because I was feeling a little bit depressed, and I knew a dog would make me happier and create more balance in my life because I would be forced to follow more of a schedule.”
Davis lives in an apartment building which can be difficult for some dogs, but Davis said Clover was born and raised as a city pet and is perfectly happy sitting in the window and watching cars and people go by. While Clover is less demanding than some more active dogs, Davis said it can sometimes be challenging to make time for pet care.
“At first it was a little stressful having Clover because I didn’t really know exactly what I was signing up for,” Davis said. “I knew the gist of taking care of a dog, but there are things people don’t talk about like taking her to the vet, training her and unexpected expenses.”
Davis maintains that creating a routine is the best way to get in the groove of pet care and balance college responsibilities with Clover responsibilities.
“Even if I just have 15 minutes to play with her and train her, if I make that time it works out,” Davis said.
Davis also said following that schedule has presented challenges for his social way of life. Davis considers himself an extrovert and spends a lot of time outside of the house. He said prioritizing coming home to check on Clover took some getting used to, but it has become more manageable now that he has established a routine. Davis said him and Clover’s routine provides him with a sense of accomplishment.
“I’m proud of myself for being able to take care of Clover,” Davis said. “ It makes me believe in myself because I’m doing good with something.”
Chloe Scheid and her dog Coco
Coco Scheid, a 7-year-old shih tzu, can be found curled up with her nose wedged into a beanbag chair, her light brown fur nearly camouflaged in the suede fabric. Coco’s owner, Chloe Scheid, adopted Coco four years ago as an emotional support animal. Scheid said when she got Coco she hadn’t even thought about how she would be leaving for college in a year, but when the time came to make the move, bringing Coco along seemed like a no brainer.
Scheid is a junior psychology student at UO and was in college during the pandemic. For Scheid, the lifting of the freshman dorm housing requirement was a relief because it meant she could skip the complications of dorm pet paperwork and move Coco into an apartment with her.
“It was really hard to make friends that first year, and it got kind of depressing,” Scheid said. “There were days where I really didn’t want to leave my apartment, but because I had to take care of Coco, she encouraged me to stay active and get out more. I don’t know how I would have made it through that first year without her.”
Scheid echoed the same complaints of Davis and Miller concerning the difficulty of having a pet in college. She said sometimes it is hard to check up on Coco on busy days, but she has a network of friends who volunteer to give Coco some love when Scheid can’t make it home.
“It’s super fun to have friends over who don’t have pets in college and miss their pets at home because they can get the comfort from Coco they have been missing,” Scheid said.
Unlike Davis and Miller, Scheid said she is a homebody and an introvert so spending enough time with Coco is super manageable. In fact, Scheid relies on spending a lot of time with Coco to provide comfort and stress relief.
“She’s very comforting and intuitive because she was supposed to be an ESA so when I’m stressed and upset I notice she spends more time with me,” Sheid said. “I think everyone feels school stress, and a lot of people will schedule more social time to deal with that stress which is hard to do when you’re studying. I don’t have to do that because I have Coco.”
Many places of residence including UO dorms require pets to be registered service animals or ESAs, but the process of bringing a pet to college varies between dorms, apartments and houses. Some landlords allow pets free of charge, others request a fee and some give a hard no unless that pet is registered as a service animal or ESA. Whatever the demand may be, for some the process of reaching out and making an arrangement is worth the emotional benefits of having a pet.
