Sometimes in life you make some questionable decisions, buying a cat in college may have been one of them. These are the top seven things that happen when you accidentally commit the next 15 years of your life to a furry friend, while still trying to maintain your college lifestyle.
1. You always have somebody to Netflix and chill with
Cats are possibly the most chill animals in the world. They’re the only pets that can really keep up with your lifestyle of lying in bed all day and binge-watching "Game of Thrones." About 90 percent of the time they’ll decide to randomly walk on your keyboard and mess up your movie -- but other than that, they’re always down to just hang. They won’t talk and interrupt your favorite part, and they won't judge you that it's only been two days but you're already on Season 3 of "Orange Is the New Black."
2. Your sleeping schedule is now their sleeping schedule
Kitty wants to get up at 7 a.m. and meow in your face until you acknowledge them? Looks like you’re not sleeping in today. You don’t understand why an animal that sleeps all day picks the earliest hours in the morning possible to play or how much dedication it has to waking you up. Your existence means to them that you are responsible for pets, playtime, and food on their watch. On the positive side, they’re always sleeping when you come home drunk on weekends, so it’s a no-judgement zone.
3. You end up showing strangers at the bar pictures of your cat
Someone brings up how they miss their dog at home, their actual human child, or even something remotely related to cats and your drunk self feels obligated to show them a picture. Bonus points if you scroll deep to find a kitten pic of them. You’re worse than grandparents who show everyone outdated pictures of their grandchildren that they keep in their wallet 24/7.
4. You actually learn why real parents are sometimes overprotective
When you first take your kitten home, you have constant anxiety about them getting into something. Oh, she ate a crumb on the floor? You think worst-case scenario of what it could be and how harmful it could be. You’re always worried about your kitten getting out of the house and not being able to find her way back, but that eventually ends. Fast-forward to six months later, you sometimes lose your cat in your house and don’t really think twice when they’re playing with something random they found on your college house floor. Being responsible for a life brings out things in you that you never though existed on a smaller scale, and you kind of get why your parents always kept a close eye on you.
5. You start spending more money on your cat than on yourself
You can’t pass the cat aisle in the grocery store without picking them up a treat and buying them the best of things. A $12 shark costume for your cat that she’ll refuse to wear? Got it. Cool laser pointer that you’ll lose in a week? Yup.
6. Your friends who aren’t cat people will become cat people
Your housemates instantly become known as aunts, uncles, and godparents, and your cat loves them just as much as you do. Honestly, 8 out of 10 people think cats are evil (I made that statistic up), but it seems pretty accurate when someone first hears you have a cat. Ten minutes later your friend is cuddled up with your cat admitting that they’re not a cat person, but yours is cool. People start asking how your cat is casually in conversations and it becomes the norm. Since your cat probably lives in some type of college housing, it’s used to having a ton of people around and is always down to make new friends.
7. You realize that animals are awesome and should be treated humanely always
Up until this point, you never really thought twice about how bad you feel for animals who were deemed “unadoptable” because of their age or a condition. You realize that even when your cat isn’t small and cute, and instead old and maybe even sick you’ll still love them the same. You feel even worse for animals that don’t have homes and were treated cruelly. You start sharing more and more ASPCA sad videos on Facebook and you want to encourage everyone to go out and adopt, even if they’re only 20.
