Getting ready for college during the summer after high school graduation is a mixture of excitement and panic. You're excited to find out who you will be rooming with and what classes you'll be taking. You're also panicking about what you'll be allowed to have in your room (you can forget a coffee maker, unless your school is crazy lax regarding open heating coils), scrambling to make sure that your first semester is paid for, and basically making sure that you have every little thing you might possibly need in order to make it through your first semester. You're trying to calm your parents down as they adjust to saying goodbye to their baby, even if you're the oldest child, and also trying to figure out how you're going to deal with being away from your parents for longer than your usual summer camp.
Something that tends to get forgotten or pushed to the back burner, however, is your very own baby. Now I'm not talking about a diaper-wearing toddling little thing, I'm talking about a four-legged, furry, (possibly no legs and scaly, or two legs and feathery) baby. Often times in the excitement leading up to moving into your very first dorm room, pets get forgotten in the hustle and bustle of packing. It's not like you forget to feed them—though you should probably go and feed your furry baby right now—or forget to make sure they have a place to stay whenever you're away. When I say that pets tend to be forgotten, I mean that often people forget to help their furry babies adjust to the fact that you will soon be gone a good bit of the time.
One of the most important things you should make sure you do this summer, especially if you have a pet, is ensure that they are adjusted to your extended absence. While they might be alright with you spending a few nights away at a friend's house, or maybe even for a week or two at a camp during the summer, college is a whole different ballgame. I know that my cat, a Blue Russian mix, was used to my being gone for a few nights, even several weeks because of working, camp, and friends. However, she had no way to cope with my being gone from move-in day in August to my birthday in September. By the time I came home in September, she had lost weight and was extremely depressed. So here are my suggestions for helping your furry baby cope with your extended absence at school.
First, you should see how long you have already left your furry baby at home without you. Next, I suggest you slowly start increasing the amount of time you are away from them. So if the longest you've been away from them is two weeks, go stay with a friend for two weeks and a day, see if your pet is still okay when you come home. Then slowly add days, even weeks to how long you are away from your lovable fur-ball. Also look closely at how you treat your fur child, are you letting them sleep in your bed? I know that my cat won't sleep in bed with me anymore, as she now prefers my mom's company to my own. If you are letting your little one sleep in your bed with you, try moving them to sleep elsewhere. If you have little siblings, try pushing your pet off onto them at night, but let them adjust to sleeping without you.
Check and see how much affection the rest of your housemates are giving your baby, and if you are giving the most, try to get them to give the same amount of cuddles to your fur baby. This will make the adjustment to your absence easier if they are still getting the same amount of daily love even when you leave. Make sure that you love on them just as much as you did before whenever you come back home. Sure, they might give you the cold shoulder for abandoning them, but after a few hours of you being back home they'll love you just as much as they did before you left them all alone.
Lastly, make sure you tell them goodbye. I promise they can understand when you're leaving and they will get upset. To this day my cat sits on my bags by the door and meows at me and tries to stop me from leaving. So say goodbye and make sure to bring them snacks and goodies whenever you come back home to make them more willingly to forgive your heartless abandonment.
