Raising an animal in college means a different lifestyle than what you had before you adopted your animal. You no longer just revolve your day to day life around just you. Instead now you have to set time aside everyday for your animal. Time to feed them, time to clean up after them and time to play with them.
When I first met Stitch, he was smaller than the palm of my hand. He was adorable, but I knew he would be a lot of work. Immediately I realized he still needed to be bottle fed and wasn't old enough yet to eat hard cat food. Since he refused to drink from a bottle I ended up having to place his milk on a plate.
This meant messy eating, so I would have to wipe him down with baby wipes after each time he ate.
I would have to feed him his milk 3 times a day. Once at 7 a.m., then at noon and again at 6 p.m. This taught me how to how to organize my time throughout the day better. I would work out earlier in the morning leaving my afternoons to do homework, rather than study late at night.
A few weeks later Stitch made it pretty clear he was fed up with his milk and ready for some big boy food.
Now he was no longer a slow moving, fragile baby; instead he was a strong, hyper toddler.
I was then faced with the responsibility of raising him to be a well mannered cat. With toddlers comes scratching and biting and it is important to teach them that is unfavorable behavior. I quickly went out to purchase him toys where he could positively direct these manners towards them.
Stitch took up much of my free time. I began spending less money on myself and going out, and most of my money on raising Stitch. I learned to enjoy nights in where I would watch movies or read a favorite book while playing with Stitch. Sometimes he would even watch shows with me on my laptop. He seemed to enjoy "Walking Dead" the most and purred whenever the character Carl came on the screen. Quality time with Stitch became the most important time for me.
Besides teaching me time management, and responsibility, Stitch quickly began to fill my life with laughter.
As well as constant love.
And college wouldn't have been this much of a rewarding experience without him.
Raising an animal taught me to enjoy more than just the social aspects of life. I gained a new found love for the simple things in life. While I still enjoyed parties, and bar hopping with friends, I now found it perfectly okay to stay home on a Friday night without fear of missing out. Stitch changed my life for the better, and I'll never regret rescuing such a big inspiration in my day to day life.
