As the weather gets colder, it’s common for college students to seek comfort from cats and dogs (such as those pictued above). Adopting pets without adequate resources may endanger them, but there are responsible alternatives that allow people to interact with animals, such as viewing them on Instagram (Nguyen Hoangnam/Flickr).
It’s that time of year when a few feet of snow on the ground can make us feel like our dogs and cats have forgotten about us. We miss their soft, squishy faces. We want desperately to give them hugs—but we can only do that after finals.
Well, there’s a right way to handle missing your little fuzzy friends and there’s a very, very wrong way. Let’s start with the good stuff.
The nectar of the gods: pet Instagrams. These are the second-best option to seeing your fur-babies in person. Some personal favorites of mine are @dangerdawg9000 and @norikathepug. If you’re a fan of cats, try @fatcatralphie or @chonky_cats because chunky animals are the best animals—as long as they’re within the healthy weight ranges for their species!
Maybe Instagram just doesn’t do it for you; you can’t get happiness back without hugging a doggie in person. Well, there’s always the option of going to see therapy dogs, who are ceaselessly adorable and typically enthusiastic huggers. Sophie is the resident therapy dog at Geneseo, and she visits Onondaga 203 South on Thursdays from 3 to 4 p.m.
Animal shelters are also a wonderful opportunity to give love to lonely animals. Go visit cute kitties and other sheltered pets to brighten their days or fill the pet-shaped hole in your heart. Just be careful—it’s hard not to adopt a pet once you grow attached to them.
That brings us to the very, very wrong way that people cope with missing their pets: buying a new one. Initially, this might seem harmless, and sometimes it is. Most times, though, it isn’t.
Please know that without a stable source of income, a permanent address in Geneseo or the guarantee that your schedule will allow you to adequately care for the animal, buying pets on a whim can easily endanger innocent animals’ lives.
If you live off-campus in Geneseo, something you pick up on immediately is that there are many homeless cats around town. These cats often try to sleep in packs, suffering during the winter months because it’s too cold for them to live outside by themselves. The stray cat population of Geneseo “likely began with an abandoned pet or two but now has multiplied,” according to WHAM news.
Abandoning an animal is a cruel decision, but perhaps one that you will have to make if your landlord gives you an ultimatum or you suddenly run out of money. When we consider purchasing pets because we’re lonely or sad, we must carefully evaluate our own stability and ability to care for these animals. Don’t endanger an animal’s life to cure your seasonal depression—please just watch some Netflix instead.
If you really need to get an animal to make you happy, go out into the village of Geneseo—particularly down Center Street—and feed the groups of stray cats that are currently cuddling for warmth in the snow. Maybe even bring them some blankets, you can be their best friend.
The best way to love animals is to be responsible for them and to ensure that they live long, happy lives. If you’re pretty sure you can’t support an animal quite yet, never fear. There’s always an Instagram dog to smile at or a homeless cat to feed.
Madelyn Dewey is an English and political science double major junior who wants to keep the homeless Geneseo cats warm during the winter.