Written and Photographed by Kendra Frankle
Trinity Serra & Sunny Day
During winter quarter, Trinity Serra knew she had to exit a bad relationship. Her solution to not being alone? Serra decided to bring her 14-year-old cat, Sunny Day, to school with her. “It’s honestly not that hard. The responsibility is not as much as people made it out to be, maybe it’s just because he is a cat,” Serra said. “The biggest part is enrichment for him, making sure that someone is playing with him once a day.” Serra’s roommates enjoy having Sunny around as well. “We are all kind of sharing him. It is like raising him in a community,” Serra said. While spending time with Serra and Sunny, Sunny’s personality definitely came through. “If he could talk he would talk with a British accent,” Serra said.
Anne Connor & Jessie
Before Anne Connor’s ESA rat passed away, that was her primary way of coping with her depression and anxiety. Although Connor has two rats at home, Chatham County only allows one ESA per person, and since the rats are a pair, she cannot separate them. “My mom and I ended up coming to the conclusion that maybe we could get a dog. My grandmother used to train and breed dogs, so we trained her to pass the good canine citizenship test together,” Connor said. “I remember the people at the good canine citizenship test made comments to my grandmother and my mom along the lines of ‘they were such a good team’ and ‘I don’t know how you ended up doing this.’ [When looking at all the dogs at the
When asked how Jesse is in the dorms, “she’s great. She’s a little stiff because she’s older, but for a dorm, she just wants to sleep. It’s great. It’s a little bit of a pain in the butt because unfortunately, I run into some issues with scheduling some classes around her,” Connor said. Luckily Connor has roommates that help take care of her. “It’s become a team effort even though she’s my dog. I’m really grateful to have people that help me,” Connor said. Similar to other dogs Jessie knows when Connor is upset. “When I come in the door she whines at me until I give her a hug. I couldn’t have asked for a better dog. Even though she is an ESA, it’s a joint thing. I’m her ESA, and she’s mine,” Connor said.
Jade Strack & Stitch
When Jade Strack left for college, they made the hard decision to leave their beloved dog at home. Though their dog couldn’t accompany them, they needed some sort of ESA to cope with anxiety and depression. “I’ve always wanted a ferret so I did a lot a research,” Strack said. “I mainly chose a ferret because like dogs, once they bond to you, if they sense you’re sad they want to do something about it and cheer you up. He was the first one to lick me so I knew he was the chosen one.” Even though ferrets are a unique pet, [in terms of maintenance] they are like any average cat or dog.
“It’s a little hard, I always hate leaving him, but I made sure to get a really big cage so he is not confined to a little space while I’m away,” Strack said. “I would love to bring him everywhere, but I understand why that is not possible.” A downside to having a ferret is that they can catch human diseases. “Besides
Lilly Deacon & Richard & Blueberry
Lilly Deacon spontaneously adopted Richard, 1-year-old Holland Lop rabbit, when she was only six months old. After six months of adjusting to her new fluffy friend, Deacon got Blueberry, her six week old Netherland Dwarf rabbit. Two rabbits can seem like a lot of work, but the pros outweigh the cons. “It doesn’t really get in the way of schoolwork. If I’m not doing my homework it’s usually for some other reason, so I wouldn’t blame them,” Deacon said. Introducing rabbits to each other can be tricky; Deacon has only had Blueberry for two days, and Richard has been a little territorial. “If Richard could talk he would say return the other bunny,” Deacon said.
Kelsey Smith & Oliver & Caspar
Why would anyone want to have a hermit crab as a pet? Well, Kelsey Smith can tell you. Meet Oliver and Caspar, they are Smith’s and her [future] roommate’s hermit crabs. “The bigger one name is Oliver; I got him a year ago in August. I’m from New Jersey, and I am not too far from the Jersey shore, so it was kind of a leaving home thing. Caspar is actually my friends; we got him two days ago at Tybee. She and I are living together next year, and she wanted one, so it’s roommate thing now,” Smith said. Since hermit crabs aren’t a common pet, not many people know what it’s like to care for them. According to Smith, “they are dummy easy to take care of. They do not eat that often. It’s not a pet that you have to watch constantly.” The relationship between the crabs is interesting, “even though Oliver is bigger he’s definitely a lot more shy, so I feel like Caspar is more like the big brother even though he’s smaller,” Smith said.
