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If your a student that likes cats you probably have had the thought run through your mind of having one at least once while staying in your dorm. The problem is that other than a fish you are not allowed to have pets while staying there. If you are really persistent on having a cat fortunately there are ways around this. They aren’t the most ideal pet to have in a dorm room as they can be noisy, their litter smells and they leave hair everywhere but you can make it work if you put the effort in.
Before You Bring A Cat Into Your Dorm Room
You have to ask yourself “Living with a pet in a house or an apartment can be challenging but can you deal with even more of a challenge inside of a dorm room?”. Can you sneak your cat around rooms? Will you have enough food for them to eat? You also have to consider the odor and whether that will give you away since cats can smell bad due to litter, spraying or peeing on the carpet.
Hair can also give you away when your room is being inspected by the RA as they might find it suspicious. You also have to deal with neighbors possibly ratting you out. If you do get caught you also have to deal with potentially getting kicked out. You have to consider a lot of variables when having a cat in your dorm room but it can be done.
Consider The Type Of Cat
When you are staying in a dorm with a cat you have to consider some thing such as noise, how active your cat is, whether they have good temperament and other things. So your best bet is to get a cat that is naturally more quiet and less active then other breeds. Some of these include:
- Russian Blue
- American Shorthair
- Exotic Shorthair
- British Shorthair
- Scottish Fold
All of these cats are really good fit for a dorm room pet in my opinion because they tend to lay around most of the time, are very silent most of the time and they don’t have a lot of hair like Persians do.
How To Sneak A Cat Into A Dorm Room
You have to be really careful on how you do this because its really easy to get caught. A kitten would be the Some of the ways that I have come of with include:
Backpack: This is probably the best way to sneak your pet in but make sure that they don’t make noise as some cats don’t like backpacks. Make sure however you are quick with getting them in there as you don’t want to keep them in a cramped bag for too long.
Box With Cat Carrier Inside: What you can do is have a carboard box and put a small cat carrier inside to make it seems like you are carrying something else in your dorm.
Keeping Your Cat Concealed In Your Dorm
Now that you got your cat into your dorm you still have to make sure that you don’t get caught with them while they are inside of your dorm. First off I would consider getting a couple of products to make it easier to not get caught.
Lint Roller: These will help keep all of the hair out of your room and I would use it every couple of days or so. Use it on furniture and any other thing your cat lays on. I would go with “Evercare Pet Plus Extreme Stick Ergo Grip Pet Lint Roller (Click here for the chewy.com link)”. These work really good for me and they are really cheap as well.
Flushable Litter: This will really help with keeping the smell out of your dorm and you won’t have to leave it in your garbage. I would go with “World’s Best Multi-Cat Unscented Clumping Corn Cat Litter (Click here for the chewy.com link)”. This is probably the best flushable litter that I have used personally.
Closed Litter Box: You want to get a closed litter box because this will help mask a lot of the smell from the litter. These types of litter boxes will also help keep a lot of the litter from getting all over the place. The one I use personally is “Nature’s Miracle Just for Cats Advanced Hooded Corner Cat Litter Box (Click here for the chewy.com link)”.
Fragrance Booster: To mask the litter even more spraying it with fragrance booster does wonders for this. “Nature’s Miracle Just for Cats Litter Box Odor Destroyer (Click here for the chewy.com link)”. This one work pretty well and I have used it for a while.
Litter Mat: This will help clean up the little bit of litter that happens to escape on the floor “Frisco Rectangular Cat Litter Mat (Click here for the chewy.com link)”
Stain Remover: Accidents do happen and if you leave it in the carpet its really going to smell bad which will give off suspicions that you have a cat in your dorm. The one that I use is “Nature’s Miracle Advance Cat Stain and Odor Eliminator (Click here for the chewy.com link)”
More Dorm Tips
Make friends with the RA: A good idea is to make friends with the RA so they are less likely to suspect that you are hiding a pet in your dorm. Don’t think they will let you have a cat in your dorm slide because you are friends so you want to keep the cat a secret.
Have supportive friends: Have good friends around your campus that will lie for you so your RA doesn’t suspect that you have a pet in your dorm. They can also help you move your cat inside of their room when room when inspections come around.
Conclusion
I wouldn’t sneak my cat into a dorm personally since I don’t really like the risks involved but if this doesn’t really bother you then you can get away with it if you are smart about it.
