Taking Pets With You To Med School?

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Xypathos

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I'v still got three years myself, but I thought this might be a nice break from the usual discussions.

Personally, I have a pet dog (named Sandi (blonde lab),assuming she's alive 3 years from now) and a ball python (named Cleo, 3 years old and about 3.5 feet long now).

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I will be starting medical school in a week, and I took my doggie with me! Of course, I chose to live off campus, and I had to find a pet friendly apartment building. However, I have owned her since she was a pup, and she was left alone for several hours at a time while I was in college. I think it is a matter of conditioning your pet. If they don't mind being left alone, you should be fine
 
Yep, I took one cat, one chinchilla, one rabbit, one snail and one fish, but I left my hubby at home.
 
5 cats, 2 dogs, 2 children (when I start Med. School) and a wife.

...pretty much guarantees that we will need to buy a house whereever I end up...
 
hoberto said:
Yep, I took one cat, one chinchilla, one rabbit, one snail and one fish, but I left my hubby at home.
A snail?

I'll be taking AT LEAST 3-5 rats, 1-3 dogs, (maybe) a parrot (if we can find a house to rent) and of course, the fiance / sugarmomma (to be wife by the time I'm in med school).
 
I really lucked out in the housing department. I found a place with a backyard, 10 minutes from campus (no annoying frat parties in my vicinity!!), only 2 neighbors, on 300 acres of mostly forested land, built within the last 5 years, takes pets and the landlord does all the lawn maintenance and snow shoveling. It is perfect! Not only that but my landlord lives up the hill here and has cookouts and parties on whatnot on a regular basis and I'm invited! Fortunately, he's far enough away that noise from the parties do not bother me.
 
snailsonside.jpg
 
1 cat, Piccadilly :) Well, I guess techincally I'm not "going to med school" yet. but i'll get there... and when I do, she'll go too!
 
Had to leave the bird at home. He is a 10 year old moluccan cockatoo. Large parrots requires a constant environment with no schedule changes and at least 10 hours of sleep a night or they go nuts and start screaming non-stop. The screaming is often accompanied by biting which can leave some painful wounds. No way to properly care for him and deal with the med school drill. If they get proper care large parrots are attentive funny pets. I miss having him around.
 
hoberto said:
Oh, gotcha...snail in the aquarium :)

Yeah, I had about 40 of those in my saltwater aquarium. (Wish I had the money to keep a nice one up, they're great.)
 
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Learfan said:
Had to leave the bird at home. He is a 10 year old moluccan cockatoo. Large parrots requires a constant environment with no schedule changes and at least 10 hours of sleep a night or they go nuts and start screaming non-stop. The screaming is often accompanied by biting which can leave some painful wounds. No way to properly care for him and deal with the med school drill. If they get proper care large parrots are attentive funny pets. I miss having him around.


I'm sorry to hear this. Hopefully you'll both find happiness though.

I have two pet bunnies, both disabled. They don't require much human company so they'll be fine while I'm in med school. They'll likely get sick, though, and I won't have time to care for them like I did in the past. That worries me. And I hate to move and leave my insanely awesome vet, Dr. Ibrahim, the best doctor I ever met.
 
Learfan said:
Had to leave the bird at home. He is a 10 year old moluccan cockatoo. Large parrots requires a constant environment with no schedule changes and at least 10 hours of sleep a night or they go nuts and start screaming non-stop. The screaming is often accompanied by biting which can leave some painful wounds. No way to properly care for him and deal with the med school drill. If they get proper care large parrots are attentive funny pets. I miss having him around.
I'm sorry to hear about your cockatoo!

I have a Goffins Cockatoo. He's absolutely hilarious many times, and can drive me through the wall at other times! I can't imagine what kind of noise that Mullucan can make. I hear its something like 130 db that it can put out!

I'm trying to figure out ways to keep him around, but its looking grim. What's even more difficult is trying to figure out what do with him if I can't be the one to take care of him. You can't just give a parrot to anyone, especially a cockatoo. They'll either kill it or start an endless chain of home-swapping for the poor thing. Parrots aren't meant to be caged or kept as pets. Unfortunately for cockatoos, they're so damn loveable and affectionate they're mistaken for good pets.

In all honesty, I love my parrot, but I don't think that large intelligent parrots like eclectus, cockatoo's, greys, amazons, macaws, etc should be kept as pets without a special permit. On that note, I think people should have to get a permit to have any pet! But, the large intelligent parrots are on a whole different level.

I've had tons of pets and nothing even comes close to the time and emotional demands of a large parrot.
 
I really want to buy a puppy, but I'm afraid if I do I won't have time or space for him at medschool and would just feel terrible about not spending enough time with him :(
 
joanofarc0907 said:
I really want to buy a puppy, but I'm afraid if I do I won't have time or space for him at medschool and would just feel terrible about not spending enough time with him :(
I'd never recommend just buying one anyway :) two of the same sex is the way to go. In their eyes, you being gone for 8hrs (normal working day) or 12 hrs (residency average day) is probably not much different. They dont read clocks very well :)

So, always get two!
 
tncekm said:
I'd never recommend just buying one anyway :) two of the same sex is the way to go. In their eyes, you being gone for 8hrs (normal working day) or 12 hrs (residency average day) is probably not much different. They dont read clocks very well :)

So, always get two!

haha that is a good point minus the fact that it is twice the money, twice the walking, and twice the responsibility
 
joanofarc0907 said:
haha that is a good point minus the fact that it is twice the money, twice the walking, and twice the responsibility
They'll usually be less work b/c they're busy entertaining each other in only a way that another dog can. Much easier usually (except when it comes to pickin up poop!!!!).
 
A leopard gecko would be a good choice...
 
Learfan said:
Had to leave the bird at home. He is a 10 year old moluccan cockatoo. Large parrots requires a constant environment with no schedule changes and at least 10 hours of sleep a night or they go nuts and start screaming non-stop. The screaming is often accompanied by biting which can leave some painful wounds. No way to properly care for him and deal with the med school drill. If they get proper care large parrots are attentive funny pets. I miss having him around.

i'm so sorry. i would die if i ever had to give up my little green cheek conure, Kiwi. so is your 'too staying with your parents? then at least he'd be with people he knows who know how to take care of him.

i'm actually looking forward to being in school because i think i'll be able to be home a little more than i am now with a full time job, at least for the first two years. granted, i'll be trying to study and Kiwi will be doing everything in his power to stop me - chewing my pens, putting little beak holes in my papers, putting little beak holes in my hand....
 
For those who want the fun of a live animal without the actual "omg I take so much effort," I recommend Sea Monkeys! Yesh, they do sound lame, but they're really easy to take care of. You feed them, change their water sometimes, and become aghast when they mate, because it looks like they're dying. :eek:

http://www.discoverthis.com/seamonkeys.html

I've raised Sea Monkeys before, but they die relatively fast for me, even though I did it in high school. Because you'll probably have a bajillion books, the towers are sort of... spill-attractant. So I recommend their newest set, which I will buy for this semester of college for zenniness:

http://www.discoverthis.com/sea-monkey-city.html

It's flat with a top, and if you have to move them home, just do a quick duct tape job with a little of the lid askew or wedged to give them air and prevent spillage.

Or, if you want something bigger that requires a bit more maintenance, lives shorter, but are actually quite fun:

http://www.discoverthis.com/triops.html

Triops, mine grew to about 1.5 inches long. I have had the DLX kit, so it was easy to tote around, but the cleaning is VERY tedious. You have to clean their water once a week by transfering them out into a bowl, emptying a lot of the tank water, and refilling it with BOTTLED water. Mine lived for 2 months. Fed about once or twice a day after they mature. THESE THINGS ARE BLOODY CANNIBALS T_T they ate one of my smaller ones :(
 
A good pet for medical school would be an African Millipede… I got one once for $15 at a pet store but decided to return it when I discovered it had strange mites.
 
Dr.TobiasFünke said:
A good pet for medical school would be an African Millipede… I got one once for $15 at a pet store but decided to return it when I discovered it had strange mites.


Ewwwwww. I will stick with my puppy!
 
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