Pets in Medical Training
Written by Bianca Georgakopoulos, MD
When I was in medical school, a few classmates of my classmates had pets. I was always so envious because I didn’t think I had time to care for animals, let alone myself in medical school. I also was surrounded by older classmates. My family would say that it was a bad idea to get a pet in medical school/residency because of the time aspect.
When COVID-19 hit the United States in early 2020, I moved in with my fiancé who was also in medical school. Everyone around us was adopting a puppy, and after months of nagging him, we decided to adopt an adult rescue dog, “Ozzie”.
Although the first few months were a lot of work training Ozzie, it was such an immense feeling of joy and love I felt after coming home from rotations. We had Ozzie throughout our final year of medical school. At the start of residency, we decided to adopt another rescue dog that would keep him company while we were at work, “Hazel”.
Being in a residency program where over half of your co-residents have animals speaks volumes. If this is important to you, you should ask residents whether they have pets during interviews.
If you are on the fence about getting a pet during medical training, these are some of the benefits I have noticed after six months of residency:
They are always there to listen when you want someone objective to talk to.
They are always happy to see you, no matter how bad of a day you had at work.
Some pets will force you to go outside, so they can go to the bathroom and this helps you focus on the outside world that is not medicine.
They will always love you and hate to see you go.
They provide a sense of ownership and are grounding.
Here are a few of the cons of being a pet parent:
The cost. Make sure you are including pet costs in your monthly budget including a “rainy day” fund in case something happens to your pet.
The guilt. There are a few mornings where I feel very guilty leaving them for 10-12 hours, but my husband and I are usually on different schedules so I remind myself that they will not be alone that entire time.
Traveling. If you want to go on a vacation, or a weekend trip, make sure you can account for your pet. Will they come with you, can you ask someone to watch them, will they have to be boarded?
After being surrounded by many people telling me to avoid having a pet, I am very happy that we have two. You could be a dog parent/ cat parent/ bird parent/ reptile parent in medical school and residency, but make sure that you can handle that responsibility as well. Pets are a lot of work, but for us, the benefits outweigh the cost.
*Dogs were referenced in this post as we own two. If I was not highly allergic to cats, we would likely have three.*
