Last Friday, a kitten followed my boyfriend and me down Wertland Street. The kitten was SO cute (see pictures below), I couldn’t resist sharing the pictures with my friends. Everyone wanted me to keep it. While adorable, the prospect of fostering a kitten in my college apartment and paying a rather large pet fee was daunting (not to mention my parents’ extreme disapproval of cats). After dropping the kitten off at the SPCA to get a checkup, I needed to make a decision.
When a friend mentioned being willing to chip in for the pet fee, I was reminded of our conversation about positive externalities. Having a kitten, or even access to one, is scientifically proven to boost your mental health, reduce stress, and even reduce your chances of having a heart attack. However low the social marginal costs are to my friends, my private marginal costs of providing for the kitten are higher. Buying a cat bed and food, taking care of a litter box, and coughing up $395 for the pet fee did not make everyone else’s happiness worth it for me. Maybe my friend was on to something by helping to reduce my cost of keeping the kitten…
So rather than give up on adopting the kitten, I will be requesting subsidies (through Venmo) from my kitten-loving friends so that everyone can visit Ivy.
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