Having a pet is, to no one’s surprise, a huge undertaking — especially as a college student. Delphie Backs, a junior applied developmental psychology major, adopted her cat Olaf, a two-year-old white short-hair, from the Beaver County Humane Society last year.

On the grass by the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain, a crowd of several dozen people parted down the middle as a retired show cat, looking remarkably like a small lion, strutted down the path. The cat...

Winston prowls around a house on Bates Street — meowing, knocking things over with his black-and-white paws and chewing on the mail. For Georgia Vidal, a college student with a limited budget, housing...