If you'd had a month to prepare you might have talked yourself out of it.
I didn't have pets growing up either (it would have been left to the care of servants if my sister and I were off to school so it's probably for the best), but now I live on a farm with a whole menagerie, and Ada Vallo gave me an otter animal spirit animal once? It'll work out, they're surprisingly good for anxiety and PTSD.