You said small animal.

Yeah, even the very best animals will leave odors, if no other damage.  

Win-win.At any rate, if you have law students or med students or other grad students (preferably not theater or music majors - they're flaky party animals), see if there is an off-campus housing listing for their grad students, or go talk to them about how to advertise to their grad students.You have to be careful how you word advertising on Craigslist or anywhere, though.  

Before I agree to rent to anyone with an animal(companion, assistive or pet, I meet it to make sure it is not overly aggressive.

No evidence of animal or human waste on the walls or floor;11. 

Interesting issue, seems as though it may be similar to a service animal?

The cost in flooring damage alone from their animal dictates it.Although, it sounds like it's resolved now - good job!

We gave the guy a good portion of his security deposit back before he stormed off and we can do the rest of the walk-through.We found deep gouges in the walls due to moving, our lead-glass cabinet was broken, and the ground upstairs is soaked in animal excrement that will require redoing the hardwood floors.To be completely honest we would like to sue him over all of these repairs.

I haven't listened to this, but you might want to check it out:https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/09/1...Student housing is a different animal.  

Do I need to tweak my contract to address service animals?