Stray

A stray is a cat or dog that does not belong to any Sim. Strays are very much like townies, except that they are animals. However, strays who enter a residential lot will usually stay a while, instead of just walking by as townies do.

Strays were first introduced in The Sims: Unleashed, and reappeared in The Sims 2: Pets and The Sims 3: Pets. In all three games, Sims can befriend and adopt strays, though they must be on their home lots in order to adopt.

Dogs

 * Spike Strays
 * Buzz Strays
 * Fifi Strays
 * Cher Strays

Cats

 * Cali Strays
 * Spork Strays
 * Aristotle Strays
 * Fluffly Strays

Unlike Townies in other expansion packs of The Sims, the game does not randomly generate the Strays: they are the same in every neighborhood, and in all games. All the default strays in Unleashed have zero personality points and no skills. They can learn skills, but their lack of personality points can only be changed if the player uses a third-party program or hacked object.

The game will not replace strays who are adopted, however, a cat or dog owned by player-controlled Sims will join the Strays family if it is neglected.

The Sims 2: Pets
Like all dogs and cats in Pets, strays have no last name. The pre-made strays are the same in all neighborhoods and all games, but if a stray is adopted, the game will generate a random replacement with a random name. The Pack leader and other wolves have random names.

In general, strays will visit less frequently than in Unleashed, and fewer of them will visit at any one time. Usually, only one will visit at any given time.

When the Pets patch or a later expansion pack is installed, strays will no longer visit community lots unless a player-controlled Sim is on that lot with one of his or her pets. This can be fixed by using this mod.

Here is the list of strays who appear in every neighborhood.

The Sims 3: Pets
Strays reappeared in The Sims 3: Pets. As in the previous games, they can be adopted. You may find a stray anywhere throughout the game and as the previous game, must build a relationship with them before the adopt option appears. It is possible for some you have to invite the cat or dog inside. Different things may be used to atract them. Dogs set out a full food bowl with a dog house (pet beds worked for me also) and a toy crate. Cats have out a bowl and a pet house ( or pet bed ) and no toys. Gnomes also atract them both.