Cat

Cats are pets that can be bought or sold in most Sims games. They are one of the most common pets you can own. In some games, such as the GBA Sims games, they are not something you need or have to take care of much, aside from petting them and and cleaning up their messes. They are mostly for show.

In other games, like The Sims: Unleashed and Sims 2 Pets, they are one of the main parts of the game, in that they must be fed, given attention, played with, cleaned and watched over.

Cats also have to be trained so they can live with human Sims. You do this by scolding them if you don't want them to do something that is bad, e.g destroying furniture, or you can praise them for it. If your sims are sloppy they could train the cat to be sloppy and if they are neat they can train them to be neat, Its all up to you!

The Eight Need Meters
Like human Sims, pets have eight need meters that contribute to their overall mood. It's easiest to go over the meters and how to fill them, which honestly will by itself take you extremely far.

Hunger
Pets need to eat just as much as humans do. Luckily, they're not nearly as demanding about when or what to consume. To feed pets, you have two options. The best way is to buy a pet bowl. They come in three designs (with multiple styles in each design), and can be bought in the Pet subsort of the Miscellaneous sort of Buy Mode.

Alternately, pets can eat human food as well. If a plate is nearby, a pet may help himself to it. Pets won't get sick off human food or anything, but it's far more expensive in the long term to feed your pets this way.

Once you have a pet bowl, simply command a human Sim to fill it. Ten simoleons will be deducted from your account automatically, and the bowl will be filled right then. A single pet can eat for several days on one fill. Only one pet can eat from the bowl at a time, so you may need multiple bowls for multiple pets.

Also, don't forget to clean the bowl now and then before refilling it. Maids will do this automatically in addition to their other duties, so if you've got the help, you won't have to worry about it.

If a pet is hungry and his bowl is empty, he may beg your Sim for food. If he does, your Sim may automatically fill it. You can cancel this command, of course, but it's probably better to just let your Sim fill it.

Comfort
Pets rarely have low comfort meters, as they'll often look for places to sit or lie. Like Sims, pets will probably get the biggest boost to Comfort when they sleep. As long as you have comfortable pet beds, and especially if you don't mind them being on furniture, you'll be fine here.

Bladder
When a pet needs to go, it needs to go. Cats will automatically seek out litter boxes if you have them, and it takes several trips to a litter box before you need to clean it. To know when to clean it, Sims in the bathroom will start reacting to the smell. Until then, cats have no problem using it. Cats will only pee elsewhere if the box is too full, or if you specifically train them not to. Actually, cats can even be trained to use the toilet, eliminating the need for litter boxes entirely!

Energy
They'll sleep pretty much anywhere, but they prefer pet beds and pet houses, it's best to encpurage sleeping in pet beds and pet houses because their energy level goes up much quicker especially with expensive pet resting objects. Note that large dogs can't fit into the dog houses with doors; they'll need open pet beds. Cats and small dogs however can fit anywhere. All pets can use floors, couches, or Sim beds if you let them.

Fun
Cats and dogs have many ways they enjoy themselves, but they get the best Fun boost from other beings. That can mean they play fetch with a human, or they play around with other dogs and cats. Most of the toys in Buy Mode are for cats; dogs get a bigger kick out of interaction and digging holes.

A lot of times, a pet's Fun meter will go up while training a command. Of course, training drops the Energy meter a little quicker, so you'll have to find a balance there. If you have lots of cat toys within reach of your cat in your lot then they will probably play with them when their fun goes down and it's best if you praise them when they play with cat toys because when it has completely learnt to play you can command it to play with whatever and whoever you want.

Social
Pets are social creatures, even more so than humans. Unless a pet is both independent and lazy, he'll almost assuredly take care of Social on his own. Pets of course will want to interact with their masters, but if multiple pets are on the lot, they'll almost always be interacting with each other. Either way, your pets will interact with strays a lot, keeping that Social meter nice and high.

Hygiene
The Hygiene meter is extremely dependent on the species. Cats are naturally clean, always licking themselves and making sure their meters are nice and high. Even pigpen cats are pretty hygienic.

Scratch
For cats only, the eighth meter is called Scratch. Cats need to sharpen their claws now and then, and will seek out whatever is nearby to do so. You need to buy a scratching post in Buy Mode, or else you risk your cats destroying your furniture. If a cat does annihilate your bed, couch, or whatever, you will not be able to repair it. All you can do is clean up the mess and buy a new one.

If a scratching post is indeed somewhere on the lot and easy to get to, cats will usually scratch it rather than sims furniture. They can be trained to scratch it, of course, but they typically will do it on their own anyway. It is best if you praise the cat for scratching things that you want it to scratch otherwise it might fall back to destroying furniture. If you see your cat destroying your valuable furniture, you should scold it, though it's best if you have a good relationship with the cat before scolding it.