The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs

The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs is the fourth expansion pack for The Sims 4. It was announced on August 21, 2017 at Gamescom and was released worldwide on November 10, 2017. The console version was released on July 31, 2018. It is a spiritual successor to The Sims: Unleashed, The Sims 2: Pets, and The Sims 3: Pets. The expansion reintroduces cats, dogs, and raccoons, as well as new features such as foxes and a vet clinic business which Sims can experience in the new world of Brindleton Bay.

Official description
Life is better with Cats & Dogs Create a variety of cats and dogs, add them to your Sims’ homes to forever change their lives and care for neighborhood pets as a veterinarian with The Sims™ 4 Cats & Dogs. The powerful new Create A Pet tool lets you personalize cats and dogs, each with their own unique appearances, distinct behaviors, and for the first time, expressive outfits! These wonderful, lifelong companions will change your Sims’ lives in new and special ways. Treat animal ailments as a veterinarian and run your own clinic in a beautiful coastal world where there’s so much for your Sims and their pets to discover.


 * KEY FEATURES

Create cats and dogs. Use the powerful Create A Pet tool to customize your Sims’ perfect cats, dogs, puppies and kittens. Choose from a variety of breeds, give them distinct personalities and directly manipulate their features. Easily personalize their coats with unique patterns to create your real-life pets, dream pets or something more fanciful. For the first time, complete their looks with expressive outfits and accessories.

Bond with your pets. Experience the companionship and fun that furry friends bring to your Sims’ lives. Cats and dogs have minds of their own and form special relationships with Sims based on their daily interactions. Your Sims care for, train and play games with their pets who all exhibit distinct and sometimes bizarre animal behaviors.

Become a vet and run a clinic. Build a veterinary clinic, hire a dedicated staff and further your career as the town’s most promising animal doctor. You’re in control of daily operations from the services offered to what you charge. Your Sims can diagnose and cure pets with critical surgeries or treat fleas and other afflictions with simple medications.

Explore Brindleton Bay. Discover the coastal shores of Brindleton Bay, a new world where your Sims and their pets can live and enjoy outdoor activities. Play fetch near the harbor docks, take a walk to the lighthouse or visit a park to set up an obstacle course and meet other pet-loving locals. Be on the lookout for stray pets that your Sims can take in as their own.

World and neighborhoods
The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs includes Brindleton Bay, a brand new world that is based on typical New England seafront towns. It is a big coastal town surrounded by beaches and various pets related activities. Brindleton Bay includes four neighborhoods&mdash;Sable Square, Whiskerman's Wharf, Cavalier Cove and Deadgrass Isle. It has a total of 16 lots.

Cats and dogs


In Cats & Dogs, Sims can own cats and dogs as pets, which are the main feature of the expansion pack. Unlike previous games, pets cannot be controlled by the player, similarly to The Sims 2: Pets, and there is no cheat that will allow the player to do so. Sims can interact with these pets in various form of ways such as feeding, playing and training, and are able to bond with them through these interactions.

Both pets have three life stages; kitten/puppy, adult and elder. They will live through these life stages like normal Sims, but much shorter. Pets can also die, but only from old age. Both cats and dogs can have three different pet traits, which are unique to them and are not available to Sims. These traits control the pets' actions and reactions towards the surrounding world. Some traits have unique attributes for one of the two species, but most traits are identical to one another.

Cats and dogs can be created with Create a Pet, and there are many pre-made breeds for them. Players will be able to customize their pets' appearance and even make their own breeds. Create a Pet borrows the same click and drag mechanic from Create a Sim, making players able to sculpt and mold their pets to have more details and features.

Vet clinics


The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs also introduces a brand new feature to the series, which is vet clinics. They are a lot type and a business that Sims can own. Cats and dogs can now have various types of illnesses, that can be easily cured by veterinarians. They are treated with different types of medicine and in serious situations with a surgery station, that can also neuter and un-neuter pets.

Sims can now learn the veterinarian skill, which is essential to running an own vet clinic. Vet clinics are handled similarly to restaurants from Dine Out, as customers have a rating system that determines the vet clinics overall star rating. Pets are treated on exam tables and require some amounts of researching to diagnose the disease, before treating them with the appropriate medicine. The pets also have a stress bar to showcase the player their current level of stress. Treating pets successfully can rise up the overall rating of the clinic.

New additions
New Objects
 * Cat condos
 * Food bowls
 * Food stalls
 * Litter boxes
 * Medicine vending machine
 * Mouse hole
 * Pet exam table
 * Pet obstacle courses
 * Pet surgery station
 * Pet toy box
 * Robot vacuum
 * Scratching posts
 * Vet crafting table

New Lot Assignment
 * Vet clinic

New Traits
 * Cat Lover
 * These Sims tend to make cats their companions, preferring the company of cats to other Sims.


 * Dog Lover
 * These Sims love to be near dogs. They will gain relationships faster with dogs and socialize with dogs more than the average Sim.

New Lot Traits
 * Breeding Grounds
 * Cat Friendly
 * Cat Hangout
 * Dog Friendly
 * Dog Hangout
 * Training Ground

New Radio Station
 * Singer-Songwriter

New Skills
 * Pet Training
 * Veterinarian

New Aspiration
 * Friend of the Animals (Animal) - This Sim wants to be friends with the animals.
 * Acquaintance of the Animals - Have a pet in your household · Be friends with 1 animal · Be friendly with animals 12 times
 * Friend of the Animals - Be friends with 5 animals · Be companions with 1 animal · Successfully train out 2 misbehaviors
 * Best Friend of the Animals - Be companions with 2 animals · Feel the love 5 times · Successfully train out 4 misbehaviors
 * BFF of the Animals - Play with 2 different ghost pets · Feel the love with 8 different pets · Be friends with 12 animals at the same time
 * Reward trait: Animal Whisperer - It is easier to Train and Discipline animals as well as gain relationship with them faster.

New Collectibles
 * Feathers
 * Plants
 * Catnip
 * Madnip
 * Napnip
 * Nuzzlenip

Other New Features
 * Stray pets
 * Gourmet pet food
 * Pet treats
 * Simstagram accounts for pets
 * Mystery boxes found by pets
 * New WooHoo location: Brindleton Bay's lighthouse

Price
Cats & Dogs was priced at $39.99 USD and £29.99 GBP at launch, the same as the original pricing of an expansion pack for The Sims 3. Expansion pack prices for The Sims 4 are intended to be similar to prices for The Sims 3 expansion packs in most locations.

Trivia

 * This is the first expansion pack that lets the player create foxes and raccoons in Create a Pet. They are considered breeds for dogs and cats, respectively, but with (optionally) different voices.
 * This is the first pack for The Sims 4 to include a premade same-sex couple living in its bundled world.
 * Unlike The Sims 3: Pets, pets are not controllable and unlike The Sims 2: Pets, there is no cheat to make them controllable.
 * However, there is a mod that can make them controllable and see their needs and family trees. Albeit in an incomplete state (most moodlets and trait lack icons or text while many interactions have duplicated names).
 * This mod only changes a few lines of code, showing that at one point pets were planned to be controllable by the player or were used for debugging purposes.

Gallery

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Alternative

 * Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Walking in My Sleep
 * Baio - The Key Is Under The Mat
 * Middle Kids - Mistake

Pop

 * Grace VanderWaal - Moonlight
 * Hey Violet - All We Ever Wanted
 * Josephina - Woosah
 * Cailin Russo - Famous
 * Saving Forever - Always In My Mind

Singer-Songwriter

 * Gordi - On My Side
 * Jade Bird - Something American
 * Van William - Cosmic Sign
 * Jenny O. - Cheer Up Free Your Mind
 * The Shoaks - Zoe Bwoozip