Pet

Pet

A Sim playing fetch with a dog in The Sims 2 Pets for console.

With The Sims: Unleashed or The Sims 2: Pets, Sims can own a variety of pets. Although all games have small pets that Sims can take care of by feeding and cleaning their cage, these expansion packs allow the greater interaction and customization of their furry loved ones.

Unlike small pets, these pets can befriend Sims, learn skills, and be bred.

The Sims: Unleashed

In The Sims: Unleashed, Sims get the long-awaited ability to add pets to their families. They can own cats and dogs, both of which are available only in the same small size. Players can add custom skins for pets, and custom meshes allow players to add new breeds. However, since Unleashed did not modify Create a Sim, players cannot create pets when creating a family.

Adopting a pet can help Sims at home, especially if they live alone. Dogs can bring the newspaper in every morning if trained, while cats can chase rabbits and gophers away from a vegetable patch. Pets don't necessarily need to be bought, though; if there are stray cats or dogs wandering around the neighborhood, and if a Sim makes friends with one, it can be adopted for free, although this can take time.

Like human Sims, pets have different motives that will need fulfilling, and each have different personalities. For example, a lazy cat isn't about to do a great deal of wandering around, and an aggressive dog might not like Sims pampering it all day.

Sims can buy cat collars from The Collar Purple and dog collars from the Canine Collar Contraption. To put a collar on a pet, the player will need to select a Sim that has a collar for that type of pet in his or her inventory, then click on the pet. An option to put the collar on the pet will appear.

Cats and dogs each have three skills they can learn. Both cats and dogs can learn tricks and obedience. Cats can learn hunting, while dogs can learn the housebroken skill.

Cats and dogs have two life stages, kitten/puppy and adult. Adult cats and dogs, like human Sims in The Sims, are ageless and have indefinite life spans.

Cats and dogs can be told to move by using the Go Here interaction, but cannot be told to use objects. A pet's actions cannot be canceled, but pets with at least three points in the Obedience skill can be told to stop what they're doing.

Note

Players with The Sims: House Party or a compilation which includes it should note that dogs and cats cannot use the Anti-Heisenberg Teleporter or objects based on it.

House Breaking

File:Behaviour housebroken.gif

It takes time, but a pet needs to learn what it can and can't do. In the case of a dog, the first step is to teach it not to relieve itself in the house. Wait until the dog has to go (toilet thought bubble), step outside the house, and call it. The dog should come to the Sim and relieve itself outdoors. When this happens, praise the dog and give it a treat, so it knows it did well. If the dog relieves itself inside the house, scold it.

The proper use of "Praise" and "Scold" over time will teach a pet where to relieve its bladder, as well as keeping it out of certain rooms. Fortunately, cats will automatically use the litter box as long as there is one.

Fun note: dogs will often help "water" the plants in a vegetable garden. It can't be controlled by the player, but they'll tag along after a Sim while they're weeding and spontaneously make with the watering.

Breeding

To have more little bundles of fur running around the house, consider breeding pets. Just like Sim babies, puppies and kittens are items. A neglected puppy or kitten will be taken away by Animal Control. It will take three Sim days for the kitten or puppy to mature, and once it does the player will be given the option to keep it or sell it.

Pet Shows

To participate in a pet show, take a pet to an Old Town lot and enter the competition. If there's a Judging Station in a lot, a Pet Judge will come up to the player's Sim and ask if they want to enter the competition. Pets are judged according to their skills and their mood at the time, so make sure the pet's needs are taken care of before leaving the house. There are various trophies and ribbons that can be won, which can be taken home and placed on the Pet Award Cabinet.

The Sims 2: Pets

In The Sims 2: Pets, Sims can have small pets (womrats, birds, and fish), as well as dogs and cats. Pets added a Create a Pet feature to Create a Sim, so the player can create pets, and can set their personality, as well as their fur color and style. They have their own motives, learned behaviors, and Sims can teach them certain commands. A pet will have its own icon, and can be selected. The player can see the selected pet's action queue, but the icons will be gray and the player cannot cancel any of the actions or control the pet unless cheats are used.

Pets have three life stages: kitten or puppy, adult, and elder. Kittens and puppies are mobile, but must be carried up and down stairs. They cannot have jobs or learn commands, but they can learn behaviors. They cannot get on furniture or Sim beds, but can be praised for not doing those things, and can therefore be taught not to do them.

Like Sims, pets have eight motives that contribute to their overall mood. The Environment motive is replaced with Scratch (cats) and Chew (dogs). Puppies and kittens do not have the Chew or Scratch motives.

Sims can buy pet collars from the Collar Connection Display, but the player must choose whether the collar will be for a large dog, a small dog, or a cat. To put a collar on a pet, the player will need to select a Sim that has a collar for that type of pet in his or her inventory, click on a mirror, and choose the option to change the pet's appearance. Both the Sim and the pet will go to the mirror, and the player will be able to select any appropriate collar that the Sim has in inventory. The action will fail if the pet cannot get to the mirror, so the player may need to buy a full-length mirror and place it in an open area, so both the Sim and the pet will be able to get to the mirror. Of course, the mirror can be sold for its full price once the collar is on the pet.

Pets can be adopted by befriending a stray or by using the phone. There are pet stores in the Lots and Houses bin that can be placed in any neighborhood. These stores allow Sims to adopt adult cats and dogs, but not kittens and puppies.

Breeding

A puppy and its mother.

If there is both a male and female pet of the same species on a Sim's lot and there is a pet house available, a Sim has the option to command a pet to try for puppies/kittens with another pet. If successful, the two pets will go into a pet house and woohoo. Pets can produce a litter of up to 4 puppies or kittens. Players also have the options of keeping a pet's offspring, or selling them.

Cat and dog breeds

A complete list of pre-made breeds in The Sims 2: Pets:

• 

  All cat breeds.

• 

  Large dog breeds.

• 

  All small dog breeds.

Cats

Abyssinian Balinese Birman Bombay British Shorthair Burmese Calico Chartreux Egyptian Shorthair Exotic Shorthair

Havana Brown Himalayan Japanese Bobtail Manx Maine Coon Norwegian Forest Ocicat Oriental Oriental Shorthair Persian

Ragdoll Russian Blue Scottish Fold Siamese Shorthair Tabby Siberian Singapura Tonkinese Turkish Agora Tuxedo Cat

Big Dogs

Akita Airedale Terrier American Foxhound Amstaff Australian Cattle Dog Australian Shepherd Black & Tan Black Lab Border Collie Borzoi Boxer Brittany Bullmastiff Bull Terrier Canaan Dog Chessie Chocolate Lab

Chow-Lab Mix Chow Chow Collie Curly Coated Retriever Dalmatian Doberman Pinscher English Foxhound German Shepherd German Shorthaired Giant Schauzer Golden Retriever Goldendoodle Great Dane Greyhound Husky Irish Wolfhound Keeshond Kerry Blue Terrier

Labradoodle Mastiff Newfoundland Norsk Elk Shepherd Pitbull Terrier Pointer Poodle Redbone Coonhound Rottweiler Saint Bernard Saluki Samayed Weimaraner Whippet Yellow Lab

Small Dogs

Basenji Beagle Black Russian Terrier Bocker Boston Terrier Chihuahua (long) Chihuahua (smooth) English Bulldog

French Bulldog Italian Greyhound Jack Russell Terrier Miniature Bull Terrier Miniature Poodle Miniature Schnauzer Pug

Puggle Schipperke Schnoodle Shiba Inu Smooth Fox Terrier Spaniel Staffordshine

Differences between Unleashed and Pets

There are a few differences between pets in Unleashed and in Pets that players used to Unleashed should be aware of.

• In Unleashed, cats and dogs can sleep even if there's a source of noise, such as a turned-on television or stereo, in the same room. This is not the case in Pets. In Pets, noises that awaken human Sims will also awaken pets. So in Unleashed, the player could let Sims watch television or play piano while a cat or dog was sleeping nearby, but in Pets, that will keep the pet from getting sleep.

• In Pets, having a cat will not cause mice to appear, as it does in Unleashed.

• In Unleashed, there is an object, the Squeak-EE-Clean Pet Tub, which is made for bathing dogs. In Pets, dogs are bathed in ordinary bathtubs (though dog-only wash tubs are available as custom content).

• In Pets, puppies and kittens can be viewed and can learn behaviors.

• In Pets, cats and dogs are able to have jobs. In Unleashed, cats and dogs can't get jobs.

• In Unleashed, if a pet is too hungry, it will die. In Pets, if a pet is too hungry, they will be taken away.

Death

A dog dies in The Sims 2

Like Sims, pets can die. However, there are not many ways for a pet to die.

Pets in The Sims: Unleashed can die of fire and starvation. Pets in The Sims 2: Pets can die of old age.

The Sims 3

Pets are not available in The Sims 3. However, Sims can keep some kinds of small pets in aquariums or terrariums.

In "Create A Pattern", there is an animal category for stickers. There is also an Easter egg inside Bridgeport's theater, a poster featuring a Dalmatian and a cat.

Rumors of an expansion pack named The Sims 3: Unleashed also hint at the ability to create or have pets such as cats, dogs, and horses. EA has not confirmed the existence of this expansion pack.

The Sims 2 Pets (console)

In the Sims 2 Pets console versions (Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, GameCube, PS2, and PSP), pets cannot die, get jobs, or enter contests, and Sims cannot turn into werewolves, see skunks, attract wolves, or any of that. They also cannot own womrats or birds, though Piggle Puffs (hamsters), dogs, cats, and fish are options. However, you can only customize the dogs and cats.

Pets can breed in this version, though only dogs can breed with dogs, and only cats can breed with cats. It has been known that the young of some pets can turn out to be almost nothing like their parents. For example, if you had a black, golden, and brown dog as the mother, and a grey, black, and reddish dog as the father, it has been known that such large differences in coat color can could cause that puppy to come out a mixture of pink, purple, green, and blue!

Also, if you had a pet in your house and more than one Sim, then you kick another Sim out of the house for good, you might just end up losing more than one family member. If your pet had a higher relationship score with the Sim you kicked out, your relationship with that pet will go down dramatically, and the pet will follow the Sim you kicked out into the beyond. However, if you had a higher relationship score with the pet than the Sim you kicked out did, the pet will stay with you and continue on it's life as if nothing happened. In addition, if the pet in question didn't actually like the Sim you kicked out very much itself, your relationship with that pet may rise just for ridding the pet of just another enemy.

In The Sims 2 Pets (console), your pets can also be trained to do various entertaining tricks, or behavior reinforcements. It may take some time to teach your pet a trick, but they will eventually learn. Your pets will learn faster if your Sim has a higher skill level. If you are impatient, you can use the various Cheat Gnome combinations to raise your skills to higher levels. In addition, you can train your pets (whether dog or cat) to guard the house. Just teach your pet this trick, and they will guard the house, always staying alert, so you won't have to worry about robbers if you can't afford a burglar alarm for some reason. On that note, if your pet lives with other pets that they share a high relationship with, when (if) that other pet were to pass out or faint, your pet will go and fetch the paramedics to revive that pet.

Also, your pets can have a variety of different living styles, like different pet houses, foods, collars (even full body outfits), toys, and more. If you go to the Town Square, you can even buy coffee, ice cream, and smoothies for pets! Also at the Town Square, you can buy treats and more for your pets, get them professionally washed, put them in a boarding kennel for a while so that your Sims can catch up with their lives, and much more!!!

This is a great version of The Sims 2 Pets.