In a nutshell, these are the new stars of this expansion and for the rest of this part, we will look at the ways in which you can get a dog or cat to be part of your family. For simplicity's sake, we will refer to what could either be a cat or dog just to be a Pet.

If you have selected to use Game Help, tips like these will pop up at the side from time to time. They are also an encyclopedia found under options that has these tips in them, plus those for the original game and other installed expansions.

You can get a Pet in a number of ways. Before you go out and try to recreate 101 Dalmatians, there is a limit to the size of a family, though. A household including pets can have 10 in it. There was rumour it was going to be 12 but it was reduced during development. I am not sure, though, as to whether it can be increased through using cheats.

Adopting a Pet can be done over the telephone or computer. You choose from a selection of dogs (large and small) from what is in the "rescue centre", you can rename them and select which one you want. However, the better trained they are and the different behaviours that they have learnt does increase the "donation" to get that pet. This can run into thousands of simoleons. Before you know it, someone from Animal Control will turn up with your new Pet.

Befriending a Stray can make it so that it becomes part of your family. It may take time, but at least you will be getting a pet for nothing.

Breeding two Pets will give you a litter of puppies or kittens. These are automatically added to your family. There is more on breeding later.

Buying a Pet can be done by visiting a pet store, purchasing one and bringing it home. It is as simple as that. You can also buy accessories and treats for them at different pet-based stores.

Creating a Pet can be done in the same way that you create a family. As well as creating "human" members of the family, you can also create Pet members also. I will be looking into the creation in greater detail in the next section.