Pet item question!

[Tigiana]

When you buy stuff for your pet, will the pet find more treasure or are the items for decoration only?

[mrs_smartt]

I believe they are just for decoration but I'm not 100% sure. I know the more you interact with your pet, the more treasure it finds. I pet my dog K-9 a lot and right after playing with him, he runs off to dig up some simoleons.

[nogard0]

the amount of treasure they find is based on the number of stars ... or so we are told. some have found 3 star pets dont do as well as 2 star pets. and the popups says dogs can find treasure but cats are great at finding treasure.

[ErinPW]

In addition to the posts above:
Toys are not decorations only, pets do play with them. You can call the pets with taping on a toy.
The dog likes to put his toys e.g. in front of the pool-ladder or stairs. You can replace that toy, but the bone is difficult to grab.
After playing frisbee with a dog, s/he will run for a treasure.

[animagif]

Your pets can interact with the items you buy for them. Cats will eat from a filled bowl (which an adult has to fill) And dogs can play with their chew toy unassisted. However they will not earn any § or xp doing it.

[Hufflepuff Karen]

They play with their toys all the time. I find the frisbees, squeaky lobster and bones all over the place. I left the cover off of my iPad Thursday and fell asleep with it on the bed, woke up to the sound of the squeaky toy being played with - it was very weird. The Sims may not do anything without your direction, but apparently the pets play all by themselves, whether you are there or not. I fill up their food bowls whenever I see they are empty and always have the Sim check before leaving for work that there is water and food. Haven't seen my new kitty play with the scratching post yet that came with the house. Going to move it today, it might be blocked where it is right now.

[ErinPW]

Karen, when you tap the scratching post, you can call your cat. If she does not come, although she's not occupied, then the toy isn't placed correct.
The feeding bowls can be filled in your inventory, if no adult sim is available to feed the pets.
I do this only, when my sims are occupied, because feeding gives resources ... sometimes a seldom piece of lava (the 3rd of fire monument)

[bmb_SFP]

I also find when you fill the bowls it prompts the pets to go on a dig. When I had my dog that came with the starter lot I did find he went hunting less often when I first bought him toys as he spend all his time playing! That changed when I added a cat to the house and a bit of competition set in. I had 1 dog keep leaving his toys in front of his kennel that he couldn't then get into! He's grown out of that now

[katgames]

I think the rate they find treasure, and the quality of that treasure is directly related to attention. However the star deal is bogus. My black cat Shadow will dig up 125 Simemoleans and LP frequently. The three star ones are good and quite sweet but Shadow is the true hunter. My Siamese is just special. She tries bless her heart and she gets rewarded but she never finds much. My Husky is also very good.

Does anyone have a robot dog? Just curious

[Tigiana]

Thanks for the replies! So, if I got it correctly, the amount of pet items in a house does not directly influence the amount of treasure your pet finds, only interaction (= shaking hands, praising, playing frisbee) does?

But what about the food bowls?

I also find when you fill the bowls it prompts the pets to go on a dig.

I've noticed something similar but I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence. After praising or playing frisbee, I've noticed the dog running off for treasure almost immediately, but with the food bowl it's not that certain. Then again, I feel bad having empty bowls in a house, so I'll keep filling 'em up anyway.

Toys are not decorations only, pets do play with them. You can call the pets with taping on a toy.
The dog likes to put his toys e.g. in front of the pool-ladder or stairs. You can replace that toy, but the bone is difficult to grab.
After playing frisbee with a dog, s/he will run for a treasure.

Yeah, I was aware you can interact with the toys but wasn't sure if they had an impact on the amount of treasure the pets find. So it seems that only those toys, which make a sim interact with a dog (like the frisbee), have a direct impact. And those toys are the ones with a star rating in the pet category (because the sim also gets xp, so there's a rating)?

Thanks for the bone warning! I don't think I'll buy that one unless a goal comes up... I don't think I'll even notice the bone if it's on the ground! I had enough trouble finding the blue frisbee so I bought the brighter colored one!