The Sims 2: Pets is the fourth expansion pack for The Sims 2, developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts in October 2006. It brings pets into your Sims' daily lives, adding cats, dogs, and smaller animals alongside new systems for training, breeding, and pet employment.
Pets was also the first Sims 2 expansion to reach nearly every platform of its era, with standalone console versions for PS2, GameCube, Nintendo DS, GBA, PSP, and later the Wii.
Create a Pet
The expansion introduces a Create a Pet tool modeled after Create a Sim. You can choose from 72 pre-made dog breeds and 30 cat breeds, then customize coat patterns and colors, body shape, facial structure, and personality. Pet personality traits cover playfulness, neatness, and intelligence, and they shape how the animal behaves in your household.
Sims can also keep womrats (small rodents similar to guinea pigs) and birds, though these don't get the same depth of customization.
How pets work
Pets are autonomous. You can't select them and queue up actions the way you would with a Sim. Instead, your Sims interact with pets to encourage or discourage behaviors, and the animals make their own choices based on personality and needs.
The needs system mirrors what Sims have, with a couple of substitutions. Cats replace the Environment motive with Scratching, while dogs get a Chewing need instead. Letting those needs drop leads to torn furniture and gnawed table legs.
Sims can teach pets tricks and commands through a training system. Learning specific commands ties into career advancement, so training has practical benefits beyond showing off at parties.
Pet careers
Dogs and cats can work. Three career tracks are available: Security, Service, and Show Business, each with four levels. A teen or older Sim needs to check the newspaper and select "Find pet job for..." to get a pet started.
Promotions require the pet to know a certain command and leave for work in a good mood. Each promotion rewards a new fur color or collar option. Cats earn more than dogs in every career track, for whatever that says about the job market.
Pets can refuse to go to work if their mood is too low. One missed day gets a warning call from the boss. Two in a row means they're fired.
Breeding
Pets can breed and produce litters of one to four puppies or kittens. A household can hold up to six pets total, so planning around litter sizes matters. Offspring inherit traits from both parents, giving pet genetics a light simulation layer.
Werewolves
Pets introduces werewolves as a new life state. A special NPC called the Pack Leader, a wolf with dark fur and glowing yellow eyes, can show up on residential lots after dark. Building a strong relationship with the Pack Leader results in a "nibble" that transforms your Sim.
Werewolf Sims train pets faster than normal Sims. You can increase the odds of a wolf visit by planting more trees and bushes on your lot. The Pack Leader won't show up in college sub-neighborhoods without cheats.
Build mode additions
The expansion also adds diagonal wall placement and octagonal room shapes to Build Mode, giving more flexibility when designing homes and lots.
Release dates and platforms
The PC version launched on October 17, 2006 in North America, followed by Europe on October 20 and Australia on October 26. Aspyr Media published the Mac OS X port on November 1, 2006. Both PC and Mac versions require The Sims 2 base game.
Console versions released as standalone games with their own gameplay structure, including a town square economy using "Pet Points" instead of Simoleons. The PS2 and GameCube versions arrived alongside the PC launch, while the Nintendo DS, GBA, and PSP versions followed through late 2006. A Wii version came later in June 2007.
The Sims 2: Pets received a Metascore of 76 on PC. Console and handheld versions scored lower, with the Nintendo DS version in particular drawing comparisons to dedicated pet sims like Nintendogs.
For more on The Sims 2's expansion history, see our Nostalgia Sunday look at University.
