Recently, I’ve started playing a Sim that I intend to turn into a local pet breeder. But I was unable to track down a clear and concise primer on the subject. That’s why I set out to design my own. I’ll be discussing the basics of Sims 4 pet breeding here.
Depending on living arrangements, canines and felines are capable of producing litters of anything from one to three young. A maximum of eight Sims and Pets can reside in a single home in The Sims 4. When living space is at a premium, animal reproduction is put on hold.
You can only have seven pets total in your home, as each creature requires a caretaker Sim.
How Many Pets Can I Have in The Sims 4?
Seven pets are the maximum number allowed in a home with a single Sim acting as the caretaker.
The potential number of babies your dogs can have also depends on chance. There is a possibility that your pet will have one, two, or even three babies if you can accommodate no more than five people in your home at once. Observing your progress is always an exciting adventure.
Adopting strays or two pets from the same species (and opposite sex) from the adoption centre increases the likelihood of a successful breeding. Select “Adopt a Cat” or “Adopt a Dog” from the “Hire a Service” menu on your Sim’s mobile device to adopt a pet.
In The Sims 4, players can also adopt pets digitally. To adopt a cat or a dog, head to the Household > Adopt menu. Adopting an animal? Make sure it hasn’t been spayed or neutered so you can have babies!
Dogs Up for Adoption in Sims 4
Pet owners should search the adoption database for unaltered animals.
It’s possible that all the animals up for adoption have already been sterilised. Alternatively, they might not be of legal age (or both). A few choices are at your disposal:
If you adopt a pet that has already been spayed or neutered, you can take it back to the vet to have the procedure undone. When bringing a pet to the vet after it has been spayed or neutered, use the kiosk to check in by selecting “Sign in for Unspay/Unneuter” from the available options.
Choose a puppy that has not been altered by humans and give it time to mature before you decide to have it spayed or neutered (or cheat to age them up).
Before committing to a pet, make sure it has been spayed or neutered and then revisit the adoption centre to see if a better candidate has emerged. (If you want to create a stray out of the pet you adopted first, all you have to do is kick it out.)
Adopt a stray animal that is the opposite sex and of the same species as your current pet. Stray cats and dogs are not altered in any manner, so they can be bred right away (if all other conditions are met).
If you’re adopting animals for reproduction, it’s important to get at least adult females. Dogs and cats can only have litters of kittens or puppies if both the male and female are at least one year old, and only mature males can impregnate adult females.
Creating a new household in The Sims 4 with at least one Sim and two pets of the same species and opposite gender is the quickest and most convenient way to breed pets. This manner, the Sim and any possible pets begin the game as buddies, allowing for instant breeding.
I can tell you from experience that trying to breed cats or dogs within an existing family is not possible with this method. However, if you want to start a new game with the sole intention of breeding pets, it’s much more efficient to build your own tiny startup family than to make friends with the pets in-game.
To begin, one of the desired breeds of animal must already be a buddy of your Sim’s. If you intend to breed pets, you might want to pick a Sim with the Animal Lover trait because they make friends with animals more quickly than other Sims.
Further, if the two animals aren’t getting along, they won’t mate. Because of this, breeding your pet with a stray animal is problematic (although it can be done).
Advice: Since we can’t observe our animals’ social connections, you’ll have to take your best guess at whether or not they are compatible enough with another species to mate. If they say no, give the two of them some time to get to know each other better before trying again.
When your Sim has made friends with the animal, you can click on them and select “Encourage to Mate With…” Click the drop-down menu and select one additional breedable animal.
You can pick a pet from your own home, or you can adopt a stray or a neighbor’s animal. However, the same rules still apply; your pet must get along well with the other animal (and the other animal must be on YOUR home lot).
After coaxing them to mate, the animals will stand across from each other and hearts will circle around them. Successful encouragement will result in a happy moodlet termed “Pet Connection” for your Sim if they have the Animal Lover attribute.
Animal Advocate Moodlet for Sims 4’s Pet Connection Sims that help their pets find love gain a moodlet.
A female pet cannot get pregnant unless she is in heat (see below for more information).
Female Sims 4 pets “go into heat,” but they aren’t restricted to mating during this period. Tests revealed some ambiguity, which I found frustrating. If they can mate whenever they like, there’s no purpose in going into heat.
After doing some tests, I concluded that a female dog or cat’s odds of getting pregnant were significantly boosted (nearly definite) when she was in heat. Female animals I’ve owned never conceived when they weren’t “in heat” (after numerous tries).
Moreover, unintended pregnancies can occur. You risk losing your female pet when she goes into heat if she isn’t spayed. If this occurs, she can get pregnant and have to go back home. If you don’t want any unplanned offspring, have her spayed.
Your female will growl or sing red heart songs as she enters heat. (I can’t help but draw parallels to the “fart hearts” action between Sims in The Sims 2.) Additionally, a sparkling noise is heard. You can’t ignore it!
Cat going into heat in the Sims 4
When female pets enter heat, they howl and develop red hearts.
A red flaming heart will emerge in her thinking bubbles, just like the one used for the woohoo emotion in The Sims 4 (which also appears in Sims’ thought bubbles when they flirt). Whenever she’s about to start yowling, this thought bubble will appear.
If you want to have a baby pet, now is the moment to employ the “Encourage to Mate With…” interaction.
If you successfully breed two cats or dogs, you’ll get a pregnancy alert. About an hour after my cat mated, I found out she was pregnant.
The Cat in Your Sims 4 Game Is Expecting Kittens!
If you receive this message, it means the breeding was successful.
Your female pet will also show signs of pregnancy, though if she’s particularly chubby it could be hard to tell. (I did, in fact, use the chonky word.)
A code mistake stops pregnant pets from suffering the same need penalty as pregnant Sims. This modification is intended to address the issue. Aged though it may be, it still appears to function.
Pregnancy in The Sims 4 pets takes only about a day, compared to nine months in real life. Get ready for the arrival of your new litter of puppies or kittens.
You’ll get a pop-up alerting you that your pet has gone into labour after roughly 24 hours. In other words, you can give birth at home without having to take your pet to the vet. In the end, they’ll be able to give birth while lying on the ground.
Having your pet go through childbirth is going to be a stressful time for everyone involved. Their pain will be animated just like it would be in a Sim who’s gone into childbirth. Animals going through labour often appear anxious and pant as they move about the room.
Similarly to when a Sim has a baby, you get to choose what to call your pet’s offspring after it’s given birth. You will receive the “Triple Play” accomplishment if you have triplets (as I did) since it is treated as if your Sims had triplets.
You risk losing your female pet when she goes into heat if she isn’t spayed. If this occurs, she can get pregnant and have to go back home.
Without adding in mods, this is the only method to have a “accidental” pet pregnancy. Spaying your pet or finding her a new home with a companion will prevent this from happening.
You can breed with a stray if you really try, but it’s far easier to breed your pet with another animal in your home. You should spend a lot of time with your pet and the stray until they get comfortable enough to mate.
Finding the stray and guiding your pet’s interactions with it until the trust level is strong enough can be a time-consuming task. If you want to simplify matters, adopt the stray you plan to breed with.
Once the breeding is complete, you can always release the animal into the wild (you heartless bastard).
Select “Be Nice To…” or “Be Friendly To…” from your pet’s menu if you’re set on having it have babies with a stray. When the drop-down menu opens, select the stray. Your dog or cat may likely approach the stray in an effort to make friends.
Depending on the characteristics and personalities of the animals, this could either work or fail.
After establishing trust, you can breed with the stray so long as it is currently on YOUR property. If you want to attract strays to your lot, you can try advertising that it is a cat hangout or dog hangout.
Remember that the female must be a part of your family for you to keep the offspring. Owning a female animal and pairing her with a male stray is the best option if you want to go this path.
You may find the most frequently asked problems and their solutions about breeding cats and dogs in The Sims 4 below.
Can we expect cats and dogs to reproduce without human intervention? No. Only by utilising the “Encourage to Mate With…” interaction can you force a cat or dog to reproduce. They will never attempt to mate on their own if they are left alone. If your pet gets loose when she’s in heat, she runs the risk of becoming pregnant by unintentionally.
Can a cat and a dog have a child? No. In The Sims 4, players cannot breed animals from different species together. The same is true of cats and dogs; they can only have offspring with other cats or dogs.
Why aren’t my pets having babies? In all likelihood, their relationship is not high enough, even if you are doing everything else correctly. Keep them interacting to boost their bond and then try again.
Why can’t I help my pet have babies? There is a slim probability of conception if you breed them out of season (I have never had it happen). For better odds, hold out until your female pet enters heat. Having no more than seven people living under the same roof is also a need.
In The Sims 4, are pets under player control? No. If so, though, raising new ones would be a breeze. The pets themselves aren’t playable, but a mod exists that gives you that ability. At that point, you can steer their interactions to hasten the development of their bond. The mod has not been updated in a very long time.
