Small Pets can die of starvation, but Cats and Dogs can only die of old age?

it certainly does make you think. I wonder what exactly influenced their decision to differentiate between cats/dogs and small pets this way. I think maybe them being hungry like that encourages bites but that's a bit of stretch on my part. related to small critters being caged "objects?" hm.

"bixters;d-936834" wrote:
I find it quite hypocritical that in the EP Cats and Dogs, the developers made a huge fuss about how your animals can only die of old age, so we won't treat them "cruelly."

Actually, they didn't really make a fuss about it all....players made a fuss about it. Also, they never said it was "so we won't treat them 'cruelly'". They said, when testing, they found cat and dog deaths for other reasons in-game to be too morbid and disturbing...basically, they felt that the majority of players would be disturbed by that happening.

But, yeah, I don't think this is an issue at all.....you don't even see the hamster or rat even die from starvation...they just disappear out of the cage and you get a pop up. Compare that to a puppy burning up in a fire in-game? It's not even close to being an equal comparison and I totally get why they felt the limited hamster/rat starvation disappearance was okay but not opening up cats and dogs to all of the in-game types of death.

"bixters;d-936834" wrote:
I find it quite hypocritical that in the EP Cats and Dogs, the developers made a huge fuss about how your animals can only die of old age, so we won't treat them "cruelly." In this pack, it appears that if you stop feeding your pets or stop taking care of them, they will die. In the guide for the Sims 4 My First Pets Stuff it states:

"Caring for rodents is fairly simple, but if you don’t want to end up with dead rodents, it is best to make sure you use the proper interactions to keep them in good overall health."
&
"Old age is one of the ways rodents can die in the game."

So, according to EA, cats and dogs lives are more important than hamsters, chinchillas or rats? This makes me feel like they put no thought into this pack. What do you think?

I see your point.

I don’t really want to see cats and dogs die of illness. Not really keen on rodents starving either. But considering that sims will not react to a pet rodent dying because it’s too negative, I think it is kind of sending the message that the life of a cat or dog is more valuable than that of a rodents.

"MidnightAura;c-16377974" wrote:

"bixters;d-936834" wrote:
I find it quite hypocritical that in the EP Cats and Dogs, the developers made a huge fuss about how your animals can only die of old age, so we won't treat them "cruelly." In this pack, it appears that if you stop feeding your pets or stop taking care of them, they will die. In the guide for the Sims 4 My First Pets Stuff it states:

"Caring for rodents is fairly simple, but if you don’t want to end up with dead rodents, it is best to make sure you use the proper interactions to keep them in good overall health."
&
"Old age is one of the ways rodents can die in the game."

So, according to EA, cats and dogs lives are more important than hamsters, chinchillas or rats? This makes me feel like they put no thought into this pack. What do you think?

I see your point.

I don’t really want to see cats and dogs die of illness. Not really keen on rodents starving either. But considering that sims will not react to a pet rodent dying because it’s too negative, I think it is kind of sending the message that the life of a cat or dog is more valuable than that of a rodents.

That's what really gets me... No moodlet? Even if it gets buried behind all the happy moodlets, it should still be there.... The closer to release, the more disappointing this pack seems/is.
(Or maybe they figured "why bother!? Itll get buried behind happiness moodlets anyway!")

"MidnightAura;c-16377974" wrote:


I don’t really want to see cats and dogs die of illness. Not really keen on rodents starving either. But considering that sims will not react to a pet rodent dying because it’s too negative, I think it is kind of sending the message that the life of a cat or dog is more valuable than that of a rodents.

That is disappointing to hear, the pet can die, but the sims don't even care? At least in Cats & Dogs they were sad if the pet got taken away or died. These small pets seem little more like babies with a few extra animations.

"bixters;c-16378001" wrote:

"MidnightAura;c-16377974" wrote:


I don’t really want to see cats and dogs die of illness. Not really keen on rodents starving either. But considering that sims will not react to a pet rodent dying because it’s too negative, I think it is kind of sending the message that the life of a cat or dog is more valuable than that of a rodents.

That is disappointing to hear, the pet can die, but the sims don't even care? At least in Cats & Dogs they were sad if the pet got taken away or died. These small pets seem little more like babies with a few extra animations.

Half my household doesn't even care when Grandma dies, to be fair...

To be fair, given how glitchy/spotty AI can be and we can't control cats/dogs and they're a lot harder to predict...I think it's probably a good thing they can't starve cause otherwise they could easily starve themselves to death, even if food is present.

The lack of reaction of small pet death is disappointing, though.

"BlueR0se;c-16379558" wrote:
To be fair, given how glitchy/spotty AI can be and we can't control cats/dogs and they're a lot harder to predict...I think it's probably a good thing they can't starve cause otherwise they could easily starve themselves to death, even if food is present.

The lack of reaction of small pet death is disappointing, though.

I was thinking this too. I don't have cats and dogs yet, but seeing how my sims wont even feed themselves or their toddlers/babies when food is present, its probably for the best that non-controllable pets can't starve to death.

"littlemissgogo;c-16377942" wrote:
it certainly does make you think. I wonder what exactly influenced their decision to differentiate between cats/dogs and small pets this way. I think maybe them being hungry like that encourages bites but that's a bit of stretch on my part. related to small critters being caged "objects?" hm.

maybe its because different people are working on the sp and they don't feel the same about it as the people on the eps

"Francl27;c-16379503" wrote:

"bixters;c-16378001" wrote:

"MidnightAura;c-16377974" wrote:


I don’t really want to see cats and dogs die of illness. Not really keen on rodents starving either. But considering that sims will not react to a pet rodent dying because it’s too negative, I think it is kind of sending the message that the life of a cat or dog is more valuable than that of a rodents.

That is disappointing to hear, the pet can die, but the sims don't even care? At least in Cats & Dogs they were sad if the pet got taken away or died. These small pets seem little more like babies with a few extra animations.

Half my household doesn't even care when Grandma dies, to be fair...

Hahaha! I don't know why in this context I found that so funny. But back to the topic; I have seven guinea pigs at home in real life and they're like my seven furry, funny shaped, little children and I'd be devastated if they died (or will be, rather.)