Taking care of a cow plant

No, they won't die in inactive households, because I had mine that way. They will if you visit a inactive lot, because the timer is by lot.

I don't tend to get cow plants unless I am doing a challenge which needs one because I'm kind of scared that they'll eat my sims but I still find them adorable

Am I the onlyone that finds Cow plant useless?
you have to makeit kill naother sim to get life?
that is not how it was back in the other sims games.
I feel really furstrated over i have to kill a simmer to be able to milk it! :'( :'( :'(

My cow plants are always dying

My experience with the cow plant hunger cycle is pretty messed up too -- it seems that they refuse food more often than not, but then the next time I look at them, they've already starved to death and there's just a 'skeleton.' I'm not sure if it's really working as intended.

As for worrying about them eating Sims, there's really not much need for that in TS4. The first time a Sim 'takes the cake,' they get spat out after being drained of emotion. So that's really not terribly dangerous. Only if they try to grab the cake a second time when they're already 'drained' will they actually be fully eaten and die. It's way safer than it ever was in earlier incarnations.

The Patriarch of my family was always very diligent in feeding and caring for the Cowplant. Sometimes, he even volunteered himself as food. Happily, he was usually spat back out again. I finally got fed up (no pun intended) having to keep a constant eye on things. Eventually, the evil thing died. When I went to set up a new save, I wanted to use the same built. When I realized it was one with the Cowplant, I quickly exchanged it for an earlier rendition of the lot. Phew! I have no desire to have another of those Beasties. LOL