this might be silly but....

It would be quite annoying if they were everywhere. I would feel bad for them and want to adopt everyone. :D

Because it would take too much work to have them function as they do in the earlier versions. For that matter, the only way I see any critters other than seagulls in B Bay is if a sim lives there. Send a sim in to visit, and nothing to be seen. Even for residents, the only animals I see are the birds and cats. Not a dog anywhere unless on the end of a leash with its owner out for a walk. For a game supposedly about cats & dogs, they really went low-ball on that one.

"Oldeseadogge;c-17511145" wrote:
Because it would take too much work to have them function as they do in the earlier versions. For that matter, the only way I see any critters other than seagulls in B Bay is if a sim lives there. Send a sim in to visit, and nothing to be seen. Even for residents, the only animals I see are the birds and cats. Not a dog anywhere unless on the end of a leash with its owner out for a walk. For a game supposedly about cats & dogs, they really went low-ball on that one.

I mean they did say it was a choice so that players don't have to see strays everywhere. Which I wouldn't mind but I could see it getting annoying.

Depends if they are TS2 type strays that just wander around, or TS1 type strays that stop and do their business on your lawn whether they are annoying or not.

Still, if a pack is supposed to be about cats & dogs, then both should be present, at least in the advertised world, and not solely for residents. Still comes across as half-baked.

I don't think I would want strays running around in all worlds, by default. IRL, in my hometown we had a huge problem with strays for years so I wouldn't want to relive that in the game. Plus, pets in game are always sick, especially strays.
You can sort of get around it and put the specific lot traits on lots in other worlds so pets will show up. I think that is a better approach since it is the player's choice.
I would have liked to see NPCs walk their pets outside Brindleton Bay, though.

It is an option to use a lot trait that allows strays to wander around your household. But sadly, you cannot have people walking with their pets on any residential lot or vet clinic.

I really didn't like the strays and household pets in Sims 2 roaming around .. I had to get mods to get rid of them or at times I would completely leave out the pet pack when I had to reinstall the game. I was super glad that strays were basically confined to BB and yes you can have those lot traits if you want more cats or dogs to show up. I sometimes put out the lot trait when I'm looking for a pet to adopt.
So yeah I do believe it was for player choice and management. Although I don't use BB as often as other worlds because of the strays and it's a really beautiful world and you can always plop your sims down in that world to get your fill of strays.
Also now a days people don't let their household pets roam free as much in reality... it's just not done. I rarely let them roam free in the sims either unless they have a trait where I feel I should send them out and we have the option to call them back.

"Oldeseadogge;c-17511177" wrote:
Depends if they are TS2 type strays that just wander around, or TS1 type strays that stop and do their business on your lawn whether they are annoying or not.

Still, if a pack is supposed to be about cats & dogs, then both should be present, at least in the advertised world, and not solely for residents. Still comes across as half-baked.

I'm guessing S4 type strays that are already in Brindletown, I think OP is just wondering why they aren't in everyworld instead ofjust BB.

MYself I'm glad they aren't. Almost any time a cat/dog arrives on scene in my game the game glitches out so I rarely play in Brindletown. (This is without mods/cc and I've repaired the game) Even does it in manage worlds... cats and dogs don't have heads and are all streaky. Not all the time but a lot of it, and in game the game freezes and lags. COmputer is approrpiate for the game (gaming computer, specs checked) drivers updated, repaired, etc. doesn't fix it. I'm not that interested in pets anyways so I don't worry about it haha. I love animals in real life but in the Sims, not so much.

I think it's for the best that they don't do that. They are sick way too often unless you use mods.

I see both when on vacation. Also, if I move in a new spellcaster, a cat will usually show up within a day or two. I wouldn't mind them comming around if they wern't always so pitifully sick. I always have my sims keep wellness treats in their inventory just in case.