Ghost pets not working?

I know people dont really play with ghost pets much, so i’ve never seen this bug reported. But in a modded save I tried to turn a pet cat into a ghost via cheats. I looked up the cat’s sim id, then used the cheat: traits.equip_trait ghost_oldage id. That did nothing after like 5 tries. So then i added a ghost cat from the gallery and as soon as i exited CAS, the cat was alive despite the gallery household photo showing the ghost cat. 

i made a completely unmodded and cc free save and tried it again, same issue. I even went to the cemetery in Brindleton Bay. All living pets, no ghosts. If I use mcc command center to cheat death from old age, the pet disappears. And then when i summon them, the pet spawns up…alive and well. 

This has been happening since Life and Death and I’ve tried literally everything.