Needs & Care
Every pet has six needs. They go down over time (bladder goes up), and your pet looks after most of them itself if it has what it needs nearby.
The six needs
| Need | Lasts about | How it's filled |
|---|---|---|
 Hunger | 25 min | Food Bowl (Feed Trough for farm animals), hand feeding (its usual food or kibble), grazing on grass (farm animals) |
 Thirst | 20 min | Water Bowl (Water Trough for farm animals), a water bottle by hand, ponds and rivers (not house pets) |
 Hygiene | 90 min | Pet Brush, a water bucket rinse, Pet Soap on a wet pet |
 Mood | settles at about 75% | Petting, playing, grooming, walks, tricks, having you nearby, keeping its other needs up |
 Energy | 25 min | Sleeping |
 Bladder | 25 min (fills up) | Cats, ocelots, dogs and foxes only: litter box, pee pad, or a trip outside. See Toilet. |
Mood works a little differently: while no other need is low, it settles at about 75% on its own. Petting, play and your company lift it higher. Each low need pulls it down.
When a need runs out, the pet gets sluggish and grumpy, and if it stays empty for long it can fall ill. Bowls, troughs and beds are found within about 16 blocks, grass and water within about 10.
House pets are picky. Cats, ocelots, dogs, foxes and parrots only eat and drink from bowls or from your hand. Farm animals and horses use troughs instead of bowls, and happily graze and drink from ponds. Everyone else uses bowls and can drink from ponds too. Each animal's page says exactly what it uses.
Checking on your pets
Press J to cycle the floating display: everything → alerts and markers → off. You can rebind it under Controls → Vanilla Pets. The Pet Whistle screen shows exact percentages.
Caring by hand
| Action | How | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Pet | Sneak + right-click with an empty hand (horses, donkeys, mules, llamas, camels and nautiluses: groom them with the brush instead, sneak-click still opens their inventory) | Mood up, a happy reaction (tail wag, kneading; big animals lift their head into your hand) |
| Feed | Right-click with its food or kibble (its favourite kibble makes it extra happy). Works until it's full; sneak + right-click with food does the vanilla thing instead (breeding, healing) | Hunger up |
| Give water | Right-click with a water bottle while it's thirsty | Thirst up |
| Groom | Pet Brush | Hygiene and mood up (sheep sometimes drop string) |
| Rinse | Water bucket | Gets it wet and a bit cleaner. Cats hate it! |
| Wash | Pet Soap on a wet pet (bucket, rain or a swim first) | Fully clean |
| Treat | First Aid Kit | Cures an illness, heals 4 hearts |
Playing
Pet Ball
Throw it! Dogs and foxes fetch, cats sometimes do, other pets chase it around.
Ball of Yarn
Throw it for your cats (and dogs) to chase.
Feather Wand
Wave it to play with your cats and parrots.
- Pet Ball: throw it. Dogs and foxes do a play bow and fetch it back, cats and ocelots fetch about half the time, everyone else (except parrots) chases it around. The closest willing pet within 24 blocks goes after it.
- Ball of Yarn: cats, ocelots, dogs and foxes chase it.
- Feather Wand: wave it and cats, ocelots and parrots within 8 blocks pounce and flap at it.
Pets that are staying, going somewhere, too tired or ill won't join in.
Petting, hand-feeding, grooming and play also make your pet more loyal, and loyal pets learn tricks.