To adopt a stray in The Sims 3, you need the Pets expansion, a Sim who builds a strong friendship with a stray cat, stray dog or wild horse, and room in the household. Once the relationship is high enough, an adopt interaction appears on the animal, you confirm, and you name your new pet. This guide covers where strays show up, how to earn their trust, the extra hurdle for wild horses, the household limits, and the cheat shortcut.
What You Need First
- The Sims 3 Pets. Cats, dogs and horses, including strays, all come from this expansion. The base game has no strays.
- One Sim willing to put in the time. The relationship belongs to the Sim who does the befriending, so stick with the same Sim throughout.
- Room in the household. Per the community wiki, a Pets household can hold 10 members in total, but no more than 8 Sims and no more than 6 pets. A full household is the most straightforward reason the adopt option stays hidden.
Where to Find Strays
Strays do not have names. The game labels them Stray Cat, Stray Dog or Wild Horse. According to the community wiki, strays can turn up on both community and residential lots, and each species favors its own kind of lot:
- Cats at a cat jungle lot
- Dogs at a dog park
- Horses at a horse ranch lot, and, per player guides, often near water in open country
You cannot summon a stray, but you can make your lot more attractive. The community wiki reports that a full food bowl and a pet house on the lot draw strays in, and that stray gnomes may too. If strays never appear at all, early player reports on EA’s forums point to two causes: custom content that interferes with the animal spawners, and hardware at the low end of the Pets requirements, where the game scales back roaming animals to keep running smoothly.
How to Befriend and Adopt a Stray
Strays start out wary. Player advice consistently recommends the gentle interactions first:
- Let it approach. Players on Steam’s Sims 3 forum say using Watch a few times helps the animal trust your Sim before you push for more. Letting the pet sniff your Sim’s hand is the usual first friendly interaction.
- Build the relationship. Pet it, play with it, and offer treats if you have them. Inviting the stray inside works too, and the community wiki notes that strays inside a home use its bowls and furniture like guests.
- Keep at it across visits. Strays wander off. Expect to pick the relationship back up over several encounters.
- Adopt. When the relationship is high enough, click the animal and choose the adopt option (player guides call it Adopt Stray). Your Sim kneels, a confirmation box appears, and then you name the pet.
How high “high enough” is varies. One player guide reports needing a relationship past Best Friends before the option appeared. The Animal Lover trait from Pets helps: the community wiki says these Sims build relationships with pets faster. Animal Lover conflicts with Cat Person, Dog Person and Equestrian, so pick one.
Wild Horses Take Extra Work
Wild horses follow the same pattern with a steeper requirement. Player guides report that your Sim needs Riding skill level 8 before a wild horse can be adopted, and that the horse may try to bolt partway through the attempt. If you do not have a skilled rider yet, check the adoption service instead, since it lists pets that other households have given up. If a white horse with a horn is what you are after, that is a different process covered in our unicorn adoption guide.
The Cheat Shortcut and Other Ways to Get a Pet
With testing cheats on (see our guide to enabling cheats), Shift-click the stray and choose the option to add it to the active household. It joins instantly, with no relationship work.
You can also skip strays entirely. The community wiki describes an adoption service reached by phone, computer or newspaper, which lists pets that other households have given up, plus minor pets from the pet shop. Pets can also be created in Create a Pet when you set up a household. Neglected pets can be taken away by the social worker, the same NPC our child adoption guide covers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can I not adopt a stray even though we are best friends? Check your household count first. If there is room, an answer on EA’s forums says a townie household may already have adopted that animal.
Do I need The Sims 3 Pets to adopt strays? Yes. Cats, dogs, horses and strays are all part of the Pets expansion.
Can I adopt a stray at a park? Strays spawn on community lots, but player guides generally describe finishing the adoption when the animal is on your home lot. If the option does not appear in public, keep building the relationship until it visits you.
Does the Animal Expert lifetime reward make adoption easier? No. Per the community wiki, Animal Expert makes household pets live longer. It does nothing for adoption.
How many pets can one household have? Six at most, within a combined limit of ten household members. More Sims 3 guides are on the Sims hub.