Talk:Pet

Will someone please list the growth of cats and dogs? Is it just Kitten, Housecat, Large cat? Are there more cat stages? What are the dog stages?

Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.21.235.100 (talk • contribs)

Kitten, Housecat, Large cat. Small dog, dog, large dog. If you want more, see mondata.c#grownups-array. --Stefanor 02:09, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

inconsistent

Pets on another level lose tameness but still burn nutrition.

this contradicts the rest of the paragraph, which implies that they do not burn nutrition and will not starve. --195.2.244.193 12:00, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Keeping non-eating pets

How do I keep a pet tame if it doesn't eat? I have a level 37 Arch-Lich, and I feel like I should be the one at the end of the leash. I'm terrified this thing will go hostile and I'll have no way to kill it. --66.23.133.52 02:13, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

I don't think it will go hostile as opposed to peaceful - I think that's reserved for eating pets that were left alone long enough that they would have starved to death. You might want to keep a scroll of genocide in reserve in case I'm wrong about that. --Ekaterin 08:22, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

What about a scroll of taming, will it help with that? And speaking of non-eating pets, it might be useful to put together a list of non-eating pets (or flag it on the species page), since I too have been watching my new pet archlich warily... --Enehta

The list of non-eating creatures is found in the entry for Inediate.

Naming Pets

Can someone tell me how to name a pet?

Use the "C" command and select your pet. --Cronot 16:04, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Ressurecting dead pets

The Article says I can ressurect dead pets. But on the 2 times I've tried that (with a wand - my caracter is a Ranger), the pet was ressurected hostile. I don't remember what was the first pet, but it was some minor pet like a dog or cat. The latest one, which I've just lost, was a Silver Dragon. I've lost him on Fort Ludios, to a bunch of other dragons. When I zapped undead turning on his corpse, he came back hostile, and I couldn't do anything to tame him back (well, I've tried throwing tripe rations, but he wouldn't catch it - he used to when he was tame). Had to kill him... :´-(

Did I do something wrong? Or is the tame status of a pet just random when he is turned from the dead? --Cronot 16:16, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

If you killed the pet or abused it a lot while it was alive, it will always come back hostile, but there is always a chance that it will be revived hostile anyway. Throwing food only works to tame domestic animals - to tame your dragon back, you would have needed some means of magical taming, just as you would need to tame a hostile dragon. Ekaterin 09:23, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

I didn't kill it, I wasn't even near him when it happened, I just noticed after I finished wiping out the outer area of Fort Ludios. I don't know what you mean by "abuse" (I've been playing just for a few months, I'm still kind of a newbie), but I always fed him when I got a chance (mostly to show him that I care, because he would always feed by himself on corpses anyway - and he would take a long time at that, btw), and rarely I did hit him accidentally (I guess that's what you mean by "abuse").

But if there's still a chance, even without abusing or killing the pet, that he will be ressurected hostile, I think this should be stated in the article, lest it don't confuse players. I've edited the article to reflect that, feel free to correct what you feel necessary. And thanks for the heads up! --Cronot 13:40, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Sounds

My dog (on a leash) keeps whining, without me #chatting to it. I did not hit it, and it is not hungry. Can someone explain why? --99.224.117.3 17:24, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

same here... I don't know what it is exactly - maybe dogs don't like to be held on a leash... taking off the leash did stop the whining, so it might be true... but it'd still be nice if someone more in the know could clarify this... - Blueshade 12:38, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

aha, I thought that maybe the leash was cursed or something, but it wasn't (checked at an altar), so that's probably not the reason... - Blueshade 12:40, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

A leashed pet will whine or whimper if there is a trap nearby (even one you have not detected) so it may be a good idea to search the area when you notice this.

Ahhh!

I keep getting random pets that I can't get rid of! I just got a weak lizard as a pet, and now a gnome king (though I don't mind that). Is it because of my high charisma (18)? I'm playing as a neutral healer. 24.34.132.29 00:16, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

It's pretty easy to get rid of pets, just go down or up the stairs without them. Easy come, easy go... Addps4cat 14:33, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Yes, but why am I getting them?

I want that acid blob and newt out of here. ROFL 24.34.132.29 23:35, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

AHA! Now I know why I'm getting random pets! My odd pet thing (which I think was a gnome king or something like that) is wearing something that causes it to polymorph - so that's why I have a mind flayer now, and a jackal 2 seconds ago. lol. 24.34.132.29 00:49, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Wait! This is insane! One of my dogs just turned into a tame white unicorn! AHHHH!!! What's going on!? It's still changing - it's a worm now! Do polymorph traps give polymorphitis!?!? 24.34.132.29 01:12, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Maybe you have a pet chameleon or doppelganger Addps4cat 02:51, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Hahaha... could be possible, though I notice my things are mostly only changing into nasties... and something that was DEFINITELY a dog before became a horned devil (but I'm not complaining now, with 100 hp and -6 AC it's better than my dog). The other thing also became a horned devil and stopped. And half of my eight pets died at Ludios, so now I just have two devils and a housecat. I just wish I enchanted that worm tooth before I had my devil use it :P (P.S. I'm the same person on a different comp. I'm also running out of food rations lol.) 70.90.104.37 12:23, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

You probavly have a shape changer or something.- - DemonSlayerThe3 :: The Neutral Gnomish Wizard, with my kitten Ellinis! 16:44, September 7, 2010 (UTC)

It's probably a sandestin. Those tend to mimic nasties.Nightpenguin 20:38, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Killing a pet

How do you get rid of pets? With a scroll of taming I have somehow managed to get a pet Gremlin on Medusa's level, and needless to say it's VERY annoying (I have 64 1-hp pet gremlins now). How do I get rid of them? I have better pets I need to magic whistle, or else I'd just kill Medusa and get out of there. 24.91.251.8 23:41, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

You might try magic-whistling your better pets up to the next higher level, or kill Medusa anyway and whistle them down, and whatever gremlins you leave behind will go wild eventually. Lather, rinse, repeat.--Ray Chason 16:26, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

The point is that it's hard to whistle for a specific pet o.O :P 24.91.251.8 00:05, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Just stand near a staircase and blow your whistle until only the pet(s) you want are adjacent to you. It might take a few trips up and down if you have a lot of pets.

I too need a way to kill a pet, not just leave it behind. Explanation: I have an archon, that came from a figurine, Its well equipped. I want its sunsword, and the speed boots it picked up and the unihorn I gave it. Leaving it on a level to go feral would 'get rid of it' but I want its inventory! So Im asking again, how do you >!KILL!< a pet?

Good luck with that one. First off, you don't want Sunsword. It's better than some artifact weapons, but honestly, you can get by without it. (If you MUST have it, you should be able to safely disarm it with a bullwhip with 14 Dex.) As for the unihorn, they're common. The speed boots are more of a problem, but I believe the Archon should ditch them for anything with a better enchantment - monsters judge armor solely on AC, I believe.

There is no reliable way to kill your Archon. Cockatrice corpses and eggs can all miss, and you'll be dead if they do. Also, an Archon fighting for you is worth much more than Sunsword or a unihorn, and probably more than speed boots even. -Ion frigate (talk) 02:31, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes I thought about stoning, and polymorphing it into something that would drop the equipment but neither option was really available. Im still looking for other options as I tend to use an early wish for a powerful pet and then ditch it after sokoban, would really like to be able to recover equipment from them. Honestly, the perfect answer to this question would be a complete list of all methods to kill a pet, then I can use it to find a suitable method when the time arises.

You feel worried about your (pet)

What does this message mean? I just got it, and it wasn't listed on this page and I couldn't find it elsewhere either. The situation was like this - my pet (a kitten) had fallen down a trap door a while ago, but I stayed on the same level because there was an altar. Then when I finally followed it, I got this message as soon as I entered the level. I haven't found my pet yet, does this mean it's dead? 88.196.126.191 18:15, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Nevermind, it doesn't mean that the pet is dead, because I found it and it was alive and well. Until it got killed by a rothe. Still would like to know what the message means. 88.196.126.191 18:20, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

it's hungry, and you can't see it ;) Fredil Yupigo 18:51, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Pets vs. Bear Traps

Early on as a Knight, my pony triggered a bear trap. When I tried to untrap it, it suddenly died and got "You hear the rumble of distant thunder..." (as well as a level up, lol). Does attempting to remove a bear trap harm the creature that is in it? Or did I somehow accidentally attack it? (I was only level 1, so a regular attack wouldn't have been enough to kill it anyways, would it?) --206.75.50.122 03:02, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Yes, pets you fail to #untrap from bear traps, spiked pits and perhaps some more kinds of traps will count as if you pushed them into the trap that turn. Each attempt reduces its tameness by one, and if you kill it that way, you get an angry god. All this applies only to traps that inflict actual hit point loss, as opposed to polymorph traps.

Another hazard is trapped pets may sometimes not be displaced, so if you absent-mindedly try to move onto that square, there is a chance your scared pet will attack you, even without conflict.

Thirdly, steeds and traps do not mix well, but that is out of my domain of expertise. -Tjr 03:30, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Discretion

This article makes two separate statements about 'they say discretion is the better part of valor' in the first case claiming that pets don't seem to understand this and in the second case saying that they understand this innately. Which is it? At least don't use the same aphorism to describe two opposite behaviors.

Pets innately know if an item is cursed and its enchantment. Pets don't know that attacking a spotted jelly or walking next to a digester is a bad idea. Interestingly though, they do know to not attack a cockatrice if not stoning resistant. I'd say the phrase is completely out of place for talking about an item's enchantment/BUC. I'm not seeing what that has to do with discretion. -- Qazmlpok 13:45, January 2, 2010 (UTC)

About pets and discretion (as in, not getting themselves killed), I'm sure that they won't attack monsters two or more xl higher than themselves. I'm pretty sure there is also a rule about not attacking monsters which could currently kill them in one round, and that this doesn't take weapons into account, which is why large dogs so often fall to the watch captain. I've made a couple of changes to reflect this. Ekaterin 13:40, January 4, 2010 (UTC)

Monsters wielding cursed items

While a pet will never pick up (and therefore never wear) a cursed armor/weapon, hostile monsters have no such reservations. It is therefore possible to tame a monster that is already wearing a cursed item, and it will obviously be unable to remove it. In the past I tried applying a whip but it did not work (which means there's actually one advantage to wielding a cursed item; go figure). There is a mindflayer wielding a cursed club that I am trying to tame. After I manage to tame him, will there be any way to remove this club, or will he be stuck wielding a weapon that almost certainly has a negative enchantment until he dies? -- Qazmlpok 18:00, January 8, 2010 (UTC)

Testing in wizard mode, the only option I can find is to polymorph into a nymph and steal the club; a wand of cancellation doesn't work, it only cancels items in your inventory it seems. As a nymph, you can just as easily steal cursed items as nymphs can steal your cursed items; obviously, that's something you pretty much have to do before you tame the monster. -Ion frigate 22:45, January 8, 2010 (UTC)

Why not steal it after taming it? At worst, it will lose one point of tameness at each unsuccessful attempt, but you can feed it stuff (meatballs) to make up. -Tjr 17:43, January 9, 2010 (UTC)

Actually you're right, it's quite possible to do it after, although I can see it being worth it to try and steal it before possibly for pets that don't eat and have high MR, as they cannot easily be retamed, and reducing their tameness makes them more likely to go feral if you get separated from them. I don't keep pets too much myself, and so figured that attacking them would pretty much automatically untame them. -Ion frigate 21:34, January 9, 2010 (UTC)

Healing pet

Maybe we should add a section about healing pet. If you don't have healing spells, it's not obvious how to do it. Hitting them with healing potions works fine, but will scare them and decrease tameness. Throwing potions doesn't have those drawbacks, but you might miss. Also, I just checked the source and wizmode, and potions of restore ability and gain ability can also be used to heal a pet. All healing potions and restore/gain ability will always restore the pet to max HP, regardless of BUC status. So that's a very good way of using cursed potions of healing and potions of restore ability. The articles on potions could also mention that. I'm new here, that's why I haven't done it myself :)

you feel sad

Does the message "you feel sad for a moment" always mean your pet, who is not w/in view has died? Slarty 00:53, May 5, 2010 (UTC)
I wrote the above question before I got an account. I've seen no answer. So I'll ask again. Slarty 00:53, May 5, 2010 (UTC)

Yes. -- Qazmlpok 01:15, May 5, 2010 (UTC)

Ranged attack options with pets in the way

In the very common scenario that I am stood with a monster I want to shoot, but a pet is behind it (or just might be: in a corridor, dark patch or behind a boulder) can I do the following... (are they abuse/damaging)?

Fire a co-elemental wand or other attack knowing it will also hit the pet (e.g. wand of cold hitting a winter wolf)

Fire a slew of metal daggers if some may overkill and hit a pet metallivore (throwing it a treat?)

Teleport and Polymorph and Turn Undead I'm fairly sure are safe. How about cancellation? (whether or not there's anything on the pet to cancel?)

I think a lot of pet kills for me as an early player was launching a ranged attack not knowing a pet has sneaked into a corridor or behind a boulder. Being Machiavellian and spoiled I will sometimes make the shot anyway. For any article content this might be more suited in Tameness. What do other players do: do they ditch their pets if they are dependant on a ranged attack?

Spells of any kind will not reduce tameness. You can shoot fire at your dog if you want. It might kill him, but it won't reduce tameness. Teleport is always safe, turn undead and polymorph won't reduce tameness but could kill your pet.

Throwing daggers at a metallivore should always be a treat and not reduce tameness. Thrown weapons might be like spells and only risk death but not tameness. -- Qazmlpok 14:18, August 7, 2010 (UTC)

Do you feel for non-traditional pets?

If you have tamed something besides a dog cat or horse, do you still feel worried when it's hungry, but outa sight, and sad when it dies (do you receive a message about your charachter doing so) (I'm guessing you do, but ask, anyway)?Slarty 21:32, September 1, 2010 (UTC)

Besides the difficulty in taming, strength of the pet, and some unusual (and typically undesirable) pets like yellow lights, the only mechanic difference between 'traditional' and 'non-traditional' is diet; you can get inediate monsters, which never go hungry, and metalivores, which can eat metal items, as well as regular carnivores/herbivores/omnivores in non-traditional pets. -- Qazmlpok 21:49, September 1, 2010 (UTC)

Thanx. That's what I thought.Slarty 22:09, September 1, 2010 (UTC)

Good pet list is too long. How good is good?

The list of good pets is way too long, and it isn't quite clear how good is good. I suggest sorting it by the situation a pet is useful in.

For example, I see no reason to wish for anything else than a figurine of an archon. About half the pet types listed are good enough to accept as polytrap output if you're doing a pacifist. If you can cast charm monster, almost anyting that could kill you is better tamed. Finally, a lot of junk gets added by novice players who find out only a tame newt won't kill them if they hit a floating eye. Tjr 16:22, September 6, 2010 (UTC)

My opinion. Goes from "Worth wishing for" to "very useful in certain situations and worth keeping"

• Archon
• Ki-Rin - as a steed.
• Vampire lord - regeneration and can wear GDSM for magic resistance. Even stronger in SLASH'EM, as it becomes a vampire mage.
• Purple Worm - for use with wraith farming.
• Arch-Lich - surprisingly effective against the wizard, but a general pain-in-the-ass
• Minotaur - Worth reverse genociding and taming if you have a magic whistle. Maybe.

I'd say Archon and Ki-Rin are the only ones worth wishing for. You could wish for a purple worm in the very early game as a safer alternative. In that 10% failure chance, an archon will kill you, while an early character can move faster than a purple worm. It'd also be easier to tame if it becomes peaceful, and almost as effective at taking enemies out. Almost all of the stuff on the current list falls into the "If you've got it, great! But don't go out of your way to get it" category. -- Qazmlpok 17:05, September 6, 2010 (UTC)

Abandoning Pets...

How many turns makes a pet less tame? I'm looking for a ratio. #Tu:-1Ta

Each pet has a number called tameness. (Cats & dogs start with 10.) If you leave it on a different level, it loses a point on turn 75, and one point every 150 turns from then on. Once tameness reaches 0, it isn't a pet anymore. Tjr 18:01, September 14, 2010 (UTC)

Un-freezing pets.

My pet was frozen by a floating eye and I'd like to head downstairs now. What are means of unfreezing a pet?✑DemonSlayerThe3rd♠ 21:55, October 13, 2010 (UTC)

preferrably instrument horns or drums. See pacifist and/or paralysis. Tjr 03:28, October 14, 2010 (UTC)

Or just wait. It will unfreeze after around a hundred turns or so. -Ion frigate 06:57, October 14, 2010 (UTC)

Balrogs?

Shouldn't Balrogs be on the list of good pets? I often see them cited as good pets for pacifists. P.S. Does anybody actually use pet skeletons? 75.25.42.215 01:08, 8 April 2012 (UTC)