From the OMs:

In order to get your free rat, take the furnishing mission from the mission board ('Get loot for your home'). If you have already done the mission, log off for a few minutes and it should update. If you have not, you will have to do the mission. If you cannot see the mission, set your home to a shack or other housing that you own or room in as it will not show if your home is set to an island or an inn/shoppe.

For the pig and turtle furniture objects, see their entries at Furniture. For the walking sheep and pigs found on islands, see the animal article.

Pets can be purchased from the Palace shoppe. They are available in a variety of custom colors and types, and will follow their owners around in non-congested areas.

Controls

By clicking on the pet from the Booty panel, the following options are given:

Name yer pet - The name can only be entered once. All pet names are shown in white text. The name may only consist of A-Z, hyphens, and spaces. Ocean Masters will not reset pet names, and offensive names may result in confiscation or banning. ^[1]
Walk - Only available for inactive pets. This option will enable the pet, causing it to be shown in the scene in any unrestricted area.
Let yer Pet Roam - Allows your pet to wander independently within your home, or any area where you have permissions. Normally, pets like to stay close to other pirates in the scene. Once your pet is roaming, they will be removed from the booty panel, and will acquire a radial menu when you click on them, similar to pirates, with the following options:
- Pick up Pet - Places the pet back into the booty panel.
- Let pet roam - Forces the pet to move to a new location or chat circle within the same scene.
- Stay - Forces the pet to stay in the current position, in the current scene, regardless of its owner's movement.
- Read Pet's Tags - Shows a chat message that reads '<Pirate> be the owner of <pet>.'
- Return to owner - Only available when a pet is not owned by you, but is roaming in a building or ship you own; places the pet back into the booty panel of its owner.
Trash - Permanently deletes the pet.

When a pet is being walked, the item menu will contain Remove, Name yer Pet, and Trash. Name yer Pet disappears after you select a pet name. Trash will only work if the pet is not being walked.

The item menu for pets not being walked will have Walk, Name yer Pet, Let yer Pet Roam, and Trash. Name yer Pet disappears after you select a pet name.

Pet radial menu (clockwise): Pick up pet, Let roam, Stay, Read pet's tags

Roaming and Permissions

In a building, only owners or managers (and roommates in houses) can let their pets roam. On a ship, only the owner has permissions. However, all pets enabled in the booty menu will still be shown in the scene, provided the scene has not reached its pet capacity. There is a limit of 5 pets per scene, with an exception of 25 per scene in houses. Pets are also restricted from following their owners into Inns or outside areas on any island. An island's governor can set up to 5 pets to roam outside on the island.

If you let a pet roam in the crow's nest of a ship, you may not be able to click on it to pick it back up. If this happens, you can retrieve it by going to the Placed Pets tab in the info menu, and reclaiming all of your pets aboard the ship.

Disallowing

Disallowing pets on ships.

Building & ship owners have control to forbid pets from following pirates into their building/ship. On ships, the control appears next to Lock helm on the navigation table for deed-holders. In buildings, it is a button on the House/Shoppe panel. Inn owners do not have this control, as all Inns are no-pet zones by default. Note: if someone already is in your scene, disallowing will not boot that pet out. Rather, it will take effect when they next change scenes (to another room or enter/leave the house). The control also has no effect on pets roaming/placed directly into a scene by the scene's owner.

Ownership

When a pirate allows a pet to roam, it leaves the pirate's inventory. From that point, it is tracked on the pirate's info page under the Placed Pets tab. The pirate continues to own the pet even if ownership of the building or ship changes. Pets can be reclaimed from any location by pressing the Reclaim button on the Placed Pets tab. The new owner can remove pets belonging to another pirate, but the pet returns to the original pirate's inventory. If the original owner has been deleted, the pet is deleted as well.

When a house is returned, a stall closes, or a ship is sunk, any placed pets return to the inventory of the pirate who allowed it to roam. Any pet that belongs to a deleted pirate will be lost.

Trading and Loss

All 6 of the buyable pets can be traded to one another or wrapped in presents. Since the rat is free it cannot be traded between players or wrapped. Pets cannot die; however, Skellies can take any pet (except for rats) if they are not actively equipped in the Booty panel. Pets which are roaming on a vessel that sinks will swim to shore and return to their owners.

Sounds

When entering or leaving a chat circle that a pet is in, each type will randomly let themselves be known with a short bit of text. Each sound will be given inside normal /speak quotes, for example: MyCatsName says, "Meow!". Each sound may not appear the same to each pirate within the circle or scene. While one pirate may hear MyCatsName says, "Meow!" another may hear MyCatsName says, "Purrr." or possibly nothing at all.

Available Pets

Pet	Appearance	Sounds	Price	Colors
Rat		"Squeak." "Peep."	Free 'Get loot for your home' mission	Color table Primary: white, grey, black, brown, almond, charcoal, tawny, beige, chestnut, yellow Note: Color can not be chosen when won from the 'Get loot for your home' mission
Cat		"Purrr." "Meow!" "Meoooww."	12,000 PoE 12 doubloons	Color table Highlights: almond, beige, brown, charcoal, grey, off white, tabby, tan, white Main fur: almond, beige, brown, charcoal, chestnut, grey, tabby, white
Dog		"Yip!" "Woof." "Bark!" "Grrr."	12,000 PoE 12 doubloons	Color table Fur: almond, brown, charcoal, chestnut, grey, silver, umber, white Skin: beige, grey, off white, tan, white
Sheep		"Bah." "Bah humbug." "Bah, bah."	25,000 PoE 25 doubloons	Color table Wool: beige, black, grey, tan, white Skin: black, grey, tan, white
Pig		"Oink."	25,000 PoE 25 doubloons	Pig icon Not customizable
Big cat	100px	"Purrrrr." "Meeeeoww." "Snort."	100,000 PoE 100 doubloons	Color table Genus: lion, panther, tiger, white Collar: aqua, blue, brown, green, grey, lime, maroon, navy, orange, pink, purple, red, tan, violet, white, yellow
Elephant		"Toot." "Tooooot!" "Oh, I remember!"	100,000 PoE 100 doubloons	Color table: bronze, grey, silver, steel Skin color: bronze, grey, silver, steel Cloth primary: aqua, blue, brown, green, grey, lime, maroon, navy, orange, pink, purple, red, tan, violet, white, yellow Cloth secondary: aqua, blue, brown, green, grey, lime, maroon, navy, orange, pink, purple, red, tan, violet, white, yellow