The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs

The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs Expansion Pack

The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs is the fourth expansion pack for The Sims 4, and one of the most anticipated additions to the franchise since its 2014 launch. Developed by Maxis (The Sims Studio) and published by Electronic Arts, it was announced at Gamescom on August 21, 2017, and released worldwide on November 10, 2017, with a console version following on July 31, 2018. Cats & Dogs is a spiritual successor to The Sims: Unleashed, The Sims 2: Pets, and The Sims 3: Pets, and it finally reintroduced fully customizable, ownable pets to the series — something many longtime players had been requesting since the base game’s release.

The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs at a Glance

• New World: Brindleton Bay
• New System: Create A Pet, Vet Clinics
• New Skill: Veterinarian
• New Creatures: Cats, Dogs, Foxes, Raccoons
• New Traits: Animal Affection, Animal Whisperer, Cat Lover, Dog Lover
• New Aspiration: Friend of the Animals
• New Career/Business: Veterinarian & owner-run vet clinics
• New Objects: Exam tables, surgery stations, pet beds, scratching posts, agility equipment

New Features in The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs Expansion Pack

Cats & Dogs is built around a simple but powerful idea: giving Sims real, living companions with minds of their own. The expansion doesn’t just add pets as decoration — it introduces an entire ecosystem of behaviors, careers, and a brand-new world designed around animal life.

Brindleton Bay: A New Coastal World

The pack’s new world, Brindleton Bay, is inspired by classic New England seafront towns and is built specifically with pets and outdoor life in mind. It spans four neighborhoods — Sable Square, Whiskerman’s Wharf, Cavalier Cove, and Deadgrass Isle — across a total of 16 lots. Sims and their animals can play fetch near the harbor docks, take walks out to the lighthouse, or set up an agility course in the park while meeting other pet-loving neighbors. The world also has a built-in same-sex premade family, the Heckings, adding to the diversity of Brindleton Bay’s community.

Brindleton Bay Lots Details

How Create A Pet Works

Create A Pet is the headline tool of the expansion, giving the same click-and-drag customization freedom that Create A Sim offers, but for cats and dogs:

• Choose from a wide range of premade breeds or freely sculpt a pet’s body, ears, tail, and facial features
• Customize coat patterns and colors to recreate real-life pets, dream pets, or something more fantastical
• Assign personality-shaping pet traits that affect how the animal behaves and reacts
• Dress pets in expressive outfits and accessories — a first for the franchise
• Create foxes and raccoons as special breed variants of dogs and cats, complete with their own distinct voices

Pet Behavior, Traits & Life Stages

Unlike The Sims 3: Pets, cats and dogs in Cats & Dogs cannot be directly controlled by the player — a deliberate design choice similar to The Sims 2: Pets that pushes players to interact with pets the way they would in real life. Pets progress through three life stages (kitten/puppy, adult, and elder) on a shortened timeline compared to Sims, and can die of old age. Each pet can have up to three unique pet traits that shape their personality and behavior, and Sims build relationships with their animals over time through feeding, playing, training, and disciplining.

Vet Clinics in The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs

The expansion’s other major system lets Sims pursue the Veterinarian skill and open their own vet clinic as a player-run business, similar in structure to restaurants from Dine Out. Owners control everything from staffing and pricing to the services offered, while pets can be diagnosed and treated on exam tables, given medication for common ailments like fleas, or taken to a surgery station for more serious procedures — which can also be used to neuter or un-neuter pets. Clinics build a star rating over time based on how well pets are treated, giving the career a rewarding sense of long-term progression.

Build Mode and Other Additions

Cats & Dogs also comes packed with smaller but memorable additions that round out the pet-ownership fantasy:

• Stray pets that roam Brindleton Bay and can be adopted into a Sim’s household
• Gourmet pet food and pet treats for feeding and training
• Simstagram accounts for pets, letting players share in-game “posts” of their animals
• Mystery boxes that pets can dig up or discover while exploring
• A new Singer-Songwriter radio station featuring original in-game music

The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs – All New Build Mode Items

The pack’s build and buy catalog leans into coastal New England style and functional pet furniture — think scratching posts, dog beds, agility equipment, and vet clinic essentials like exam tables and surgery stations, all styled to fit Brindleton Bay’s seaside aesthetic.

The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs – All New CAS Items

On the CAS side, Cats & Dogs adds outdoorsy, coastal-inspired clothing and accessories that suit dog walks, harbor visits, and vet clinic uniforms alike — rounding out the wardrobe for Sims who spend their days caring for animals in Brindleton Bay.

The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs Reviews & Player Feedback

The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs received generally favorable reviews from critics, holding a Metascore in the 80s based on critic coverage on Metacritic. Reviewers frequently praised the depth of Create A Pet, the realism of animal behavior, and the addition of the vet clinic career, with several outlets calling it one of the strongest expansions the game had received up to that point. Some critics noted that the pack leaned on ideas from earlier Sims pet expansions rather than reinventing the formula, and a handful of players wished for features like controllable pets or small animals, which were only partially addressed by the later My First Pet Stuff pack. Even with those points of debate, Cats & Dogs is widely remembered as one of the series’ most beloved and essential expansions.

Is The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs Worth Buying?

For players who want their Sims’ households to feel more alive — whether that means raising a mischievous kitten, training a loyal dog, or building a thriving veterinary practice — Cats & Dogs remains one of the most rewarding expansions in The Sims 4 lineup. Its combination of deep pet customization, believable animal behavior, a dedicated vet career, and a charming coastal world makes it an easy recommendation for animal lovers and long-time simmers alike.