Befriending and Adopting Strays

[Pam]

I still have never been able to adopt a stray.  I do the invite inside and ask to leave thing, but mostly they don't come back around.  Or they leave too soon or something else that doesn't let it happen.  I usually play with a lot of Sims, so there's really not the time to see the stray each time, either.  I'd still like to see it happen sometime.

[makeupinternet]

Has anyone had any more experiences with adopting strays? I have the same "problems" mentioned in this thread, I can only interact 3 times and then the stray "goes home". I really wanna adopt a stray cat, so any info would be helpful

[MoMoll]

I had no problem. You have to get them when they first come on the lot before they are tired. I did "sniff hand", "play", "feed treat", in repitition. The problem is when they get tired or hungry. Then they leave.

[Rainbow Dash]

I gave up on trying to adopt strays, doing interactions with them as soon as they appear on my lot didn't work for me, the stray would still leave after only a few. By the time they came back (Often days later) any relationship built up with them had dropped. 

I just hope EA make strays easier to befriend in The Sims 4. (Sadly I cannot see it being fixed for The Sims 3).

[makeupinternet]

I've noticed that the same strays keep coming around for their entire life span. So eventhough I could only interact with a pet 3 times each visit, over time I was able to befriend and adopt a few cats. Yeahy! But I agree that this should be more simple to do.

[HerGoldenHair]

I registered just to post this, but today I found a method in my game to stop that pesky "go home" action for strays.  I *think* all it requires is having testingcheats enabled. When the stray is leaving, quickly go into Build mode, then ctrl+shift+click on the stray, and click the Reset option. In my game, this caused the pet to stop going home and just stand there. I expected it to teleport away, but no! I was able to befriend a cute Stray Dog this way by stopping him in his tracks each time he tried to leave. It was very satisfying, hehe.
I hope this works for others, too  
Next I'm planning to use the "ask to leave" method on this dog, to see if I can get the Adopt option to show up (since it hasn't, yet).

[Magpie2012]

Adopting from the shelter also counts as adopting a stray... Which I think is kind of cool because the shelter animals don't have anyone to love them... I also discovered that if you adopt from the shelter then send the animal back to the shelter and re-adopt them from the shelter that counts as 2 adoptions for that LTW... This all occurred because my adorable little puppy I adopted from the shelter turned into a HUGE dog when I thought it would be a little dog (yeah I really wasn't paying attention when I adopted it except for looking at traits) so I sent it back to the shelter... A few days later I realised I missed my huge dog so I re-adopted him and then realised it had registered another stray against my LTW tally!

[Abyshep]

Noodles,

Great tip. I had a stray dog that my sim befriended and she hung around but I didn't get the 'Adopt' option despite being BFF.

I asked the dog to leave and when she came back, I could adopt her!

Noodle (named after you) has settled into her new home and is making advances towards my sims male dog!

Patter of tiny paws soon perhaps!

Thanks

AbyShep

[Palti]

I have tried time after time to adopt strays, never any luck. I always end up with them leaving, same with wild horse.

[HerGoldenHair]

Re: my above post, I asked the dog to leave, and next time that it showed up of its own accord, I was able to adopt it after one or two interactions. 8D
So, thanks for the helpful thread.

[Babbaroni]

Sometimes I don't even get to do one interaction before they run away.  I don't know what it is and I keep hoping that Carl and Metro come up with some genius way of getting it done.

You can ride other people's horses but you have to ask permission.   You can also learn riding by reading a book in the library.  Or maybe by doing what they suggest in this thread (link)

Have you ever had any luck with inviting the stray inside?

I hardly ever see stray cats or dogs in any of my Sims  games.  But recently in Monte Vista, my Sim befriended a stray dog that showed up barking in her living room, but when she tried "adopt" it VANISHED into thin air.  A long, long time later it showed up on the lot again, sleeping on an outdoor bench this time, but when she just tried "let sniff hand" it VANISHED again.  They were still listed a "best friends".  I find this very frustrating!

[Mermaid]

Ctrl+Shift+c
testingcheatsenabled true
Hold Shift key and click on the animal at the same time
You will get the option "Add to family" or something that goes by those words

[Chameleoncrab]

I am trying the LTW of adopting strays for the first time and I came across something kind of interesting. I too have rarely seen stray animals in my neighborhoods, even with all the gnomes in play. However, I have been playing with a legacy family in the same neighborhood for three generations now and I started seeing strays all over. Not saying this is required, but it seems that the more ppl get old and die, the more pets will be left without homes. Also, while I haven't had a single stray come to my lot, my Sims do live next to a dog park, and today I saw TWO stray dogs playing there. I'm building relationships with them now. I haven't tested this for cats, but perhaps if you place the dog and cat parks, since they have food and other essentials for those pets, the strays might tend to flock there. So far it has worked for dogs. If the theory holds, it would be a great place to meet stray animals.

[Candyd]

Since adopting strays is so hard, I've personally chosen a completely different option about strays : I've edited all non-purebred stray dogs in CAS and made them wolves. I've also given them typical wolf traits. They're all skilled hunters and have "wild creature" traits such as shy, independent or destructive. I'm enjoying the game better this way. Meeting a stray dog can be frustrating as they almost always leave forever, but seeing a wolf in town is like seeing a raccoon or a deer, some kind of privilege, and an ever rarer privilege if sims manage to build a friendship with one !
I haven't edited stray cats yet, but I'm also considering changing them into another type of wild animal. Maybe a bobcat, or something similar.