Animal Crossing New Horizons: Can You Get Pets? Answered

Animal Crossing New Horizons is full of little critters to catch and (some) friendly animal villagers to hang out with, and since these are actual animals that you speak with, some might think it strange if pets were in the game. If you’ve been wondering whether or not you can get pets in Animal Crossing New Horizons, here’s the complicated answer to that.

Can You Get Pets in Animal Crossing New Horizons?

Okay, here’s the deal. You can craft and/or purchase objects in Animal Crossing, like a scratching post for a cat or a small house for a dog, but you cannot technically get pets in the game as you would in other life sim games.

You can catch a turtle and put it on your house; you can catch fish and place the tank in your room, and you can even get a hamster cage that has an actual hamster in it but there’s no mechanic of taking care of an animal that lets you play with the creatures or feed them.

While there are some animals that you can display in your home, you, unfortunately, cannot own “normal” pets like a cat or a dog. I mean, your neighbors might be dogs and cats so that might be a very awkward situation if they were to visit your place and see a dog locked up in a cage or something, but that’s just me!

Hopefully that answers your question about whether you can get pets in Animal Crossing New Horizons. You can check out our extensive Guide Wiki for even more tips and tricks or just search Twinfinite for everything else.

If you have any questions about this guide, feel free to sound off in the comments below!