Okay, so ... hopefully nobody saw my first thread. After I posted that I was filled with an odd sense of dread that led me to quit the contest, which was fine bc y'know. it was my own contest. BUT!! im actually in the mood to naturally raise some kitties and i think maybe the problem was just that it was dogz. SO. time for this ^_^
Hope you get as much enjoyment out of this as I surely will!



DAY ONE: GET TO KNOW YOUR PETZ
What are their names?
Petey and St. Sniffer! Petey is named after the character from Severance (he looked like he should have a cute nickname, and I was watching the show at the time, so...) and St. Sniffer... I can't remember the logic behind that one. I think it just came to me, lol. but it stuck, cuz i think it's cute n_n

For the record, Petey was bred by Buck and St. Sniffer was bred by Celia.

What are your first impressions?
Well, I immediately thought Petey was absolutely adorable, because I'm a sucker for alley cats with chinchi personalities (literal perfection). Plus, he's easily one of the most playful Catz I've ever had- the first thing I do with any new naturally raised cat is see if they're a trickster, and for a little bit I was thinking he was just because he wouldn't stalk the treats, he would just crouch down and do a playful little wiggle, as demonstrated above. He doesn't do tricks, in actuality, but he loves playing more than snacking.

My first impression of Sniffer is that she's a typical Tabby- energetic, noisy, and very very cute. Nothing came off as unique/notable, exactly (sorry, Sniffs), but I'm sure I'll find out more about her personality as we continue :3

How do they get along with each other?
Pretty well, I'm happy to say! They're not bonded or anything (yet), but they get along perfectly fine and certainly seem to like each other. Petey loves to pounce on Sniffer for a nice tussle, which she is- aptly- a saint about. It's nice that she has a tabby personality; I hate to think of what a less play-inclined cat would think of him.




DAY TWO: LIKES AND DISLIKES
Figure out some of their favorites: clothes, toys, foods...
Would you believe it if I said that in over 2 decades of playing Petz, I never realized they had favorite foods? I knew there were foods they don't like, of course (I mean, come on, I'm a meezer enthusiast), but I never really knew about the whole "favorite flavor" thing. So I guess Petey and Miss Sniffs are going to be my first subjects in that area :3
Since I'm a bad cat dad, I started with treats. I set one of each type out in the area, then let each of them out to see what they liked.

I started with St. Sniffer. She got to the pouncing right away, but while she did "catch" it, she snubbed the fish treat in favor of the beef treat. (As a fish hater/beef lover, I approve.) She played a little bit with the cotton candy before eating it, but hoovered up the popcorn immediately. She also hoovered up everything else besides the fish treat (which she came back to) and the healthy treat. So she's certainly not picky, but I think she's more concerned with playing with the fish and cotton candy treats than she is with eating them, so I guess those are lower on the list for her.
With Petey, I'd already found that he prefers playing with treats than to eating them, but I'd only tried a couple kinds (beef and fish, I believe?), so maybe there's something he goes ham for.

It looks like I'd just happened to pic a couple of the snacks he's not super interested in, because he ate about half the treats right away. However, a few of them (the fish, beef, and bone treats) became the victim of his lil pounces and bunny kicks. Oh, and he hated the cheese. I wish I'd gotten a better picture, but he was not having it.
Next was clothes, so I could get them to be hungry again. I could imagine that I'd spoiled their dinners. This one was easy! I must have their vibes down pat (somehow???) because they both loved the very first colors I chose for them. Petey looks dashing in yellow, and blue becomes Sniffy! Though she was a teeny bit impatient, but nothing too bad.

Now onto toys! I'd played with them with the chew toy before, since all my Catz seem to love it, but I hadn't tried anything else, so I put a bunch of stuff out on the ground and let them go crazy.
They didn't super care about them at first- in fact, Petey was scared of all the mess- but they started playing eventually.

Petey stuck to his chew toy, and we played fetch for a little while St. Sniffer was beating up a shoe. (She's vicious when she's not crying for attention!) He also liked the yarn ball, and while Sniffs was afraid of the yellow star ball at first, she faced her fear and had a good time. My overall conclusion is that they're both really playful Catz- which I did already know- and that they're not particularly picky about toys, which is a worthwhile observation for sure.
In the end, I decided not to figure out their favorite meals- they were full from snacks still, and getting pretty chubby. Granted, Petz don't have the same ill effects from being overweight as real pets do, but it's the principle of the thing!

Tell us about the experience- were they picky or did they like a variety of foods? Were they impatient, or did they let you experiment with clothes? Are they scared of toys or totally fine?
As I mentioned, neither of them are really picky about their likes and dislikes. Petey does hate the cheese, but to be fair, that's just one flavor out of several. I'm glad they're flexible- finicky/impatient cats can be funny, but I already have a bunch of those, and MAN is it un-fun to dress my boy Cider in particular...

Have a little fashion show! Take pictures of the outfits they like and let us all see them strut their stuff!
You don't have to tell me twice!!!




DAY THREE: MAKING FRIENDS
Introduce them to some of your other Petz- preferably ones of both species.
They'll be meeting the rest of my naturally raised crew when they get a little older, but before they get to be adults, I wanted to introduce St. Sniffer and Petey to Cayenne (bred by Teascape), since he's notoriously good with kittens and it makes me melt :") It's a little bit of a tradition.

Sniffs hated him, apparently, because she pranced around when he left, but look at him... : - (

Petey's feelings were a little harder to discern... he'd go from growling at Cayenne to dancing around. He didn't react any which way when I put him away, though, so I guess it just evened out to neutrality.
Now that Cayenne's obligatory dad moment was over, it was time for them to meet their first Dogz. Lup (bred by Hashbrown) and Snaggle (hexed by sharon) were my original gameplay challenge Petz, and even if I didn't end up actually going through with using them for it, I figured they could at least get a little time in the spotlight.

Snaggle definitely liked Sniffer more than she liked him. She did try to like him, and she didn't hate him off the bat- and she was even up for some licks- but in the end, she spent much more time glaring and growling than having a good time with him. She also, if my memory serves me correctly, danced around when he left. I swear she's a nice cat.

Petey, meanwhile, was introduced to Lup. I suspected that he'd get along well with Dogz considering he's so playful, and I was right! He loved jumping around with her- until, that is, she got bored with him and started running around barking instead of interacting with him. Maybe someday I'll have a dog I click with enough to naturally raise for real and Petey will like that one even more, but it doesn't look like he really was buddies with Lup, in terms of game mechanics, so.
Kiki, also bred by Tea, is one of my favorite Catz and the reason I'm hooked on chinchi-personality alleys, so I figured she'd be the first (well, third) cat I introduced Petey to.

They got along great! I don't think I've ever seen Kiki bathe any other pet like that, and it was lovely to see them skipping around each other. I think they're gonna be pretty good friends in the future, knock on wood : - )
As for Sniffy, I thought Zamazenta might be a nice match, but while I was deciding for sure, Ianto came to visit, so I took that as a sign and introduced the two of them.

AHHH! LOOK AT THEMMMMM!!!! Baby Sniff's first friend :") I'm really genuinely glad, because Ianto had a best bud in a previously naturally raised cat of mine, but y'know, emphasis on the previously thing... so he finally has a friend to see every day again! I guess he likes tabbies? :0c

Are there any patterns (a pet who's mostly hostile, a pet who gets along with everyone ...) or was it a mixed bag?
For St. Sniffer it was a mixed bag- though I'll have a better idea as I introduce her to more of my NR crew as she grows up- but Petey seems to get along well with everyone but doesn't really form emotional attachments. Better than not getting along with anyone, I suppose, but I do hope he gets a proper friend someday!

If they're adults at this point, is there a budding romance between anyone...? 👀
Alas, they're still kittens for a couple more days, but after that... we certainly shall see B3



DAY FOUR: WORLD TOUR
Explore some of the Petzy world!
Soooo I dragged my feet on this one because tbh I don't really care about location in Petz and most external playscenes don't work for me anyway, but then my dear friend Lily gave me a suggestion to just do fun polaroids, so here's that!!

If on the off chance you have a polaroid collection, feel free to put these in there :]

Did they like the hosts? How about the playscene gimmicks, like the snowballs?
I uhhhh forgot to have the hosts enabled lol. But the gimmicks were hit or miss- the lil guys were afraid of the balloons, but they loved the snowballs, and so did I! It was pretty hilarious seeing them (especially Petey) flip the hell out when getting hit by a snowball and then act all happy after they calm down.



Not a gameplay challenge thing, but quick announcement: Sniffs had her first baby!

He'll be up for adoption on Flowsnake in a few days, but for now, I'm taking a break from the challenge since Sniffer is in mama mode. :3



DAY FIVE: HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
And we're back! Sniffy is out of mama mode and Cheddar found himself a home, so it's time to get back to the game.

Even if you already have, spend some time in the back yard. If one or both of your Petz are Catz, do either of them play fetch? Do your Dogz like it a lot, or maybe just a little?
Hmmm. The back yard, huh? Like I said, I'm not one for "locations" as it were, but there certainly are things to do. Before that, though, we gotta dress up!

... Mixed feelings.
Armed with my kitties and a bunch of seeds, I went out to the back yard to start planting. ... And then I went back to the toy closet because I forgot my watering can. Anyway, before I could even start, I noticed something: Sniffs and Petey are real, proper friends now! Something must have clicked, because they were hopping all around each other and meowing excitedly, and they get sad when they're separated. Absence makes the heart grow stronger...?

In fact, they were too absorbed with each other to test the fetch thing. I know Petey plays fetch (despite his lack of tricksterhood), but I wasn't certain about Sniffer, so I put the former away and got to work with the lil lady.
As I suspected, she doesn't play fetch, but she was very cute with the ball regardless and would carry it around in her mouth. She once left it on the branch of the tree, then jumped down and stalked it from the ground. It didn't really work, but she had fun.

Then, it was time for Petey to show off his fetching skills for the camera. Look at my little man!!!!

With my experimenting done, the two besties were once again allowed outside together- with St. Sniffer neutered juuust in case- and I went to do some gardening.

... Okay, no, you two go back inside.

That's better. Now that everything's taken seed, you can-

COME ON

(Here's how our little garden turned out!)

Hang out with your Petz while you (re)decorate your family room! Hang up some photos of your Petz or download some new decor from around the PC- and we're getting close to Christmastime, so maybe a tree...?
So, one thing about me is that I REALLY love Christmas. Just the whole vibe is awesome to me. So I'd been waiting excitedly for Halloween to come and go so I could redecorate for Christmas, and then I just... didn't? SO LET'S FIX THAT.

(Clothes first.)
After a few trips to the toy closet, I finally had what I needed to decorate. Petey kept screaming about... something? I'm not sure? So that was kinda worrisome. I guess he's just afraid of one of the decorations, though I'm not sure which one. He'll survive.

The little guys were more distracting than I expected but exactly as much as I should have. I didn't know Catz would play with the ornament boxes like they would a ball or a plushie, but they're cats, so what else are they gonna do?
I gave them orange slices and mints for being good while I decorated, even though they weren't, and then it was time to wrap up for the day. So happy to be back!




DAY SIX: BACK TO WORK
Do a little training with your Petz- show training, obedience training, and/or trick training with Dogz and trickster Catz.
ok SO. i did cheat a liiiiiiittle here. i'd taken petey's show pic before I aged him down and I aged St. Sniffer up to take her show pic, BUT in my defense I'd had Sniffs for a couple months already so I already knew what she'd look like as an adult. I'll post the show pics at the end. Sniffs was a good girl and barely needed any training, btw. I love tabbies ❤️

If you're on Whiskerwick, you can take take their FBC photos for the Petz Citizen Scheme.
Oh yeah, I guess I was going to post this on RKC originally. I forgot about that. Well anyway, I can so I did! Here are their FBCs from a few days back:


Because I got impatient lol, and here are their BPCs from today:



Do you think you'll show your Petz in the future? Why or why not? Show us the best poses you got out of them.
uhhh yeah about that lol. so Petey is an SGCh already and Sniffs is a champion, I believe? haha. um. here are their poses.




DAY SEVEN: IT'S BEEN ...
...one week since you got these Petz! How's it been? How much, if at all, have your Petz and your feelings about them changed?
Haha ... yeah ... one week ... I've definitely been keeping up with these and doing them every day... haha... ANYWAY idk how they've changed themselves really, but like I said, they're best friends now and I'm so happy for them!! Even if I don't go on to keep them in my NR crew, which is a possibility, they are My Little Guys and i really like them, especially Petey. Sorry, Sniffs, but favoring him hasn't changed. : - ( Although, come to think of it, I think Sniffs has changed in that she's less playful and exuberant now that she's grown up. Which makes sense!

Take some comparison photos: a pic of them from your first day and a current pic of them in the same position. If you haven't naturally raised a pet for a while, it's sorta wild to see how big they get in just one week!
Uh, hmm. It was hard to get many from Sniffs, because like I said, she's less exuberant now. But here are a few comparison shots of the lil guys!

OH.... THEY WERE SO LITTLE... especially petey omg?? look at the little guy... the one I got of Sniffer isn't quite as good a demonstration but it IS very funny so im keeping it.

Sorry this is such a lame update, I'm sick :") so.



DAY EIGHT: SHOPPIN'
Play with your Petz and take some nice photos ...
yea ok


... then make a stamp! Or a trading card, or any other graphic.
Por que no los dos?


These are free for anyone to collect, whether you participated in the challenge or not :3



DAY NINE: FREE DAY!
I decided to revisit yesterday's theme of graphic design and code myself a showroom website featuring Sniffs and Petey! The content isn't done, but their contribution's been lovingly fulfilled. Here's what it looks like :3




DAY TEN: WRAP-UP
What did you think of the contest? Would you do it again? Do you have feedback? Uhhh yeah I had fun! I think I've just been having a bit of a lousy time outside of this lmao so I didn't enjoy it as much as i could have but hopefully next time one of these rolls around i won't be sick :")
I'm not sure I'd host one again, since there didn't seem to be much interest, but I'd certainly do one if someone else hosted one.

Where are you going from here? Will you continue naturally raising these Petz now that the challenge has ended, or are they going in your main crew?
I've been thinking about it and ... I'm really not sure. Partially I'm not super focused on the gameplay aspect right now- I'm more into hexing, I guess? Or just other non-petzy stuff- but also I want to trim my NR/gameplay crew down a bit ... I think if I'm going to keep either kitty in my NR crew, it'll be Petey; probably not both. Sorry, Sniffs; you're a good girl, I just don't love you like that, I guess? But I'm still really glad I did it! It's nice to bond with a pet, and she's always invited back to my "former naturally raised/gameplay pet get togethers" that I'm planning on doing once in a while.

Thanks for reading, everyone!!! \o/