Revision 17

Overview

Pets are animal companions that can be registered and taken along on your journey through Pywel in Crimson Desert. They are a subset of the broader Lifeforms system, specifically the tameable dogs and cats found throughout settlements. Both dogs and cats can be tamed by building trust through petting and feeding. Once registered, a pet follows you during exploration and assists in combat by automatically looting items from defeated enemies. Pets do not fight enemies directly, but the auto-loot ability alone makes them one of the most valuable quality-of-life features in the game.

There are 18 pet breeds in total: ten dog breeds and eight cat breeds, with 112 individual variants across all breeds. You can register up to 30 pets, though only one can be actively summoned at a time. The remaining registered pets are stored in your inventory's Pets tab, and you can swap your active companion whenever you want. Animals roam settlements where humans live, especially larger towns like Greymane Camp and the City of Hernand. They appear in different locations depending on the time of day, so check back at different hours if you cannot find the breed you are looking for.

How to Obtain Pets

To register an animal as your companion, you need to build a bond with it by gaining its trust. There are two primary methods for building trust with stray animals: petting them repeatedly and giving them their favorite food. Both actions contribute to a trust meter that appears in the top-left corner of the screen whenever you interact with a stray animal, showing your progress toward taming it.

Every stray animal starts at 0 trust. You need 100 trust to register an animal as your pet. Once the trust meter reaches 100, put the animal down (if you are holding it) and hold Square on PlayStation or E on PC to select the "Take in" prompt. The animal is permanently registered as your pet from that point forward. You can register multiple animals and manage them through the inventory menu, switching your active pet at any time.

Building Trust

Trust is the core currency of the pet system. Both petting and feeding have daily caps tied to the in-game clock, which resets at midnight. Combining both methods in the same day is the fastest way to reach 100 trust.

Petting

Petting an animal grants +5 trust per interaction. You can pet an animal up to 5 times per in-game day for a maximum of +25 trust from petting alone. Petting is free and requires no items.

Dogs and cats are petted differently. For dogs, simply approach the animal and hold the interaction button. Cats require an extra step: you must first hold the button to physically pick the cat up, then press the pet button again while carrying it.

Feeding

Feeding is the fastest way to build trust. You can feed an animal up to 3 times per in-game day. To feed a stray, open your inventory, select the food item, and discard it on the ground near the animal. If the animal is hungry, it will walk over and eat the food. Be careful in areas with multiple strays or nearby NPCs, because a different animal or even a guard may grab the food before your target reaches it. Isolate the animal you want to feed before dropping food on the ground.

The trust gained per feeding depends on the type of food and the animal species. Dogs eat meat, while cats prefer bird meat, fish, and milk.

Meat can be purchased at the Grocer's Shop or Butchery in Hernand, located south of the inn. Using Fine Meat is by far the fastest way to tame a dog. Three feeds of Fine Meat in a single day provide +105 trust, which already exceeds the 100 trust threshold on its own. Combined with petting, you can register a dog on day one without waiting.

Maximizing Daily Trust

To register a pet as quickly as possible, combine petting and feeding every in-game day. The theoretical maximum trust you can earn in a single day depends on the food quality.

Dogs fed Fine Meat can be registered in a single in-game day. Dogs fed Tough Meat take about two in-game days. Cats take at least two days with optimal feeding, since their food only grants +10 trust per feeding regardless of the item used. If you rely on petting alone, it takes a minimum of four in-game days to reach 100 trust.

Trust Items and Favorite Foods

Every pet breed has a unique favorite food that grants +35 trust per feeding. Feeding the correct favorite food is the fastest standard method to build trust with any animal. Beyond favorites, all pets share a tiered trust item system where different food categories provide varying amounts of trust. The table below summarizes the universal trust tiers.

Cats have access to an exclusive trust tier that dogs do not: Legendary Fish grants a massive +100 trust per feeding. Legendary Fish are rare catches obtained through fishing and include species like Golden Tench, Coelacanth, Golden Carp, Clockwork Fish, Golden Coelacanth, and Hexe Earthen Fish. A single Legendary Fish can push a cat from 0 to 100 trust in one feeding session, bypassing the multi-day taming process entirely. Dogs cannot eat Legendary Fish.

Each breed's favorite food is listed in the breed tables below. Note that two breeds can share the same favorite: for example, both the Beagle and Jindo prefer Sweet Potato, while the Greyhound and Saluki both prefer Fine Meat. Always check the individual breed page for the complete trust item list.

Dogs vs. Cats

While all pets share the same core abilities (following, auto-looting), there are a few practical differences between dogs and cats during the taming process.

• Petting method: Dogs can be petted directly by holding the interaction button. Cats must be picked up first, then petted while being held.

• Food preferences: Dogs accept any type of meat. Fine Meat grants +35 trust per feeding, making dogs much faster to tame. Cats prefer bird meat, fish, or Milk, all of which only grant +10 trust per feeding.

• Taming speed: A dog can be registered in a single in-game day if you use Fine Meat. Cats take at least two in-game days with consistent feeding and petting.

• Regional availability: Most cat breeds are found everywhere except The Crimson Desert region. Most dog breeds appear across the continent, with the Saluki being absent from Pailune.

Introduction Quests

The pet system becomes available fairly early. Two faction quests serve as introductions to pet taming, and both offer a guided walkthrough of the trust-building process.

The Greymanes' New Fangs

This faction quest from the Scattered Embers tab becomes available after completing the "Greymanes Reunited" main quest at the end of Chapter 3. Naira brings Kliff to see a stray Brown Dog near the City of Hernand and asks for help feeding and taming it. The quest walks you through buying meat, feeding the dog, and building trust until you can register it as your companion. This is typically the first pet most players obtain.

Fang Without a Master

This is another faction quest that introduces pet mechanics. It serves as a tutorial for players who have not yet tamed an animal through the open-world trust system. The quest walks you through the process of bonding with and registering a companion, making it a good starting point for understanding how the system works.

Trust Enchants

Players can speed up the trust-building process by crafting enchants on Abyss Gear. Two enchant types affect trust gain:

• Companionship: Increases trust gain speed specifically with pets. This enchant only affects trust earned from petting and feeding stray dogs and cats.

• Solidarity: Increases trust gain with all NPCs and animals, including pets. This is a broader enchant that also benefits trust building with other lifeforms and characters across Pywel.

Both enchants can be crafted onto Abyss Gear through the standard enchanting system. Stacking Companionship enchants is the most efficient option if your primary goal is taming pets quickly, while Solidarity provides value beyond just pet taming.

Pet Abilities and Benefits

Registered pets provide several practical advantages during gameplay.

• Exploration companion: Your registered pet follows you while exploring the open world of Pywel. The pet stays close to your character and travels with you across all regions.

• Auto-looting: Pets automatically loot items from defeated enemies during and after combat. Your companion sprints around the battlefield grabbing everything dropped by fallen foes, including materials, equipment, and resources. This saves a significant amount of time during extended fights and dungeon runs.

• Resource gathering: In addition to enemy drops, pets can pick up resources found in the environment while you explore. When you harvest materials such as herbs, ores, or wood, your pet automatically collects nearby loose items, further reducing the time you spend manually gathering.

• Permanent companion: Once registered, a pet stays with you permanently. There is no risk of losing a registered pet through normal gameplay. You can release a pet by selecting "Untie" in the Pets tab, but this is a manual action.

• Multiple pets: You can register up to 30 animals total. All registered pets are managed through the Pets tab in the inventory menu, where you can summon, swap, equip, or release pets.

Auto-Loot Behavior

Pets have no loot filter. They pick up everything, including low-value junk items. Keep an eye on your inventory and sell off unwanted items regularly to avoid running out of space. The auto-loot function triggers after enemies are defeated, so your pet will not collect items during active combat. Once the area is clear, the pet sprints across the battlefield collecting all dropped items automatically.

Pet Management

All registered pets are accessed through the Pets tab in the inventory menu. From this screen you can:

• Summon: Select any registered pet and press the summon button to make it your active companion. Only one pet can be active at a time.

• Swap: Switch between registered pets at any time through the Pets tab. Your current pet is unsummoned and the new one takes its place.

• Equip: Dress your pet in cosmetic equipment such as hats, outfits, and armor costumes purchased from pet tailor shops.

• Release: Select "Untie" to permanently release a pet. This cannot be undone, so be sure before you release a companion.

When you mount a horse, your active pet disappears temporarily. It returns once you dismount. Unsummoned pets wait at Greymane Camp.

Pet Health and Injuries

Pets can sustain injuries during combat encounters. An injured pet is unable to run and will move slowly until healed. To restore your pet to full mobility, you must first clear all enemies from the immediate area, then use Healing Force Palm (a variant of Force Palm from Kliff's skill tree) to heal your companion. Healing Force Palm unlocks automatically when Force Palm reaches Level 1.

Keeping your pet healthy ensures it can continue auto-looting without delay. An injured pet that cannot run will significantly slow down your exploration pace, so heal your companion as soon as possible after a fight.

Pet Equipment and Cosmetics

Pets can be dressed in a variety of cosmetic equipment including hats, helmets, body armor, and full outfits. Pet equipment is purely cosmetic and does not affect gameplay stats. The items let you customize your pet's appearance without altering their abilities.

Pet cosmetics can be purchased from tailor shops that specialize in pet clothing. There are two known vendor locations:

Milou's Tailor Shop in Pororin Forest Village carries the larger inventory. To unlock access to this village, you must attempt to enter the settlement three times, which triggers The Unreachable Village quest chain. After completing the quests, you gain permanent access to the village and its shops. The Demeniss tailor is accessible once you reach that region and carries a smaller selection of items.

Dog Equipment

All ten dog breeds share the same set of cosmetic equipment:

• Rescue Puppy Outfit (Pet Outfit)

• Puppy Plate Helm (Pet Helm)

• Puppy Plate Armor (Pet Outfit)

• Puppy Cloth Hat (Pet Helm)

• Puppy Cloth Outfit (Pet Outfit)

Cat Equipment

All eight cat breeds share a different set of cosmetic equipment:

• Cat Plate Helm (Pet Helm)

• Cat Plate Armor (Pet Outfit)

• Peddler Cat Hat (Pet Helm)

• Peddler Cat Outfit (Pet Outfit)

• Uniform Cat Hat (Pet Helm)

• Uniform Cat Outfit (Pet Outfit)

Cat breeds have six equipment options compared to five for dogs. All equipment items are purchased from the pet tailor shops listed in the vendor section above.

Regional Distribution

Pet breeds are distributed across three major regions of the game world. The majority of breeds are found in Pywel, the main continent. A smaller number of breeds are native to Kweiden, the mountainous northern territory. One breed, the Desert Cat, is exclusive to the Crimson Desert biome.

Kweiden breeds (Husky, Jindo, Shepherd) cannot be found in Pywel, and Pywel breeds do not spawn in Kweiden. This means players must visit both continents to collect all available dog breeds. The Desert Cat is the only pet exclusive to the Crimson Desert biome, making it one of the more challenging breeds to find.

Available Pet Breeds

There are 18 pet breeds in Crimson Desert: ten dogs and eight cats. All breeds offer the same core benefits (following, auto-looting), but each has a distinct appearance, personality, and unique favorite food. The complete list of tameable lifeforms is shown below.

Dog Breeds

There are ten dog breeds spread across Pywel and Kweiden. Dogs share a common trust item progression: bones grant +25 trust and their individual favorite food grants +35. Dogs cannot eat Legendary Fish.

Cat Breeds

There are eight cat breeds. Most are found across Pywel, with the Desert Cat being the sole breed exclusive to the Crimson Desert biome. Cats share access to Legendary Fish (+100 trust), making them potentially faster to tame than dogs if you have the right catch in your inventory. Each cat breed has its own unique favorite food that grants +35 trust. For detailed taming instructions for the Fat Cat, see its dedicated article.

30-Pet Cap and Collection

You can register a maximum of 30 pets across all breeds. Each individual stray animal in the world counts as its own pet when registered, so you can have multiple animals of the same breed. Collecting all 30 unique pets across Pywel completes a Life Challenge, which contributes toward achievement and trophy progress. This challenge encourages visiting every settlement and checking at different times of day, since animals roam to different locations throughout the daily cycle.

If you reach the 30-pet cap and want to register a new animal, you will need to release an existing pet using the "Untie" option in the Pets tab. Released pets cannot be recovered, so choose carefully.

Known Issues

There is a known glitch where a cat may visually disappear immediately after being registered as a pet. This has been reported most frequently with the Fat Cat breed near the Naz River. If your newly registered cat vanishes, the workaround is to jump into a nearby body of water. Submerging your character and then resurfacing forces the pet model to reload, and the cat should reappear and follow you normally after you exit the water.

Additionally, stray cats and dogs can sometimes despawn if you travel too far away during the taming process. If the animal you were building trust with is no longer in its usual spot, leave the area completely and return after a short time. The animal should respawn, and your existing trust progress is preserved.

Tips

• Stock up on Fine Meat from the Butchery in Hernand before visiting settlements. Three Fine Meat feeds in one day provide +105 trust, enough to register a dog immediately without any petting.

• Combine petting and feeding in the same day to maximize trust gains. Five pettings (+25) plus three Fine Meat feeds (+105) yield +130 trust in a single in-game day for dogs.

• Check settlements at different times of day if you cannot find a specific breed. Animals roam to different spots depending on the in-game hour.

• Isolate the stray you want to feed before dropping food. Guards and other nearby animals will try to eat the food you drop, wasting your offering.

• Use a lantern to hover over creatures if the interaction prompt does not appear. This helps highlight the pet and trigger the correct prompt.

• Use Healing Force Palm as soon as your pet takes an injury. An injured pet cannot run, which slows down your exploration and looting efficiency.

• Visit Milou's Tailor Shop in Pororin Forest Village for the best selection of pet cosmetics. Complete The Unreachable Village quest chain first to unlock access.

• Sell off junk items regularly. Pets pick up everything during auto-loot, including low-value items that fill your inventory quickly.

• Cats are harder to tame than dogs because cat food only grants +10 trust per feeding. Plan on spending at least two in-game days building trust with a cat.

• Work toward collecting all 30 pets early. Completing the collection fulfills a Life Challenge tied to achievement and trophy progress.

See Also

• Pet Equipment

• Pet Taming Guide

• Combat System

• Dried Fish

• Fat Cat

• Force Palm

• Healing Force Palm

• Kliff Skills

• Lifeforms

• Greymane Camp

• City of Hernand

• Mounts

• Main Story Walkthrough

• How to Get More Inventory Slots

• Life Challenges

• Naz River