Pet

There are several types of pets in RuneScape, the majority of which are Summoning related and as such require the Wolf Whistle quest to have been completed. Prior to Summoning the dominant pet in Gielinor was the cat, which requires completion of the Gertrude's Cat quest.

A pet fish may be obtained from Harry's Fishing Shop in Catherby, provided that the player has a fishbowl containing water and seaweed (in that order). Players will need to use fish food on their pet fish to keep it alive.

A pet rock may be obtained from Askeladden during and after The Fremennik Trials quest. Pet rocks eat far less than any other pet. Also,in addition to following you where ever you go, summoned pets have their own "page". If you have a pet (members only) than their page will be by the add friends page. Your pet's hunger will grow slowly, so you must "use" a certain type of food on them, causing the pet to eat the food, and, therefore, lower it's hunger.

Summoning pets


Summoning Pets are a specific class of pet that requires the appropriate Summoning level to have as a familiar. Pets feature as 'decoration', with the exception of the Broav which is used in While Guthix Sleeps, as well as a way of showing off Summoning levels. They are very similar to cats obtained from the Gertrude's Cat quest.

When a pet is first gained it will be a baby/hatchling/chick, with the exception of the Broav, which is captured as an adult using the Hunter skill and the Ex-ex-parrot which is undead. Younger pets require food at a higher frequency than their adult counterparts, if they are not fed they will run away. Hunger may be monitored in the Summoning tab, once hunger reaches 100% they will leave. Time at which the player chooses to feed the pet does not effect it's growth rate. Once the growth percentage it will mature into it's next form, notably only the Zamorak Hawk, Guthix Raptor and Saradomin Owl have three stages, while most other pets have only two or one. Methods of obtaining a pet vary, and if the pet needs to be hatched from an egg incubators can be found in the Pet shops in Taverly and Yanille.

A player may talk to a pet once they are 10 or more summoning levels above the required Summoning level to obtain that pet. This means communication between pets above the level of 90 is impossible, with the exception of the monkey which the player may speak to with the M'speak amulet from Monkey Madness.

A player can only have one "follower" active at a time: familiar, pet, cat or Quest NPC. The number of Summoning Pets players may own is based on their Summoning level: One pet, plus one additional pet for every ten Summoning levels. A level 12 summoner could have two pets, for example. A player may not have more than one 'type' of pet, this includes god-birds. Raven eggs are the rarest egg and may not be obtained through Kingdom Managing.

Pet Shop Locations
Pet shops are located in:
 * Taverly
 * Yanille

Players will receive a chat box notification when the egg has hatched, any pet hatched in an incubator will remain there until the player chooses to retrieve it and will not grow or hunger. Pet shop owners are also the only NPC that sell the Summoning pet specific food.

Use and Reception
When pets were first released, many players complained that pets still required food even when fully grown, unlike the cats, which required no feeding once a kitten had grown up. This was explained as stress on the server as having a pet or familiar out all the time would inevitably slow them down. This is also the reason why timers are implemented and no familiars are allowed in high player density areas such as the Grand Exchange. Pets being high maintenance ironically detracted the players that would likely have the ability to own the higher levels, and wouldn't consider keeping them out other than for Alching, Fletching or other similar passive near-bank activities. This rings true especially for pets with non-stackable food, which is the majority. Familiars however filled the gap that many thought pets would take, as skill/combat aids and beasts of burden, leaving pets largely ignored for lack of any ability.

Trivia

 * Initially players could have multiple (different) god birds, this was 'fixed' by Jagex. However some players still have two or three.
 * Zamorak hawks and Saradomin Owls will not prevent warriors from said allegiances attacking you while in the God Wars Dungeon.