A pet is a non-combat NPC loyal to a player that generally requires a certain level in Summoning to own. Typically, a player must raise a pet to maturity by having it follow them. Many pets can also be fed and interacted with. Most pets do not serve a purpose other than decoration, however, some pets are used in quests and have other additional benefits.
A player may only have one pet, familiar, or NPC (e.g. Zanik, or the Zanaris choir) following them at one time. Players can manage pets while active through the familiar interface, by using food on them, by left-clicking, and with direct interaction by right-clicking.
Pets that exist as items may be stored in the bank or inventory, and will follow the player when dropped. Other pets are automatically stored in the Hero interface and can be called to follow the player at any time. Players can store up to 25 pets in the Menagerie of a player-owned house (with the highest-level pet houses). Unlike familiars, pets may be brought into Summoning-free zones.
A baby blue dragon, available with level 99 Summoning.
Many pets require an appropriate Summoning level to be obtained, raised, and kept. With some exceptions, such as god birds for protection in the God Wars Dungeon, these pets have no real use other than decoration, or as a way to show off a player's Summoning level.
Caring for pets
When a pet is first obtained, it will be in its lowest growth stage and will grow as it follows the player, with the exception of several pets which only have one growth stage such as the Broav.
A player can monitor a pet's growth and hunger in the Summoning menu. Younger pets will become hungrier faster than their adult counterparts, but the frequency of feeding does not affect a pet's growth rate.
Unlike other pets, kittens must be stroked and fed regularly or they will run away. Once they reach adult stage, they no longer need to be fed.
At 100% growth, the pet will mature into its next form. Pets can have up to three growth stages. Legendary pets obtained from Solomon's General Store can be interacted with and can be fed different types of food that can also be obtained from the store, which will speed up their growth significantly.
Pets that hatch from eggs will need incubating before they hatch, which requires them to be placed in an egg incubator found in the Pet shops in Taverley and 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. Pet shop owners are also the only NPCs that sell specific food for pets.
A player may speak with a pet once they are 10 or more Summoning levels above the required Summoning level to obtain that pet. Communication with pets above the level of 90 is possible, with the exception of the Baby dragon, which cannot be understood regardless of how high the player boosts their Summoning level. The Monkey can be spoken to if the player wears the M'speak amulet from Monkey Madness, and the TzRek-Jad is naturally capable of speech. Players with 99 summoning can communicate with a Chameleon after using the cape's right click "boost" option to temporarily achieve level 100 summoning.
Pets that are stored in the 'Hero' interface function differently from other pets. These are separated into three categories: Follower, Legendary and Companion. These do not need any feeding, although legendary pets can be given treats to make them grow more quickly.
Item pets
These pets exist as items. When dropped, they will start to follow the player. Note: If a player dies while their pet is following them, it will disappear and the player will have to find a new one.
Summoning
These pets require a specific Summoning level to obtain, as well as other requirements.
| Requirements | Stages | Pet | Food | Obtained |
Colours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 
|
 - 
|
Bulldog | Raw meat and Bones | Purchased from pet shop | 3 |
 - 
|
Dalmatian | ||||
 - 
|
Greyhound | ||||
 - 
|
Labrador | ||||
 - 
|
Sheepdog | ||||
 - 
|
Terrier | ||||
4 , 5 
|
|
Creeping hand | Leather gloves | Soul Wars | 1 |
| 4 , 25
|
|
Minitrice | Limpwurt root | ||
| 4 , 40
|
|
Baby basilisk | Eye of newt | ||
| 4 , 70
|
|
Baby kurask | Bones | ||
| 4 , 85
|
|
Abyssal minion | Ashes | ||
| 4 , Rune Mechanics
|
|
Rune guardian | Revitalisation near a Runecrafting altar | Quest reward | 14 |
10 , 27 
|
 - 
|
Gecko | Flies and beetle bits | Caught | 4 |
| 10 , 48 , As a First Resort
|
 - 
|
Platypus | Raw fish, Ground fishing bait as a baby, Fishing bait as adult | Caught (quest reward) | 3 |
| 14 , Bringing Home the Bacon
|
|
Pig | Wheat, Onions | Quest reward | 3 |
| 23 , While Guthix Sleeps
|
|
Broav | Mort Myre Fungus | Caught (quest reward) | 1 |
| 30
|
 - 
|
Penguin | Raw fish | Hatched (Zoo keeper) | 3 |
| 37 , Fairytale III
|
 -  / 
|
Tooth creature | Bucket of milk or Chocolatey milk | Bought for several teeth after quest. Free afterwards. | 1 |
| 40 , 32 , Pirate Pete subquest RFD
|
 - 
|
Giant crab | Raw fish | Traded for a crunchy claw token | 5 |
| 50
|
 - 
|
Raven | Ground fishing bait as a chick, fishing bait as adult | Hatched (Nest) | 6 |
|
60 |
 - 
|
Squirrel | Nuts | Caught | 5 |
| 70
|
 -  - 
|
Guthix raptor | Ground fishing bait as a chick, fishing bait as adult | Hatched (Nest) | 1 |
 -  - 
|
Saradomin owl | ||||
 -  - 
|
Zamorak hawk | ||||
| 71 , Rocking Out
|
|
Ex-ex-parrot | Rock fragments | Revive an ex-parrot obtained from 50 Ships Mufassah | 1 |
| 72 , 51 , In Pyre Need
|
|
Phoenix eggling (cute) | Ashes | Hatched (Phoenix Lair Distractions and Diversions) | 1 |
|
Phoenix eggling (mean) | ||||
| 80 , 27
|
 - 
|
Raccoon | Raw meat and fish | Caught | 3 |
80 , 80 
|
 - 
|
Sneakerpeeper spawn | Eye of newt | Bought for 85,000 Dungeoneering Tokens | 1 |
| 85
|
 - 
|
Vulture | Ground fishing bait as a chick, fishing bait as adult | Hatched (Vulture drop) | 6 |
| 90
|
 - 
|
Chameleon | Flies | Hatched (found) | 10 |
| 95 , 27
|
 - 
|
Monkey | Bananas | Caught in Karamja | 10 |
| 99
|
 - 
|
Baby dragon | Vast amounts of raw meat, fish and chicken | Hatched (Chromatic Dragon drop) | 4 |
| 99 , 99
|
|
TzRek-Jad | Nothing | Soul wars | 1 |
Non-summoning
These pets do not have Summoning requirements and instead have other requirements.
Interface pets
These pets do not exist as items. Instead, they are accessed through the 'Pets' tab in the Hero interface.
Follower pets
Follower pets can be spoken to for dialogue, with the exception of the rhinos. This is done by right-clicking the Summoning icon near the minimap.
Legendary pets
Legendary pets can now have up to three abilities active at one time. These are equipped in slots, which are unlocked as your pet reaches new growth stages.
- Forage: the pet will find random items and drop them on the ground.
- Bank: the pet will allow you to bank one item every 10 minutes.
- Scavenge: the pet will pick up items dropped by monsters. This can be configured to choose which items are picked up.
- Slayer finisher: your pet will automatically finish off slayer monsters that usually require an item, saving you in inventory slot.
- Item repair: once per hour, you can use a repairable degrading item on your pet to repair it immediately. This works – and costs – the same as using the POH armour stand.
- Beast of Burden: use a beast of burden familiar pouch on your pet to grant it the according level of BoB capacity. You must have the necessary Summoning level to use the pouch, and you can use more pouches to stack or renew the duration up to 2 hours.
- High Alchemy: once per 10 minutes, use an item on your pet to convert it to coins, as per the High Alchemy spell. This requires no runes, and gives no Magic XP. Requires 55 Magic.
- Fertiliser: every hour, your pet will answer the call of nature. The results – only viewable to you – can be picked up for six buckets of super compost.
- Life Saver: your pet will save you from death, as per a ring of life. Note that this does not work in PvP areas and has a two-hour cooldown (logged-in time).
Note that life saver, slayer finisher, repair item and fertiliser aren't available for Ironman accounts.
The stages can be switched between at any time once reached and their slot number will remain unlocked. These pets can be given a Tasty Treat, Jelly Treat or Growth Surge to make them grow to the next stage faster. There are 16 colour variations for these pets. Legendary pets are also able to override familiars.
| Icon | Name | Source |
|---|---|---|
 |
Skypouncer | Solomon's General Store |
 |
Blazehound | |
 |
Bloodpouncer | |
 |
Dragon Wolf | |
 |
Warborn behemoth | |
 |
Prototype colossus | |
 |
Rory the Reindeer | |
 |
Shadow Drake | |
 |
Fire Drake |
Companion pets
Companion pets have 16 colour variations and no growth stages. Each companion pet has a unique emote that can be performed by interacting with it by right-clicking the Summoning icon near the minimap. Companion pets are also able to override familiars.
| Icon | Name | Source |
|---|---|---|
| File:Vorago shard icon.png | Vorago shard | Solomon's General Store |
 |
Dawn | |
 |
Dusk | |
 |
Elvis Pressie | |
| File:Zeppelin icon.png | Zeppelin | |
| File:Inari icon.png | Inari | |
 |
Brightflame ancient | |
 |
Zenn | |
 |
Repentant horror | |
 |
Repentant beast | |
 |
Repentant ogre | |
 |
Piggles | Gained by purchasing Membership package |
 |
Commander Porkins | |
 |
Mimic | Treasure Hunter |
 |
Pirate sheep | Redeeming 3000 doubloons |
 |
Lava hawk | Purchase Gold Membership package |
 |
Kirin | Purchase any Membership packages using PayPal |
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 visible in high player density areas such as the Grand Exchange. Pets being high maintenance was too much bother to some players that would likely have the ability to own the higher level pets and wouldn't consider keeping them out other than for passive activities. This was especially true for pets with non-stackable food of which is currently 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.
As part of an update on 19 December 2012, pets will no longer run away as a result of hunger, with the exception of pet cats.
Trivia
- Initially, players could have mature God birds of differing Gods. Jagex limited God bird ownership to one bird for a time, but with the introduction of the Menagerie, it became possible to own all three God birds at once.
- Zamorak hawks and Saradomin Owls will prevent warriors from said allegiances attacking you while in the God Wars Dungeon. This can be extremely useful for players who do not wish to be forced to wear a particular armour showing allegiance to said groups.
- Eek, the reward for completing the 2009 Hallowe'en Event, could be considered the first pet allowed to Non-members. However, because Eek won't follow you, she could be considered similar to a Pet rock or Pet fish. Eek can also be put into the menagerie, where the player has the option to 'Interact' with her, resulting in the same dialogue.
- Players originally had a limit on the number of pets they could own. This started with 2 pets of different types at level 1 Summoning, along with 2 more for every ten levels starting at level 11. However, the limit on different types of pets was removed on 16 January 2012.
- Prior to the introduction of Summoning, the only pets in Gielinor were cats, fish and pet rocks.
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