Although there are plenty of friends to be made in Animal Crossing: New Horizons — be they real people online or NPCs encountered on your island — heading home for the night can be all too lonely at times. Some say that a house isn’t a home without a pet, but are there any options available to Animal Crossing Nintendo Switch players on that front? Stick around as we answer the question: “Can you get pets in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?”
Can you get pets in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
Although it’s possible to obtain a variety of pet paraphernalia in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, unfortunately, no, you can’t get any fuzzy friends to adorn pet beds and kennels. That being said, you can live alongside any bugs and fish that you catch by dropping them in your home; just be aware that they’ll live inside tanks and containers and won’t get up to much.
ALSO: What is the Animal Crossing: New Horizons money tree limit?
Snapping Turtles are the only Animal Crossing: New Horizons creature that can serve as free-range pets, due to the fact that dropping these reptiles won’t immediately place them within the confines of a tank. This has led to players adopting and spoiling them with gifts, as you can see in this guide’s featured image courtesy of Bloooof on Reddit.
If that’s enough to convince you that you need one, check out our guide on how to catch a Snapping Turtle. Don’t delay, however, as they’re only available during a certain period of any given year.
If you aren’t the turtle type, then creatives like jettsona and Honeywhip (credit for the second image) have been sharing makeshift cats on Reddit. By customizing a cat bed in-game and applying a custom kitty design, it’s possible to give a bed the appearance of being occupied by a feline friend.
