When a Sims dies in The Sims 4, you’ll get a message that says their pets would be in good care with a loving family. What really happens is that they’re completely deleted from the game. They disappear the same way a dead Sim would.
Pets cannot live by themselves, they need their owner to take care of their needs. The game simply culls them when the last teenager or adult in a household dies.
Simply put, they no longer exist. They’re deleted from the game as if they never existed. They won’t show up in unplayed households either.
In a way, you can breath a sigh of relief. When the owner dies, pets won’t be roaming as strays or end up in the adoption agency.
However, the fact that they plain and simply get deleted is a bit grim.
There is no way to get them back, unless you load a previous save game where the pet owner was still alive.
How to get deleted pets back to The Sims 4
To get deleted pets back to The Sims 4, load a save game prior to your Sim’s death or the moment that triggered their disappearance.
Load an old save where the pets still exist. Then, edit everything in CAS, and save the household to your library. Close the old save and open the new save.
Go to CAS, edit your household and choose to add a household from your library. Select the household where that pet is. In this way, you can get them back to the game.
Pets will lose their relationship when you load them to a new save game. The New Pet relationship will be available by default.
Do you think the game should move pets of deceased Sims to another household? Let me know in the comments below.