Animal Rescue Challenge
Hi. Hello. It's been quite some time since I've played The Sims 4... but today, I propose a challenge for all you animal lovers: The Animal Rescue Challenge! I've had a bad hankering for making up a storyline that involved animals in need for the last few months, so I decided to share how I privately played my game. *More info after the cut*
I tried this challenge back in 2017 just as Cats & Dogs released; that challenge was inspired by PrincessZeda’s and Simtastic’s versions. I never finished posting pictures to my tumblr back then, but I am longing to try it again as it was very fulfilling. This challenge can be played in TS2, TS3 or TS4. I’m using TS4 as the vet items come in handy for my playthrough.
Rules
Your sims must not have a job outside of the rescue; i.e. veterinarian, rabbit hole careers, including influencer, active careers, etc.
Your sim(s) must start with §1,000
Sims may obtain simoleons by doing odd jobs, selling produce, selling wellness treats, holding bake sales, freelancing, fishing, painting, creating pottery, creating and selling jewelry, etc.
Earnings from donations must not be abused; i.e. opening the rescue every day or every other day to generate simoleons from visitors.
All adoptions must be to a sim in the world, otherwise giving the animal up for adoption via the phone or computer will make your sims sad and the animal will go to the adoption pool as it has gone to a virtual adoption center to be adopted again.
Each adoption is §700. Only five animals may be kept at a time (ex. 2 horses, 2 cats, and 1 dog)
Dogs are required to acquire the skills of being housebroken, trained to heel, sit, and play fetch.
Horses are required to be trained to at least level 5 of the temperament, agility, jumping, and endurance skills.
Puppies, kittens, and foals are allowed to be born at the rescue, but not between two animals in your sims’ care.
Foals must grow up in the rescue and finish their training, whilst puppies and kittens must be housebroken to fulfill the trained skills requirement.
You must have adequate room to house a litter and their mother; young animals must not be separated from their mothers at any point.
Each animal species should have its own building; these animals may be separated from the other species, or allowed to interact respectfully.
No animals should be allowed to fight one another. If animals do not get along, separate them immediately.
If animals run away, your rescue will be penalized with a deduction of §300.
If a young animal is separated from its mother, your rescue will be penalized with a deduction of §200.
If an animal enters your sims’ living quarters, your rescue will be penalized with a deduction of §100.
Each animal should be spayed or neutered upon entering your rescue’s care.
Each kennel, cat room, and stall or turnout should have bedding, a food bowl, toy, and a potty area, whether it is on a modded potty pad, or outside on grass.
Each kennel, cat room/cattery and paddock should be protected from the elements (rain, snow, heat, etc.)
Each kennel should have a run attached and dogs should be allowed to play in a large playyard; each animal should be exercised at least every other day.
Once an animal grows into an adult, they must be separated from their mother and placed in their own space in your rescue if they are not adopted beforehand.
If you run out of funds, have animals taken away, or your last remaining controllable sim dies, you have failed the challenge
Facilities, Guidelines & Goals
The rescue facility may need a little TLC, or be a state of the art rehabilitation center. Regardless of its design, your sims must have a place to wind down in peace, a place to cure each ailment, as well as oversee other duties.
Employee Lounge
Animal Isolation (sick bay)
Bathing Area
Veterinary Care (Up to 2 exam tables)
Surgery Room (Up to 2 surgery machines)
Training Facility and/or Arena
Photography Room
Storage Room
Creativity - Creativity knows no bounds. You are free to create unique scenarios with poses, gameplay, or a mix of the two to create a cohesive story and showcase your screenshots throughout this challenge. As this challenge is not meant to have a definite goal to be achieved, your facility may open or cease operations at any time you so wish. Although, if your sim is in debt, their goal will be to pay off the price of the fully furnished lot if the lot was purchased on a loan or by using the free real estate cheat. Sharing your facilities and animals is your prerogative; including cc and suggesting mods is at your own discretion. Please do not share other creators’ builds and pets as your own, even if you’ve just changed the layout for a better flow or to fit your own personal needs
Lots - You may use any lot size you wish; from 20 x 15 to 64 x 64 to fit your ideal rescue environment and accommodate sims visiting the lot and animals. Facilities can be fully built and furnished before being used, or you may build and purchase the essentials with the §20,000 starting funds on an empty lot. If your facility is built to your liking beforehand, your sim will more than likely struggle to afford the lot right off the bat. What you can do is manually give your sims a handout of the required funds and nothing more, meaning that your sim will have to make a side hustle for a while and acquire a debt to pay off. You may use a banking or loan mod, or keep track manually.
Setting Up Your Lot: Please use a residential lot that is neither a residential rental, nor a vet clinic. You may register this lot as a small business, or make it a retail lot that your sim(s) can unofficially live on. *Note* make sure each sim has adequate space to live and take care of the animals
Lot Traits & Challenges: Choose from the Cat Hangout, Dog Hangout, Training Ground, Filthy, Maintenance Troubles, Simple Living, & Wild Prairie Grass lot traits. You can use the mold lot challenge trait if it’s your cup of tea for added difficulty. *Note* black mold is toxic to both humans and animals, therefore this is a warning for sensitive viewers who enjoy realism and those that do not wish for their sims to accidentally die prematurely
Optional Rescue Lots: These lots can be built and furnished as a back alley, a rural setting, or in any other scenario where strays would be found and need rescuing. For these lots, make them a generic community lot type with the Cat and Dog Hangout traits. This makes it so that strays generate here instead of at your home facility where they can walk inside, make messes, and roam the lot indefinitely.
Sims - You may create any number of sims, whether it be a family, a single sim, or just a group of friends that founded the rescue. A rule of thumb would be to lessen the number of directly controllable sims so that there won’t be idle sim-hands. The more sims you have will become increasingly frustrating as if they do not complete their queued tasks, they will go on to something else that you don’t want them to do, i.e. playing computer games, blocking pathways while on their phone, or mass making food and drinks just for them to spoil in hidden areas and leave a mountain of dishes. Instead, hire one or two employees that will do specific jobs such as cleaning, playing with pets, and caring for the animals in general when your sims’ hands are full. Traits and LTW do not specifically matter in this challenge.
Animals - Cats, dogs, and horses may be created by you and added to your family over time, or you may take in cats and dogs as strays generated by the game. With cheats or the MC Command Center mod, you may edit pets to your liking and add or adopt them to your family as a rescue. Once each pet is ready to go to their forever home, they may be added to the home of the sim that interacts with them the most, or purchases their picture. Then with MC Command Center you can add the pet to their family without leaving the lot to manage worlds.
Required and Recommended Packs - Businesses & Hobbies, Bust the Dust, Cats & Dogs, Cottage Living, Get to Work, Get Together, Horse Ranch, Laundry Day, Life & Death, Moschino, My First Pet Stuff, and Seasons
Adoptions - Mass adoptions must only be made at a calendar event; these events can only be held once a season. All other adoptions should be at least every three days to a week once each animal has acquired required skills.
Calendar of Events
For each season, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, you may hold one event to receive donations, allow mass adoptions, and educate the public on responsible pet ownership. These events may be held as open days for the small business so that your rescue can have visitors. Your facility may also receive donations in the form of simoleons and supplies. You may use the kiosk to charge a fee to receive monetary donations, and have a controlled sim to gift your employees decorative and functional supplies; perfect for rescues low on funds or if you just want a touch of realism in your gameplay. If the items cannot be purchased and gifted, it is fine to have them purchased regularly as decor. You must deduct the amount of simoleons it costs to purchase them this way.
Adoption Fair - This is an event where animals may be adopted and visitors may be mentored via a whiteboard by using the Dog Training, Equestrian, and Veterinarian options. Donations in the form of simoleons and/or supplies are accepted.
Rescue Pawrty - This is a meet and greet event between visiting sims and the animals. Refreshments may be served to improve mood, adoptions may be conducted, and donations accepted.
Pet Talent Show - This is an event for dogs and horses where they perform tricks, run agility courses, and showcase their skills in barrel races or complete jumping courses. Donations may be accepted.
Resources
These are articles of custom content that I felt is needed for a well-rounded experience. They are linked in the full document version of this challenge and will be updated regularly.
Phew! That was a doozy. If you made it this far, kudos to you!
I hope to see you guys’ posts and what crazy shinanigans your sims and the pets they take in get into. I’ll track the tag #sims animal rescue challenge
