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[Leonidas]

Trying to stem the tide of stress in 44.10, I'm considering using pets. Are they worth the extra traffic and FPS hit?

[fishboyliam]

IMO no; if they die somehow, the owner gets really upset; and pets die more than you'd think

[Urist McVoyager]

Grab pets that don't eat, and pasture them in the owners' bed rooms. They'll still get out, but it should reduce the danger to them.

[fishboyliam]

Grab pets that don't eat, and pasture them in the owners' bed rooms. They'll still get out, but it should reduce the danger to them.

I always put them in a big pet room when they come with migrants

[George_Chickens]

You could lock them in a tiny pasture with 30 dogs for them to pat! That would do wonders for their health.

[Leonidas]

The point of pets, for what I'm doing, is to get an Affection reduction to stress from "interacted with a pet". I assume that this happens more when the pet is actually following the dwarf around. And I have no idea how often this happens.

[Werdna]

Aside from the FPS hit, which IMHO is really a deal-killer itself (unless you're limiting it to 'at risk' dwarves?), the emotional loss from pet loss is a real spike.  Many years ago I had a legendary, candied-up soldier lose a pet wardog in some accident or another, and that dude flipped into berzerk mode in the middle of a crowded civilian area.  Maybe that spike has changed, but I haven't assigned pets since. 

If you do try it, I'd try to find long-lived ones because I think dogs and cats can expire naturally as early as 10 years.

[PatrikLundell]

Aside from the FPS hit, which IMHO is really a deal-killer itself (unless you're limiting it to 'at risk' dwarves?), the emotional loss from pet loss is a real spike.  Many years ago I had a legendary, candied-up soldier lose a pet wardog in some accident or another, and that dude flipped into berzerk mode in the middle of a crowded civilian area.  Maybe that spike has changed, but I haven't assigned pets since. 

If you do try it, I'd try to find long-lived ones because I think dogs and cats can expire naturally as early as 10 years.

Cave dragons? Has the benefit that they need retraining, which means the owner might get natural interactions with it because of the training sessions (obviously, that would require the dorf to be allowed to retrain it, which I think militia training blocks).

[Saiko Kila]

I would try otherwise, a giant insect (from elves). For scientific purposes, of course, because they live only a year.

I personally do not give pets, and only cats sell themselves as pets in my forts. I even do not assign wardogs anymore. But this is due to experiences in older versions.

[fishboyliam]

Cave dragons? Has the benefit that they need retraining, which means the owner might get natural interactions with it because of the training sessions (obviously, that would require the dorf to be allowed to retrain it, which I think militia training blocks).

That sounds like a different brand of fun.

[Urist McVoyager]

On the other hand it does open up a new option. Instead of giving your stressed out dwarves a single pet, why not pull stressed out soldiers off the field and put them to work in the kennel?

[Insert_Gnome_Here]

DF2012 meta: spartan upbringing and desensitisation to tragedy. 
DF2018 meta: giant emotional support mantises

[Leonidas]

Here's my plan: I raid the elves for horses. I make a huge pasture to feed them all. Then I make a burrow on top of the pasture with beds, booze, and food. And I assign those ticking time bombs emotionally delicate dwarves to the burrow with labors turned off, so that they have nothing to do all day but adopt the horses as pets and play with them. To avoid cancellation spam, maybe I'll just lock them into the pasture until they feel better.

[PatrikLundell]

If I understand adoption correctly, dorfs adopt pets listed on their "like" list, and you should definitely make sure nobody detests horses...

[anewaname]

Putting those dwarfs in isolation suites might be the right approach, so if they go berserk, other dwarfs don't see the messy results.