Writing an FAQ has been something I've been doing in world for the past several months..I've made a NC I've been passing to newbies and have had some positive feedback on it so I am hoping it helps as intended. I've just kinda answered the questions I keep hearing come up in KC chat. I'll paste below what is in it other than the imbedded NC's on budgeting, the secondary market NC and so on.
New Breeder Q&A
How do I count traits?
In general, Starter..or Genesis traits are not counted as a trait. Though they do pass to kittens, but if they counted as a trait..then every single cat would be a nine trait cat. So here is a break down of traits that most people seem to agree with. If in doubt, check with a KittyCatS CSR.
Fur: Anything with Genesis in front of it is not a trait. So..Smokey, Smokey II, Flame, Flame II, Coco, Coco II, Domino, Domino II, Diamond, Diamond II furs don't count as a trait. Any other fur does count.
Eye Color: Anything with Genesis in front of it is not a trait. So.. (Genesis)Sunshine, Earth, Meadow, Water, Odyssey..are not traits. Any other eye color is a trait.
Eye Shape: Curious eye shape is not a trait. Mysterious eye shape is a trait.
Pupil: Big pupil is not a trait. Small pupil is a trait.
Shade: Natural is not a trait. Any other shade is a trait.
Ears: Genesis ears are not a trait. Any other ear shape is a trait.
Tail: Genesis tail is not a trait. Any other tail shape is a trait.
Whisker Shape: Guitar is not a trait. Any other shape is a trait.
Whisker Color: Silver is not a trait. Any other color is a trait.
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What do the symbols over my cat mean?
? 1 day --- age
? 0% --- love ( two hearts mean stats are ready to mate, outline heart(s) mean love vitamin given in past 48 hours)
? 92% --- happiness
? 41% --- energy
?? 3% --- hungry ( lower number means cat is eating, if hunger reaches 100% cat will get sick )
((CAT))
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Why won't my cat eat?
I'm not sure what causes a cat to stop eating, but here is the advice I've been given to try and fix it. Pick up the cat/cats that aren't eating and the food/milk. Rez the food/milk FIRST, then the cats. Give it some time, maybe 30 minutes or so and if you see the hunger go down you should be fine.
Also, check the setting on your food/automatic feeder. If it is set to group, be sure all the cats are set to the same group. (Rclick, edit, general tab, group) If that doesn't help, contact KittyCatS support for assistance.
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How come my cats won't make a box???
To breed both cats need:
100% Love
at least 75% Happiness
at least 25% Energy (to be safe think 30%)
and be under 25% Hungry
They also need to be in range of each other, you need enough prims for the box to rez and if a group is needed to rez on your land then the female at least needs to be set to that group. A lot of things can happen..lag, restarts etc. For the Cattery it's the same except group. prims and range don't matter.
If all the above is good, try to pick up both cats and re-rez them. They will reconnect to the server and it should speed things along. Remember if you are not feeding milk that happiness drops pretty fast..if you cuddle and then leave before they have a box, don't expect to see one when you log back in the next day.
Watch their sleep cycles. Its possible for everything else to be good, but one have like 6% energy while the other has 97%. They will never meet up with the right amount of energy on their own. You can either watch and wait to wake the one with the lowest energy once it reaches around 30% and the other is still awake with over 25% still, or you can use 2 Catnap0's to reset their sleep cycles to match.
Cats start gaining love at 7 days old. From that point on, they will gain love faster if you give them milk or cuddle for 30 minutes a day. Their happiness depends on milk and cuddles too, and they will not be happy enough to make a box without one or the other. There is not a pregnancy period for cats, once their stats are ready they mate and you get a box right away. They can breed up until their age counter clicks over to 121 days.
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I lost my Cat!
Don't panic, due to SL being SL this happens all too often. First, if you have a HUD and I really recommend one, try to tp the cat to you or to its home point. If nothing happens, check your lost and found folder, your objects folder and even your library folder. Easiest to do by searching inventory by the cat's name..but..check spelling etc or it may not show up in a search if you typo it.
Try an Area Search. I only know how to do it in Phoenix because I haven't upgraded my viewer yet. IF you happen to use Phoenix..go to Phoenix-Area Search and in Name search type in "kittycats" or the name of the lost cat if you are sure how to spell it. If it shows up in the list double click it and you'll get a beacon and arrow to help you find it.
If the cat has been gone a while you may get a whisper in local chat saying something like "Mew, I'm 30% hungry, please feed me and pay attention to me" followed by a slurl. Take the slurl to tp to your cat!! So many people see this message and ignore the fact that the cat is trying to tp you to it so you can get it back home.
If you find your cats frequently wander off your parcel/sim you can reduce their range or turn their walk off. If none of this works to find your cat, you can file a support ticket and KittyCatS will help you find or replace your cat. The only cats that cannot be replaced are the ones sent to Menagerie. even if sent by mistake, so be sure you are willing to have the cat gone forever if you Menagerie.
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Costumes???
If you buy a special Holiday cat from KittyCatS or the secondary market, most likely the kitty will be wearing a "costume". That means when you click the kitty and its info comes up in local chat, the traits you are seeing there are costume traits and (most of the time) will not pass on to their kittens.
To see the "real" traits that the cat can pass on, you will need to look at the pedigree. If you own the kitty, click it and choose 'online help' then 'view the pedigree tree for this cat'. Unless the kitty is a 'special' offspring of two holiday cats, ( a mummystein like we had this halloween for example) it is going to be a Starter cat and show all genesis traits. You will have to breed the cat to try to discover what traits it may hide.
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How do I use the Cattery?
The Cattery is wonderful if you want to breed but don't have many prims or can't spend a lot of time inworld. First of all make sure you get the latest Dock from the Main Store. It's free, and I suggest taking two..one to keep out on your land and one to have in your inventory.
When you rez the Dock, a yellow menu will pop up in the upper right corner of your screen asking permission to take L$ from you. Say yes...this is how you get food for your cats in the cattery. You are the only one that can use your dock, and you can't use anyone else's so it's handy to have one with you.
Your cat or box need to be rezzed to send to Cattery. Just click the cat or box and from the menu, choose Cattery, then yes. Make SURE you are sending to CATTERY...do not confuse Cattery with Menagerie.
You will also need to put food and milk if you choose to use it in the Cattery for any live cats you keep there. The food you use in SL will not work for Cattery. You will need to add K$ (kitty dollars) and buy food through the Cattery Dock. Click the Dock..from the menu choose ADD K$..this will take L$ from you and add them to your K$. 1 L$ = 2.5 K$. The food and milk you buy in the cattery cost the same as the what you get at the mainstore..but it looks like more because you are paying with K$.
Now that you have some K$, click the Dock again and choose Visit Cattery. This will open in the SL system browser unless you have your viewer set to open in an external browser. You can also just go to Cattery via
http://www.kittycats.biz/online, but you will need to have registered and know your log in and password. A KittyCatS CSR will need to help there if you need assistance.
In the upper right corner of the web page you will see a little picture of food bowls and an ADD+ button. Click the ADD+ button to buy food and milk for your live kitties. If you do have live cats in Cattery..they will be divided by boys, girls, and pairs.
To partner your cats, hover your mouse over any kitty, and you will see buttons pop up below it. When you click the Partner button it opens a small window allowing you to scroll through your cats of the opposite sex and choose a partner. Cats will NOT breed in Cattery unless you partner them. Any boxes you have from cats in Cattery will be shown under the Boxes tab with the most recent on top by default.
To bring you cat or box back into SL, click the Dock and choose Cat to SL. A web page will open showing all your cats on one tab, and boxes on another. Just find the one you want and click it on the web page and it will appear on your Dock.
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How do I know if my kitty is a "good" kitty?
As I watch the chat in KittyCatS Addicts, I see lots of kitties being posted and then the poster will ask "Is this a good kitty?" The standard answer you will get is, "All kitties are good kitties." or, "If you like it, it's a good kitty". Both are true..but the real question is.. "Do other people like this kitty and would they maybe buy it?". Well.. there are several ways to figure that out and it does come down to a matter of taste. Different people go gaga over different cats.
There are several ways to stay informed on what is trending with kittycats. Read the group notices. KittyCatS often announces when someone has discovered a new trait etc. Newly discovered traits will be highly sought after for some time, until more people have it and its then widely available and the price drops.
Here's the thing though, if you go spend a zillion L$ for a new and rare trait, it will most likely be difficult to breed out. So by the time you have a cat to sell, the price may have dropped drastically and you will not be able to recoup your investment. So buy it if you love it and just have to have it, but not with the goal of making money from it.
Another way to stay informed is to attend auctions and breeding classes that are offered. They are all listed on one blog and there are usually several going on through the day and evening. Here is a link to a good auction/class schedule.
https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=6f0qbscbj4hunrh9l1up0iuba4%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Chicago
Here is a caution about something you may see at an auction though. So there you sit..there are nice cats on all the panels, but as the auction progresses, you see a few people get into a bid war over a certain cat. Now its nice..but you can't understand why people are suddenly willing to drop a bucketload of L$ on say a Chateau 3 Spot No. 1 when you've seen lots sitting unsold in shops.
Take a good look at the cat causing the bid war. It probably has a certain look to it, a combination of traits that make it especially appealing. But the other ingredient is the people attending the auction. For a bid war to happen there needs to be more than one person that wants the cat badly. If that same cat being fought over tonight had been in a different auction with different buyers, it may not have even sold.
My point is...don't see that happen and take it to mean that you need to try to breed "that cat". Those bidding frenzies happen when the right people are there, with L$ to spend and the planets are aligned etc. They just happen, you can't predict them or cause them, even with an EPIC cat.
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How do I sell my kitty?
If you are just getting started, first take some time to figure out if your cat is a good potential seller. Follow the suggestions above to decide if you want to sell or not. If you decide to sell, an easy way to start is to place the cat in an auction or on a bid board.
Bid boards do not require you to be there and most are active for 24 hours. You will get a message from the board as to who the high bidder is at the end of the bid time, the high bidder gets a message as well. You simply make contact and sell the cat to them for the high bid price. Things to consider are..your starting bid and what your availability in SL is.
Auctions are fast and fun, but you need to attend the auction you are selling a cat in. And with a bid board, you should be sure you are able to be online around the time the bidding will close. Most Sims that have bid boards have assistants and managers that are happy to help you get set up.
Think carefully about your starting bid for both an auction and a bid board. If it is too high..the cat will not sell, and you've wasted time and money. If it's too low..and for whatever reasons..you get only one bid, you may end up selling it for much less than it's worth.
If you decide to try renting a shop, take some time to decorate it and within the rules of the Sim, make it your own. One of my biggest pet peeves is walking by a shop with TONS of boxes or cats shoved together with all their hovertext on. Please... just don't do that, no one can read any of it.
Instead... take the time to name your boxes something like "Chat 3.2/Gerb Orange 5T" or similar. If the box is named the name will show when someone hovers their mouse over the box. It makes it much easier to shop for what you want that way.
Also... rotate your stock. Don't leave the same boxes out for sale for months. I try to restock and rotate the boxes I have for sale weekly. Change up the look of your shop now and then too. Decorate for the season, or holidays etc. Watch your prim count though!
If you make your shop look inviting, and your cats/boxes easy to browse, you are ahead of the game. Take a few moments to go walk around a market and see what I mean. Where are your eyes naturally drawn? Would you really fight your way through that sea of hovertext, or just move to the next shop?
Learn how to Spam your cat! Join a few advertising groups and follow the rules. But if you have a cat in a auction or on a bid board..spam it! People may want it and have no idea it's for sale. Here are links to one of the oldest and biggest and to my own.
*:-.,The KittyCatS BaZaaR,.-:*
secondlife:///app/group/fc7ca675-d541-8f20-dfb9-7e8d4a308664/about
I Can Has Kitteh?
secondlife:///app/group/4438e329-4bfd-1c72-0ab1-fa8fe26d6b7d/about
More are listed in the Secondary Market Info NC at the bottom.
A word of warning about spam though...
Read the rules!
Don't spam groups you aren't allowed to spam in (eg. spam an auction cat in group X when the auction is in market group Y)
Don't spam too often!
Most people belong to a LOT of cat groups. If you spam every one you are in every hour that is way too much spam for most. I suggest breaking it up and spamming maybe three groups one hour, then a few more a couple hours later etc. I have left groups for getting hit with too much spam from the same people over and over.
Be specific for best results!
Please don't send out tons of spam saying... "Nice cats, come buy them..Cheap!" That means nothing to an experienced breeder. Most are looking for something specific. If you have quite a few for sale, pick two or three of the best and list their stats "Bali Lilac with Ody K, plush whiskers and Illume~ 1500 L$" will get a much better response.
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How much should I sell my cat for?
(insert zombie groan) To be honest I struggle with this myself all the time. Here is what I can tell you. The market varies all the time. People vary as everyone has different tastes. A common standard is to price at 100 L$ per shown trait for traits that are not really rare. Not a bad place to start. What I often see though is when the cat doesn't sell quickly, and it may not..people start dropping the price and having fire sales and whatnot.
The best thing to do is to shop around yourself and see what other sellers are pricing cats similar to yours at. Read the Budgeting NC Theo wrote and consider the time and effort you put into the cat when you set your price. Use common sense above all else. Someone is always going to over price or under price, sometimes to an extreme. Do what feels right to you.
Keep in mind that there will always be more boxes than buyers. No one..no mattter how great their cats are, sells every cat they try to sell. Boxes pile up fast and I tend to hoard them, but you can also Menagerie them and use the K$ for a special Menagerie Tiger from the main store or use it for food to feed your other kitties. Again, Menagerie carefully, considering not only what the cat is showing but what it may hide when making your decision.
What I am going to say next is harsh. Sometimes it is better to just Menagerie a cat that isn't selling if you don't want to take it home and breed it. ( With the advent of being able to put the boxes in Image mode and know the sex before birthing, its MUCH easier to sell a box now than it used to be! Take advantage of this when possible, as you don't have to feed a box.)
You don't want to become known as the seller who has fire sales. Then why would anyone pay full price for your cats when they could just wait and let you feed it for a week and get it at your fire sale? Now if you initially set a cat out at a certain price, then look around and see other similar cats priced for less..it's ok to adjust. Talk to other sellers too. There is also a pricing group you may want to check out.
secondlife:///app/group/3a133ff2-defd-03c5-14f3-c26e2a9c2549/about
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How do I know who to partner my cat with?
When choosing a partner for a cat, remember to not only look at the traits each cat is showing, but look at the parents of each cat as well. Learn the recessiveness order of traits and you will make better decisions. Saga Felix maintains several documents on this that are well worth checking out frequently. Remember that the most dominant trait is what will be showing.
It's like a crap shoot...each cat rolls the dice at every breeding to see if it will throw its hidden or its shown for each trait...then of those two traits, the more dominant one will show on the kitten. Thats why you can get different looking kittens from the same parents, the parents don't 'throw' or give to the kitten, the same traits every time. Here are links to the trait documents.
Traits:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Ak_Wqb33nVpndGtPQTIzN1Z3MzAyMGtmRW5yQUhta1E&sort=name&layout=list&pid=0B0_Wqb33nVpnZWYwNGViMGMtYWU4ZS00ZjAyLTk4OTctMzk2YzljODliMDhm&cindex=2
Furs:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Ak_Wqb33nVpndHhxT3RqQ1dtNV9WdDMtZUtaOGx0Q3c&sort=name&layout=list&pid=0B0_Wqb33nVpnZWYwNGViMGMtYWU4ZS00ZjAyLTk4OTctMzk2YzljODliMDhm&cindex=1
Eyes:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Ak_Wqb33nVpndFYtNGtTZ2dHZHgyMjZydjA5Z2VzS1E&sort=name&layout=list&pid=0B0_Wqb33nVpnZWYwNGViMGMtYWU4ZS00ZjAyLTk4OTctMzk2YzljODliMDhm
These are also available through the KittyCatS forum under general discussion.
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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
