Getting Started With KittyCatS
This is a general overview of the slides and dialogue for the KittyCatS 101 Class - "Getting Started With KittyCatS".
This class was geared more towards new KittyCatS owners, however users of all experience levels should find useful information contained within.
When it comes to owning a KittyCatS there are three main things you need:
• Food for your cat - Your cats need food - Kitty Kibble - or they will get sick! You can buy food in our store.
⋅ It's important to remember that Vita-Milk is NOT the same as food! Although cats do like it, they still need food to avoid getting sick.
⋅ If your cat is a Perma-Pet, it does not need food.
• A place for your cat - cats need a place to be kept! Ideally you should have land in-world where they can stay.
⋅ If land is not an option, you can use the Online Cattery to store your cats safely.
⋅ Perma-pets and boxed kittens can be kept in your inventory indefinitely. Live cats need access to food, so should
⋅ be kept in-world, or in the Online Cattery.
• Enough prims for your cat - If you are keeping your cats in-world, you need prims for them!
⋅ KittyCatS are 13 prims without accessories. With accessories they can go as high as 24 prims!
⋅ KitttyCatS do have several low prim options available through their menu to help you save on prim counts!
KittyCatS are born in boxes, like the ones seen here.
The box on the left is the default box state and is how they appear when born
The box on the right is a box in Image mode. This lets you see what your cat looks like without having to birth it!
Most boxes that you will see for sale at markets and shops will be in Image mode.
You can toggle Image mode on and off via the box menu.
Your box menu will have other options as follows:
Unpack - Clicking starts the birthing process. Birthing takes 5 minutes for starter pack cats
and 10 minutes for cats that have been bred from other cats.
Info - Shows your cat's Information in your Nearby Chat window.
Image/Box - Click this to select between Box Mode and Image Mode.
Cattery - Sends box to Online Cattery.
Text - Select which hover text will show. Set or change the box name. (Hover text is off by default.)
Menagerie - Send your box to the Menagerie.
Online Help - Click to access the website and auto-login to your account (or register if you have not done so already.)
As mentioned, your cats need food to thrive and avoid getting sick. KittyCatS food is called Kitty Kibble.
Kitty Kibble comes in both starter food bowls, and regular food bowls.
Starter food bowls have a slight blue tint and are only found in starter cat packages, collection cat packages, and free gift cat packages.
• 1 dish of starter food will feed 1 breeding cat for 1 week. For non-breeding cats, a starter bowl will last 2 weeks.
Regular food is available for purchase in our store in packs of 1, 5, 10, and 20.
• 1 dish of regular food will feed 1 breeding cat for 4 weeks. For non-breeding cats, a starter bowl will last 8 weeks.
Food dishes have a variety of options in their menu for setting them up to feed your cats, or even a friend's cats.
By default the food is set to SIM and MY CATS, which means that it will feed only your cats, no matter where they are on the sim!
Vita-Milk has the same menu options as Kitty Kibble, however it is an optional product and is not needed for your cats.
Vita-Milk gives your cats a boost to their Happiness, which in turn boosts their Love Gain.
Certain interactions will also give your cat the boost to their Happiness - look for interactions with a star (*) on their button, as well as Petting!
Doing the starred (*) Interactions, or petting your cat, for 30 minutes every 24 hours will grant your cat the boost.
Cats that get the Happiness boost will gain 30% more Love each day over cats that do not have the Happiness boost.
You can tell if your cat has the Happiness boost or not because the "happy face" symbol next to the Happiness stat
will be solid if the boost is present, and clear if it is not!
The MeowMat is a useful tool to use when feeding your cats. It acts as an auto-feeding system, and does the job of putting out food/milk for your cats.
Food/milk must be bought separately. If you own a MeowMat, your food/milk purchases will go to directly to the mat by default due to the AutoFill feature.
You can disable AutoFill, and send your food and milk to the mat by hand using the "To Supply" button that will appear in the bowl's menu.
The "To Supply" button only appears on food and milk bowls if you have a MeowMat rezzed!
Vitamins can be useful products for your cats. They are optional supplies designed mainly to help you sync up your cat's stats for breeding.
Energy vitamins boost your cat's Energy by a flat amount in increments of 5% or 10%, up to 100%. They can be given as often as desired.
Love vitamins boost your cat's Love by a flat amount in increments of 5% or 10%, up to 100%. They can be given once every 48 hours.
Happiness vitamins boost your cat's Happiness by a flat amount in increments of 5% or 10%, up to 100%. They can be given as often as desired.
• The effect from Happiness vitamins will only last 5 hours, and they do not give the boost to Happiness/Love gain that milk or interactions do!
Perma-Pet Vitamins are a useful product for those who wish to own a pet KittyCat, but do not want to breed it or feed it.
These vitamins will turn your cat into a pet cat that does not need food, cannot get sick, and cannot breed.
You will continue to get lifetime updates, lifetime support, and pay no maintenance costs for cats that you Perma-Pet.
This effect is permanent, so be sure to only use it on cats you definitely wish to make into Perma-Pets!
Many new owners ask what it means when we talk about a cat's "traits". Traits are the characteristics of a cat, such as the fur, eyes, ears, etc.
There are 9 possible traits for every cat - Fur, Eye Color, Eye Shape, Pupil Shape, Shade, Tail, Ears, Whiskers, Whisker Color, Whisker Shape.
For market purposes, when owners count the traits on a cat, they are counting the non-starter traits.
The slide above lists starter traits on a cat. To explain what starter traits are in further detail:
- 1. Fur: Genesis - XXX
- All starter furs will start with the label "Genesis".
- 2. Eyes: Genesis - XXX (3. Shape: Curious | 4. Pupil: Big)
- All starter eyes will start with the label "Genesis". Curious/Big are the starter eye shape and pupil shape.
- 5. Shade: Natural
- Natural shade is the starter shade
- 6. Tail: Genesis
- Starter tails are labeled as "Genesis".
- 7. Ears: Genesis
- Starter ears are labeled as "Genesis".
- 8. Whiskers: Silver (9. Shape: Guitar)
- Silver/Guitar whiskers are the starter whisker color and shape.
When counting traits on your cat for the purpose of selling it, look for the number of NON-STARTER traits that are present on the cat and count those.
So for example, if we look at the cat above, we can see that it has 4 traits because the Fur, Tail, Ears, and Whisker shape are all non-starter traits.
Size is not counted as a trait since it cannot be bred for. Random traits like sizes, or head types like the Floofy head, are considered to be Bonus traits.
Your cat's menu is both a source of information for your cat, and a means of controlling your cat's features.
In the slide above you can see the type of information shown in the cat's menu.
If your cat is a Perma-pet, that information will show in the menu alongside your cats current stats and the Breed button will be gone.
If the cat is a breed-capable cat, it will show the Love stat and the Breed button will be present.
if your cat is asleep, it will have a button to Wake Up!
Your cat will have the following buttons in its menu:
Info - This button will post your cat's Information to Local chat.
Breed - Turn Breed on and off, and set partnerships for your cats.
Cattery - Sends your cats to the Online Cattery.
Text - Control Text options for your cats and change their name.
Prims - Toggle Low Prim options for your cats.
Menagerie - Send your cat to the Menagerie.
Interact - Access various options for Interacting with your cat. Interactions marked with a * grant the Happiness boost!
Animation - Toggle your cat's animations, sounds, and Talk ability.
Online Help - Click to access the website and auto-login to your account (or register if you have not done so already.)
In the next series of slides we'll examine some of the menu options in greater detail.
Your cat's text menu allows you to toggle on and off the hovertext that appears above your cat's head.
So you can pick and choose whether to show selected text, all of the text, or none of it!
You can also change your cat's name using the Set Name button. Click this button and you'll be prompted to type your cat's new name into Local chat.
Your cat's Interaction menu will offer various options for interacting with your cat. Interactions marked with a * will grant your cat
the boost to Happiness, which in turn will boost your cat's Love gain by 30% if you do the interaction for 30 minutes every 24 hours.
The Animation menu lets you toggle off your cat's various animations for Sitting/Standing and Walking/Running.
You can also toggle off your cat's ability to make sounds like meowing and purring, as well as your cat's ability to talk when they bump into you.
This menu is where you will also find options for posing your cat in a variety of static poses - great for taking pictures and setting up display scenes!
The Animation menu is also where you can set your cat's Home and Range - two things important for feeding and breeding your cat!
In the next few slides we'll talk further about setting your cat's Range.
By default your cat is set to a Range of 5 meters. You can change this to as small as 3 meters, or as large as your entire parcel.
Your cat's range is the diameter of a circle with your cat's Home point being in the center. So if your cat's range is set to 5 meters, that means
it can roam up to 5 meters in any direction from its Home point. When you set your cat's Range, it will rez a particle circle of red dots to
indicate the area its range will cover, as you can see in the slide below.
It's best to set Range when your cat is already at their Home point. That way you get an accurate idea of what their Range area will be.
If you partner your cats, it won't matter if they are within each other's Range or not, since Partnered cats can detect each other no
matter where they are on the sim! If the cats aren't partnered though, then they need to be within each other's Range in order to breed.
Next we'll talk about setting partnerships for your cat and breeding them.
It's important to note that your cats do not have to be partnered in order to breed. If you own both cats, they will breed when they are ready.
Partnering ensures that certain cats only breed with each other. it is necessary if you are breeding cats in the Cattery, or if the cats have different owners.
Partnering is not a guarantee for breeding a kitten, nor is it a countdown to pregnancy! KittyCatS do not get pregnant! They simply breed once they are ready.
To partner your cats, make sure they are nearby each other, then click one of them to get the menu and select the Breed button.
In the Breed menu, select Set Partner. Don't select Breed Off unless you truly do not want your cat to breed as it will reset your cat's
Love and delay its ability to gain Love and breed!
Once you click Set Partner, your cat will select a nearby eligible cat to partner with, and then give you a menu prompt to confirm the partnership.
Your cat will also ask you if the partnership is to be a one-time partnership, or if the cats will auto-repartner.
The key difference between a "one-time" partnership and an "auto" re-partnership is what happens after the cats have a kitten.
In a one-time partnership, your cats will end the partnership after they have a kitten and will no longer be partnered.
In an auto re-partnership, your cats will immediately re-partner to each other after producing a kitten.
Regardless of which you set, partnerships only last 11 days maximum. The 11 day partnership length does not mean that the cats will have a kitten after 11 days
It means that if your cats do not have a kitten within 11 days, they will end their partnership and be free to partner with other cats.
Your cats need to meet certain stat requirements for breeding as outlines in the slide above.
The most important point is that they need to show 2 hearts next to the Love stat!
Without showing 2 hearts, your cats are not ready to breed. Either they are asleep, or one of their stats is too low.
Finally, many customers will ask how breeding works exactly anyway!
Cats have two possibilities for each trait category. One is visible, the other is hidden. (example: "eye color" category can be 2 different colors)
Traits in this context can be Genesis/starter traits. (example: Fur trait could be "Genesis Coco")
Both traits will come from the parents (shown and hidden). One trait comes from the mom, and one from the dad.
If the kitten has mom's visible fur trait its hidden fur will be from the dad. It can't have mom's hidden trait.
Breeding is like a coin toss. When two cats breed, these are the possibilities:
• Pass their visible trait to the offspring.
• Pass their hidden trait to the offspring.
When your cats breed, they "flip a coin" first to see which of their traits - visible or hidden - they are going to pass.
They will do this for each of their 9 passable traits - Fur, Eye Color, Eye Shape, Pupil Shape, Shade, Tail, Ears, Whisker Color, Whisker Shape.
There are four possible outcomes:
1. Both cats pass their visible traits
2. Both cats pass their hidden traits
3. Mom passes her visible trait and dad passes his hidden trait
4. Mom passes her hidden trait and dad passes his visible trait
The kitten's visible trait is the more dominant of the two traits passed down from the parents.
A cat's visible trait is always more dominant than its hidden trait.The more recessive trait passed will become the kitten's hidden trait.
