Petz (Dogz and Catz) is a series of games dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. Petz has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

Game play

The player starts at the Adoption Center,where they may choose a dog or cat to adopt of a breed and gender of their choosing. Once they have found a pet they like the user can adopt and name the new puppy or kitten. After around three days (real time) the petz become adults. Adult petz can then breed and have kittens or puppies of their own in Petz 3, Petz 4, and Petz 5 (this was not available in the first two lines). Cross-breeding can create different types of petz, called 'Mixed Breeds'.

There are a number of toyz, food/water bowls and treats available. Petz can learn tricks with positive rewards such as petting and treats, or trained not to do something using the punishment (water) spray bottle. Petz must be looked after properly; abused or neglected petz may run away.

Players may share their petz with others who have the game via an E-Mail. Each version allows the importing of petz from all earlier versions. There is also a camera feature, permitting snapshots of petz to be taken and saved as .bmp files.

Other animals include pigz and bunniez. Later versions of the games included a Petz Web Fun Pack, Petz Publisher and a Petz Player web browser plug-in, allowing players to publish their petz online in playable webpages. The Petz Publisher does not work anymore, due to the fact that the website has been remodeled with the newer Petz games by Ubisoft.

Users learned how to reverse-engineer the system, and began producing additional breedz, toys, playscenes, clothes, and developer tools for the games, as permitted by PF Magic, Mindscape, and Ubisoft Entertainment.