Rust Pets Update: Tame Animals, Fight Together & Earn Bonus Loot

We have just added one of our biggest custom gameplay systems yet to RustAddicted PvE and Creative.

You can now tame wild animals and turn them into actual companions.

And when we say animals, we do not mean just wolves.

You can tame:

• Chickens
• Stags
• Boars
• Wolves
• Bears
• Polar Bears
• Tigers
• Panthers
• Crocodiles

Most animals roaming the island can now become yours.

Feed them, earn their trust, give them a name and they will follow you across the map, protect you from hostile NPCs and wildlife, hang around your base and even give you a bonus while gathering resources.

Snakes are still snakes. Do not try to make friends with them.

How Rust Pet Taming Works

The system was designed to feel like an actual interaction with the animal rather than simply running a command.

There are two ways to begin taming.

Hand-Feeding

This is the recommended way.

Hold the correct food in your hands and approach a wild animal.

If it is interested in what you are holding, it will notice you, calm down and walk toward you to eat.

Yes, this even works if a bear was approximately two seconds away from removing you from the server.

Keep feeding it every few seconds and stay nearby.

Every successful bite:

• increases taming progress,
• plays an actual eating sound,
• and creates visible heart effects around the animal.

Other players nearby can see the taming process happening as well.

If you are playing with teammates, they can even help feed the same animal.

Ground Feeding

You can also drop food next to an animal and allow it to eat from the ground.

It works, but there is a limitation: one dropped stack can only contribute so much progress.

If you actually want to tame something efficiently, hand-feeding is the better option.

The Plugin Tells You What the Animal Wants

You do not need to memorize every food requirement before trying the system.

Look at an animal while holding food and the plugin will tell you whether it is interested.

For example:

STAG — WON'T EAT THIS
FEED IT PRODUCE (BERRIES, CORN, PUMPKIN...)

Once taming begins, the same indicator shows live progress:

TIGER — TAMING 45%

The progress is visible to everyone nearby.

Do not disappear halfway through the process, though.

If nobody feeds the animal, taming progress slowly begins to decay.

After approximately three minutes without another bite, the taming session ends completely.

What Does Each Rust Animal Eat?

Different animals have different diets.

The basic rule is easy: herbivores want produce, predators want meat.

But rarer and more dangerous animals are also more demanding.

Low-quality food may still be eaten, but if it does not meet the minimum requirement, it will not help you tame the animal.

Chicken

• Diet: Anything
• Minimum quality: Any food
• Approximate effort: ~20 berries

Probably the easiest first pet.

Stag

• Diet: Produce only
• Minimum quality: Any produce
• Approximate effort: ~40 berries, corn or pumpkins

Boar

• Diet: Produce or meat
• Minimum quality: Any food
• Approximate effort: ~14 raw meat

Boars are probably one of the best starter pets if you want something slightly more useful than a chicken.

Wolf

• Diet: Meat only
• Minimum quality: Raw meat or better
• Approximate effort: ~14 cooked meat

Bear / Polar Bear

• Diet: Meat only
• Minimum quality: Raw meat or better
• Approximate effort: ~22 cooked meat

Tiger / Panther / Crocodile

• Diet: Meat only
• Minimum quality: Cooked meat or better
• Approximate effort: ~20 high-quality meat

The more dangerous the animal, the more effort it takes to convince it that you are not dinner.

Food Quality Matters

Not all food is worth the same amount of taming progress.

Tier 1 — 1 point

• Berries
• Mushrooms
• Vegetables

Tier 2 — 3 points

• Raw meat

Tier 3 — 5 points

• Cooked meat

Tier 4 — 8 points

The premium menu:

• Cooked bear meat
• Big cat meat
• Crocodile meat
• Snake meat

Better food means fewer bites are required.

There is one major exception: never feed your pet spoiled food. We will get to that shortly.

Your Pet Actually Follows You

Once the animal is successfully tamed, it becomes a persistent companion.

Your pet follows you across the map and adjusts its movement depending on how far away you are.

Walk normally and it stays nearby.

Run ahead and it speeds up to catch you.

If it somehow falls too far behind, the system can safely bring it back to you.

Big cats also have some extra personality.

Stand around for a while and your tiger or panther may sit down and start grooming itself.

Start moving again and it gets back up and follows.

Your pet also remembers you through:

• plugin reloads,
• server restarts,
• and normal gameplay sessions.

Once it belongs to you, the system remembers the owner.

Turn Your Pet Into a Bodyguard

Some pets can do more than simply look good next to your base.

Enable FIGHT mode and compatible pets become bodyguards.

Your pet can:

• attack what you attack,
• retaliate against creatures that damage you,
• attack hostile NPCs,
• and intercept wild animals that begin hunting you.

That means a hostile animal can be engaged by your pet before it even reaches you.

There is one important limitation: pets do not attack other players. This remains compatible with the way our PvE environment works.

And obviously, not every animal is designed for combat.

Chickens and stags do not get a FIGHT button.

Some creatures are warriors.

Some are emotional support chickens.

Pets Give You Bonus Loot

Travelling with a pet also provides a passive gathering bonus.

While your active pet is with you, gathering resources gives you extra yield.

This applies to activities including:

• chopping wood,
• mining ore,
• harvesting animals,
• and picking up resources from the ground.

The rarer your pet, the larger the bonus.

Pet Loot Bonuses

• Chicken / Stag: +5%
• Boar: +10%
• Wolf / Bear: +15%
• Polar Bear / Crocodile: +20%
• Tiger / Panther: +30%

So yes, walking around with a tiger is not only objectively cooler.

It is also profitable.

FOLLOW, COME and STAY

Your pet can be controlled directly from its HUD.

FOLLOW

The normal travelling mode.

Your pet stays with you as you move around the map.

COME

Calls your pet back toward you.

STAY

Tells your pet to remain in a specific location.

Inside a base, STAY keeps the animal very close to the exact position you selected.

Outside, it may wander around the nearby area slightly.

Your Pet Can Sit and Sleep

Some species also support additional poses.

Tigers and panthers can SIT.

Wolves and some big cats can LAY and sleep.

Each species only gets animations that actually make sense for its body.

Crocodiles do not suddenly perform dog tricks.

Bears also refuse to participate in your photoshoot.

Fair enough.

Name Your Pet

Every pet can receive its own name.

Once named, nearby players can see who it is.

Because if you spent half your inventory convincing a tiger not to eat you, calling it simply Tiger would be disappointing.

Use:

/animal name <name>

and give it the identity it deserves.

Yes, You Can Make a Pocket Bear

Pets can also be resized.

This is purely cosmetic and does not affect their strength.

Most animals can be scaled down as far as 25% of their normal size.

So yes, miniature wolves and pocket-sized bears are possible.

Crocodiles are an exception.

Their skeleton does not behave nicely below approximately 75%, so that is where they stop.

You can adjust pet size using:

/animal size <percent>

Everything Is Controlled From a Pet HUD

You do not need to remember commands for normal pet management.

When you own a pet, a dedicated HUD appears next to your hotbar.

It displays:

• ❤️ Health
• 🥩 Food

and gives you direct controls for:

• FOLLOW
• COME
• STAY
• SIT
• LAY
• FIGHT
• Size
• DISMISS
• RELEASE

The available buttons automatically depend on the species.

Pets Get Hungry

Owning a pet also means keeping it alive.

The gold food bar underneath the health indicator slowly decreases over time.

A completely full pet can survive for approximately 8 hours before running out of food.

Combat consumes food approximately three times faster, so an active fighting pet needs more attention.

As hunger increases, your pet warns you in chat.

Warnings appear around:

• 75%
• 50%
• 25%
• 10%

and become increasingly urgent.

The food bar also changes visually:

Gold → Ember → Red

Below 10%, it begins pulsing.

And if the bar reaches zero, your pet begins starving. Ignore it long enough and it can die.

How to Feed Your Pet

Hold food that matches your pet's diet and left-click the pet.

Each bite:

• restores food,
• and heals some health.

Cooked meat provides roughly 20% food per suitable bite.

A hungry or injured pet can also notice suitable food in your hand and eat directly from you while you are standing nearby.

You do not need to wait until the food meter is nearly empty.

As long as the pet is not full, you can top it up before leaving for a long trip.

Healing Your Pet

There are also dedicated medical options.

Medical Syringe

Right-click your pet with a Medical Syringe to restore approximately +30 HP.

Large Medkit

Use a Large Medkit while looking at an injured pet and it restores the pet to full health.

If the pet is already healthy, the medkit is not wasted.

Spoiled Food Is Poison

Pets know that spoiled meat is a terrible idea.

Usually.

If you hold spoiled food near your pet, the system warns you:

SPOILED FOOD — THIS WOULD POISON IT

The pet will not voluntarily eat it.

But if you deliberately force-feed spoiled food anyway, it takes damage.

We added the warning.

What happens after that is between you and your veterinarian.

Radiation Damages Pets

Pets are not magically immune to radiation.

If you take one into high-radiation areas such as Launch Site or other radtowns, you will receive a warning.

Your pet takes radiation damage while inside the area and can eventually die from exposure.

If you are heading somewhere dangerous, dismiss the pet first or leave it somewhere safe.

Travelling With Pets

The system also handles situations where normal NPC navigation would become problematic.

Vehicles

If you get into:

• a car,
• horse,
• bicycle,
• boat,
• minicopter,
• helicopter,
• or other supported transport,

your pet is safely dismissed after a short moment.

When you return to dry land and continue travelling on foot, it automatically rejoins you.

Swimming

The same system applies if you swim far enough into water.

Your bear does not need to attempt to pathfind behind your RHIB across the ocean.

Manual Dismiss

You can also hide your pet manually at any time.

Use the HUD or:

/animal dismiss

When you want it back:

/animal spawn

and your companion returns.

Pets Inside Bases and Monuments

Pets can follow you through your base and stay inside structures.

STAY mode becomes especially precise inside player buildings, allowing you to effectively assign a pet its own spot.

Monuments also work.

However, some monuments and special event areas operate as no-protection zones.

If you bring your pet into dangerous content, be prepared to protect it.

That is where FIGHT mode becomes particularly useful.

What Happens When You Log Off?

Your animal does not remain standing somewhere on the map waiting to be killed while you sleep.

The moment you disconnect, your pet is safely dismissed.

When you return, it remembers you and can continue travelling with you.

One Player, One Pet

Each player can own one pet at a time — so choose carefully.

You can always release your existing pet if you decide that your chicken phase is over and you are ready for a tiger.

We may change this in the future after the testing phase.

Your Pet Is Protected From Other Players

Normal players cannot simply murder your pet.

The protection system prevents damage from:

• other players,
• turrets,
• and traps.

The dangerous parts of the world still matter, however.

Wild animals and hostile NPCs can fight your pet normally.

Special monuments and raid events can also operate without normal pet protection.

So even though other players cannot kill your companion for fun, your pet is not immortal.

One Pet, One Life

Pets currently use permanent death.

If your companion dies from:

• combat,
• starvation,
• radiation,
• or neglect,

it is gone.

There is no automatic respawn.

You will need to tame another animal.

That makes keeping a rare pet alive part of the experience.

Release Your Pet

You can also intentionally return your pet to the wild.

Because this action is permanent, the system requires deliberate confirmation.

Use:

/animal release yes

and your companion is released.

There is no undo button.

Think before freeing the tiger you spent half an hour taming.

Rust Pet Commands

Most interactions are available directly through the HUD, but commands are available as well.

• /animal — Displays your pet's current status, including health, food and size.
• /animal follow — Sets the pet to follow you.
• /animal come — Calls the pet toward you.
• /animal stay — Keeps the pet in its current area.
• /animal sit — Makes supported species sit.
• /animal lay — Makes supported species lie down.
• /animal fight — Toggles bodyguard mode.
• /animal dismiss — Safely stores your pet.
• /animal spawn — Brings your dismissed pet back.
• /animal name <name> — Changes your pet's name.
• /animal size <percent> — Changes its visual size between the supported minimum and 100%.
• /animal release yes — Permanently releases your pet.

Available on RustAddicted PvE and Creative

The new pet system is now available on both RustAddicted PvE and RustAddicted Creative.

Like many of our recent additions, the system was developed specifically around RustAddicted rather than simply adding another generic plugin and forgetting about it.

There are a lot of interacting systems here:

• taming,
• AI navigation,
• combat,
• feeding,
• hunger,
• healing,
• vehicles,
• radiation,
• monuments,
• persistence,
• protection,
• animations,
• gathering bonuses,
• and server restarts.

We have covered a huge number of scenarios, but a system this large can always reveal an unusual edge case once hundreds of players begin experimenting with it.

If you find something that behaves incorrectly, please report it.

We will keep improving the system while it is live.

Go Make a Friend

That is pretty much everything you need to know.

1. Find an animal.
2. Bring the right food.
3. Keep feeding it.
4. Watch the hearts appear.

And try not to get eaten before the taming bar reaches 100%.

If you are not sure where to start, we recommend a boar.

They're cheap dates.