Feeding FAQ
Jump to: Compare Pet Diets
- Why is feeding my pet important?
- Why is happiness important?
- How do I feed my pet?
- What should I feed my pet?
- Where can I see my pet's diet?
- What is the best diet?
- Why is the level of the food important?
- How can I tell a food's level?
- How does food level affect happiness?
- When should I feed my pet?
- How can I tell if my pet is full?
- How can I monitor my pet's feeding?
- Can my pet be interrupted while eating?
- What happens if I mount up while my pet is eating?
- Can I feed my pet in combat?
- Does my pet get buffs from food?
- What foods do give my pet a buff?
- How do I use pet snacks?
- Does my pet get health from eating?
- Are there any good add-ons to help with pet feeding?
Why is feeding my pet important?
Feeding your pet is important because food is the primary way to raise the happiness of your pet.
There are other ways to increase happiness -- notablly the pet talents Carrion Feeder (Cunning), Bloodthirsty (Ferocity) and Guard Dog (Tenacity), plus the minor Glyph of Mend Pet.
But feeding your pet is quick and easy and will always be available to you, even if your pet doesn't have the talents and you don't have the glyph!
Why is happiness important?
Happiness is important because your pet's mood directly affects how much damage your pet can do.
Pets have three moods: Unhappy, Content, and Happy. An unhappy pet does 25% less damage than a content pet, while a happy pet does 25% more damage.
| Mood | Damage |
| Unhappy | -25% |
| Content | +0% |
| Happy | +25% |
How do I feed my pet?
In order to feed your pet you will need to learn the skill "Feed Pet". Feed Pet is a Beast Mastery skill that you gain when you complete the second part of the level 10 Hunter quests (usually called "Training the Beast"). It's very important that you do both parts of the level 10 Hunter quests specifically so you learn Feed Pet.
After you learn Feed Pet you can find it in your Spellbook on the Beast Mastery tab. The icon looks like a bone-shaped doggie biscuit.
You can feed your pet in one of two ways:
- Click the Feed Pet skill and you will get a glowing hand cursor. (You can right-click to cancel this cursor if you change your mind.) Then click on an appropriate food item in your inventory or hot bar.
- Or drag an appropriate food item from your inventory into the 3D world as if you were going to delete it, then click on either your pet's portrait or on your pet's body.
Be aware that feeding your pet puts a timed Feed Pet effect on them. They gain some amount of happiness every 2 seconds for 20 seconds. Feeding your pet again while the Feed Pet effect is still going will overwrite the old effect with the new one, which just wastes food. So make sure you wait long enough to let your pet finish eating before you feed it again.
What should I feed my pet?
For the most part, pets eat the same sorts of food that characters might eat, like Roasted Quail or Dwarven Mild cheese. They will often also eat cooking ingredients like Bear Meat or Raw Sagefish. Generally speaking, pets do not eat items with grey names (i.e. vendor trash).
There are six basic types of food: bread, cheese, fish, fruit, fungus, and meat. The game won't tell you directly what type of food each item is, although generally it's pretty easy to figure out: Bear Meat is meat, Dwarven Mild is cheese, and so forth. For some more complex foods, like Jungle Stew, you may need to experiment -- just try to feed it to your pet and see if he eats it! There is no penalty for trying to feed your pet the wrong food.
Your pet will want to eat different things depending on its diet and its level. Each pet family has a distinct diet that describes the types of foods it will eat. For example, bats will eat fruit, fungus and meat while warp stalkers eat fish and fruit.
In addition, higher level pets will get picky and refuse to eat foods that are too far below their level.
Where can I see my pet's diet?
You can check to see what kinds of foods your pet will eat by looking at the Pet Details panel and hovering over the green happy face on the upper left. (Note that this icon is always green -- it is only there to show what your pet will eat, not to show how happy your pet is!)
Or you can use the hunter spell Beast Lore on your pet and then hover your mouse over the pet: the diet will display on the tooltip that pops up.
And of course you can always check Petopia! Each pet page lists the family's diet, and we also have a handy Diet Comparison table as well.
What's the best diet?
From a purely functional viewpoint, it doesn't matter whether your pet eats fungus or meat -- all food works the same. So a "good" diet is largely a matter of convenience. What's most convenient? Depends on your playstyle!
On one hand, you could look specifically for a pet that eats a wide variety of foods. Bears and boars both eat everything. Pets like this can snarf up any odds and ends you happen to come across and are especially accomodating with cooking leftovers. Plus, if you do run out of food you are almost guarenteed to find something for them at a nearby town. A pickier pet might mean a longer trip to restock.
Alternatively, you might look for a pet with a more limited diet, but one that is readily available to you. For example, if you spend a lot of time with friendly mages you might want a pet that can eat conjured bread, like a crab or a wind serpent. Or if you are working on your fishing skill, a pet who eats fish is handy to have around! Finally, meat tends to be fairly available most of the time -- it drops off of many creatures in the wild, and Azeroth is well-supplied with butcher shops.
You can compare diet across all pet families with this handy Diet Comparison table.
Why is the level of the food important?
Even if you have the right kind of food, your pet may refuse to eat it if the food is too low level. The level of the food also affects how much happiness your pet gains. So in general, it's a good idea to use food that is close to or above the level of your pet.
How can I tell a food's level?
The game doesn't tell you a the level of a food item directly, but it will often tell you what level you must be in order to eat the food. This requirement doesn't apply to pets -- pets can eat foods above their level, although they don't get any extra benefit from them.
But generally speaking, the required level for a food is 10 levels less than the food's actual level. So you can, for example, assume that Smoked Talbuk Venison has an item level of 65 because itr required level 55 to eat it.
At very low levels this isn't quite exact, but for higher level foods it holds true quite well. If you want to know the levels of your food exactly, there are a number of UI addons that display that information, or you can check a WoW database site like Thottbot
, Allakhazam, or Wowhead.
How does food level affect happiness?
When you feed your pet, it gains the Feed Pet Effect. This is a periodic buff that lasts for 20 seconds and ticks every 2 seconds for a total of 10 ticks. Every tick, your pet will gain some amount of happiness -- the amount depends on the level of the food compared to your pet's level.
| Food Item Level vs. Pet Level |
Food Required Level vs. Pet Level |
Happiness per Tick |
| 9 below | 19 below | 35 |
| 10-19 below | 20-29 below | 17 |
| 20-29 below | 30-39 below | 8 |
| 30+ below | 40+ below | Pet will not eat. |
When should I feed my pet?
The goal of feeding your pet is to keep it happy, so you will want to feed your pet whenever it isn't happy. You can tell what mood your pet is in by looking at the little face icon to the right of your pet's portrait.
| Mood | Icon | Action |
| Unhappy |  |
You should feed as soon as you can! |
| Content |  |
You'll want to feed your pet when you have a chance. |
| Happy |  |
Everything is good -- no feeding necessary yet! |
In particular, you will probably want to feed a new pet as soon as you tame it. But happiness also wears off over time, so keep an eye on your pet's mood as you are out adventuring as well.
Although you don't have to feed your pet when he is already happy, you may sometimes want to -- if, for instance, the last piece of food just barely made him happy and you don't want to have to stop and feed him again in just a few minutes.
How can I monitor my pet's feeding?
While your pet has the Feed Pet effect, he will display a little buff icon under his portrait when he is selected. In addition, you can monitor the effect and exactly how much happiness your pet is getting with a particular food by watching the the output in the Combat tab of your chat bar. (If you want to move these to another tab, or if you have turned them off at some point, look for the category called "Your Periodic Buffs" under "Periodic Effects". If you want to see when Feed Pet fades from you, you will also need to watch "Auras wearing off You" under "Spell Messages (con't)". )
Once you've started feeding your pet you'll need to wait for the Feed Pet effect to wear off before you feed him again. A second application of Feed Pet will over-write the first, so you can't stack them to get more benefit faster. In general, your best bet is to sit and wait patiently while your pet finishes his meal.
How can I tell if my pet is full?
You can tell if your pet is completely full by keeping an eye on the combat log as he is eating. If your pet is at or close to his maximum happiness, you may see the amount of happiness per tick taper off, and the Feed Pet effect may end early.
That's expected: it just means that your pet is full up of happiness and doesn't have room for any more. Feeding him when he is completely full will just waste food.
Can my pet be interrupted while eating?
If your pet takes damage the Feed Pet effect will break and you will not get any more happiness from that piece of food.
If you dismiss your pet while it is eating (either explictly with Dismiss Pet or automatically by getting out of range or mounting up), the Feed Pet Effect will stop until you re-summon your pet. But -- and this is important -- the 20 seconds for the spell will continue to run even while your pet is dismissed.
What happens if I mount up while my pet is eating?
If you mount up while your pet is still eating, the Feed Pet effect will stop until you dismount. But the 20 seconds for the spell will continue to run even while you are mounted.
So if you accidentally mount up right after feeding your pet, go ahead and dismount immediately -- you may have missed a tick or two of happiness, but you can still get the rest, and if you wait the spell will run out and you won't get any more happiness from this feeding.
Can I feed my pet in combat?
You can't start feeding your pet while you are in combat. But if you start feeding before you enter combat, the effect will only break if your pet takes damage. So in some situations you can set your pet to passive, feed him real quick, and then let him eat while you dive into combat and protect him from enemies.
Does my pet get buffs from food?
Well, yes and no. Pets don't benefit from normal food buffs -- the food that buffs characters does not buff pets at all. But there are some special 'pet snacks' that do buff pets.
What foods do give my pet a buff?
The two pet snacks currently in the game are Sporeling Snacks, which buff your pet's Stamina and Spirit, and Kibler's Bits, which buff your pet's Strength and Spirit.
How do I use pet snacks?
Oddly, these pet snacks items aren't really pet foods -- you use these items yourself, you do not feed them to your pet with the Feed Pet skill.
So far as we know, no pets will eat either Sporeling Snacks or Kibler's Bits as a food so you do not need to worry about accidental feeding. But most hunters try feeding these snacks to their pets instead of using them at least once, and are terribly confused when it doesn't work
Does my pet get health from eating?
Unfortunately, no -- pets gain only happiness from eating, not health.
Are there any good add-ons to help with pet feeding?
Yes! Petopia highly recommend's Gazmik Fizzwidget's Feed-O-Matic add-on for all your pet feeding needs.