Guides · · 4 min read
Life sim with pets: adopt a turtle, parrot, cat or dog in Malta Living
By The Malta Living team · Updated
A home feels more like home with someone waiting in it. Malta Living is a free, Sims-like life sim with pets, set in real Malta and played in your browser with no download. You can adopt a turtle, a parrot, a cat or a dog. They live in your home in 3D, wander about, need feeding, and now and then leave you something to clean up.
Adopting a pet
Open Buy at home and tap the Pets tab. There are four to choose from:
- Turtle: €30, eats €0.40 a day
- Cat: €90 (adopted), eats €1.40 a day
- Parrot: €160, eats €0.90 a day
- Dog: €220, eats €2.20 a day
You can have up to two of each. Before you pay, the game shows the food bill a day and roughly a week, and what all your pets will eat together. Then pick a name (2 to 16 letters, Maltese ones too) and a colour. Cats come in ginger, black, tabby, white or calico; dogs in Maltese white, golden, black, spotted, or Kelb tal-Fenek tan. The Kelb tal-Fenek is Malta's own hunting hound: its name means "rabbit dog", and it's a traditional breed of rural Malta, known abroad as the Pharaoh Hound (Wikipedia: Pharaoh Hound). You can rename a pet once a day and change its colour any time, both free.
A virtual pet game inside your home
Pets move about: the dog trots and sniffs, the cat roams and naps on its bed, the turtle creeps round its tank, and the parrot hops along its perch. Tap one and its name shows with its card, or find them all in the 🐾 Pets chip at the top left.
Each pet has one small thing to do with it, once a day:
- Feed the turtle: +4 Fun
- Teach the parrot a word: +6 Social
- Pet the cat: +8 Fun, +5 Energy
- Walk the dog: +15 Fun, +10 Social, −5 Energy
Do it again the same day and you get a quarter of that: never blocked, just less. Any pet can have a treat from its card, any time, for €0.50 and +3 Fun.
A pet parrot that learns Maltese
The parrot starts out knowing three things of her own: "Bonġu!", "Who's a pretty bird?" and a whistle. You can teach her from a list of 18 Maltese and English phrases, from "Ajma!" and "Mela!" to "Pastizzi!" (Malta's favourite flaky snack), "Bus is late!" and "Traffic in Msida!". She knows five at most, so a sixth word swaps out the oldest. Now and then she says one in a bubble, and your visitors see it too. Picking up the language yourself? Start with Maltese phrases for beginners.
Feeding, messes and pet things
Pet food is taken from your money every evening at 18:00, with one line in your Bank for all of them, whether you're playing or not.
From 15:00, a pet may leave a mess, at most one each a day: a dog you didn't walk, a cat with no litter tray (or a full one), or a little something under the parrot's perch. The turtle never does. Tap a mess to clean it, free, for +2 Hygiene; left out, each one takes 3 off your home's clean meter.
Buy's Pets tab also sells pet things, placed like furniture: a dog bed (€35), a litter tray (€18, which fills 25% a day for each cat; empty it in Essentials → Today), a scratching post (€24), a big cage (€60) and a bigger tank (€45). A dog wants a bed, a cat a tray and a parrot a cage, and a pet with its thing gives 20% more when you spend time with it. For the rest of the room, see furnishing your home in Buy mode.
If money runs short, or you move
Nothing dies. If the food can't be paid, your pet misses dinner. On the third evening a neighbour offers to feed it; on the fifth it goes to the animal shelter. Pay what's owed within 14 days and it comes home; after that it's adopted by a new family, and you get a photo.
Pets move with you, free. A hotel room, a hostel bunk or an Airbnb takes only the turtle and the parrot, so cats and dogs stay with Mum (if you're a local) or a friend until you live somewhere bigger, still fed.
Friends who come round see your pets' names, and the parrot shows off, which makes pets a nice touch for house parties and visits. There's plenty more in the Malta life simulator guide, or you can play Malta Living free in your browser and adopt one now.
Questions people ask
What pets can you have in Malta Living?
A turtle (€30), a cat (€90), a parrot (€160) or a dog (€220), up to two of each. You adopt them in Buy at home, under the Pets tab, and choose a name and a colour.
What happens if you can't feed your pet in Malta Living?
Your pet misses dinner, a neighbour offers to help on the third evening, and on the fifth it goes to the animal shelter. Pay what's owed within 14 days to bring it home; no pet ever dies.
Can you get a Kelb tal-Fenek in Malta Living?
Yes: when you adopt a dog, one of its colours is Kelb tal-Fenek tan, after Malta's traditional rabbit-hunting hound. A dog costs €220 and eats €2.20 a day.
Can a pet parrot learn words in Malta Living?
Yes. Your parrot can learn up to five phrases from a list of 18 Maltese and English ones, like "Ajma!" and "Pastizzi!", and says them in a bubble that visitors see too.
