Gatrie

If there's a topic for this already, I do apologise. When I searched for one, there was really only results that only mentioned what I was looking for briefly. I also understand that animals were confirmed for being added later, though this is not just a suggestion for adding animals.
 
I kind of wanted to help broaden the addition of animals, if at all. Mostly in the departments of finding ways to tame or befriend certain animals to sticking by your side and seeing you as their 'alpha' in some cases. With dog food and tuna already being in the game, I can assume that dogs and cats are already two different animals that will make an appearance.
 
So... deviating away from them here for the first part, what about farm animals and being able to lead them back to a location that you set up for them? That, and having a way to create hay bales from tall grass so that you can care for larger animals down the line (or setting up a fenced in area where they can graze). Maybe carrots, apples, or more enticing greens can be used to lure now free roaming bovine, horses, and pigs to a location that you have set up, or if you can get close enough, be able to use a lead rope on them to take them back.
 
Of course, it would be a tricky process if you haven't already cleared the area -- unless you so happened upon one of the preexisting farmlands that have the animals on them.
 
Back to more common household pets -- given the nature of the game, it's highly unlikely that animals that a player would run across would want to trust said player. So how would being able to befriend them work? I imagine that tuna, salmon, or fresh dead rats would be ways to coax a feline friend, whereas dogs would be happy to receive the canned dog food, and other various meat products. On the note of giving meat to the animals, I personally would cook the meat to give to the animals rather than just giving it to them raw -- though I'm sure this could be an optional feature.
 
In any case, I suppose I also wanted to talk about added benefits of having pet companions, so here's a list of things that I have talked about with my fiancé that we think could be viable possibilities:
 
Positives:
All animals being able to be stress relievers, and happiness inducers if interacted with. However, the more work you do with them or for them, the less they make you happy, and can even start to stress you out.
  Cats bringing back fresh dead rats, birds, or lizards (if the devs wish to incorporate more animals than just the standard) as 'presents.'
  Chickens being able to produce eggs for the players (though eggs seem kind of useless due to eggs only being used in soups currently).
  Cows providing milk (and thus allowing the player to possibly make other various dairy products if given the correct tools and learning material).
  Dogs helping the player hunt game and take down zombies (the highest chance of becoming infected or dying due to most likely accompanying the player the most).
  Horses/Donkeys/Mules (or all the above) could be used as pack animals to help carry things that you otherwise couldn't, or... or they can be used for transportation with a decreased item carrying option to help accommodate for player and wanted items. Also has faster speed all around, though still gets fatigued  if running for too long.
  Pigs... ah... other than raising them for slaughter so that you have a good supply of ham and bacon, there's not really much else that I could add onto this, other than their poop makes excellent fertiliser. Negatives:
 
Should animals going in heat be a consideration, then interacting with them will cause stress -- or even injuries if an animal is given the coding so that it can lash out.
  Animal noises (such as roosters crowing, dogs barking, cows mooing, etc.) will attract zombie attention to where you are holding out, or have the animals located.
  Cats and dogs are capable of ruining certain things (maybe peeing on newspapers or clothing -- or tearing up books).
  Upon meeting certain animals (dogs, bovine, pigs) that are unconstrained by fences, they are territorial, and will attack regardless of if you are wanting to tame them or not (this is not to say they cannot be tamed).  
Everything is still a work in progress. I'm just going ahead and spitballing ideas, and am going to add, or elaborate upon some when community feedback is provided. ^ v ^

This is subjective since some people like cold food more than warm food. 
A good example is Pizza, some people prefer it cold rather than hot, so happiness in relation to temperature is again subjective.
Maybe this could be a trait thing where your character likes cold meals more (bonus to uncooked or food that cannot be heated up as well as food that cooled down)
 
But your idea is alright.

So this idea came up today.
 
It's simple. The warmer the food the tastier it gets. That means the happiness variable goes up and down with the temperature of the meal. Cause no one want to eat old, cold meat when the grease or sauce is a chunk of jelly fat.
 
DICE PLS NERF

Actually i would also like to have an option that says for example "examine fish tank" and a gif or a jpeg comes on the screen with the fish checking if yoru fish are alive or dead xD

Hi every body !
 
I've been trought a few games in Insane option, and when i get out to find supplies, i always see zombies waiting in streets, just waiting to move after the first sound...
 
I mean, zombies still are "living" ! So here is my little suggestion :
 
- Implement a few behavior for zombies, like eating a corpse, follow an other zombie, scratch walls, not intelligent or logical behavior, but something to make zombies more "alive", and by these occupations it could be easier to be invisible for them, they are concentrate and making some noises !
 
- The second behavior i'd like to see is just zombies to be able to hang around, independantly from any sound. Maybe just after a little time in a place, the zombie move around, a stop somewhere, with any logic ? And by moving, the zombie drags some other zombies who just have seen him move and so follow him by instinct ! I'd love to see some hordes, just one or two per city, "leading" by a small group of zombies always moving around, and draggind other zombies to create a big horde, also dropping little groups of zombies in it track. These hordes could follow sounds and survivors, but when there is any of them, they just follow their instinct, leading them to places all around the city.
 
(Max Brooks in his survivor guide said that zombies are attracted by the places which attracted humans before : church, schools, community centers, malls... Maybe these places are soak by human odors, and a horde can smell it ?)
 
Just an idea to make zombies more than waiting in the streets, and more terrible !
I hope this was clear, i really apologize for my english !
 
EDIT 24/02/2015 :
 
Here are some of the ideas you give me :
 
- When wildlife be there, zombies are of course attract by its move and smell. Especially in city, i'd really love to see dogs and rats. They are the only animals who will stay in town :
_ rats survive pretty easy to zombies and will have more food and space than ever.  And of course, those little mooving snacks will attract zombies in buildings, sometimes really deep in them.
_ dogs are the saddest remains of this world : their owners are dead, and dogs wasn't ready to deal with a life without man. But they still are very dangerous beasts, more when hunger come to them... That's why you'll find some dogs, looking together in town, on an opposite neighborhood of the great horde, spreading is rotten smell all around.
If this animals will left when a horde come around, they'll stay in town, and kind of accustom to this danger. So they won't be afraid by a few zombies hanging around, of course, until one of them see his meal and run after it. That could drag zombies on a long distance, or deep in a building, and zombies will keep looking for it until they forgot. And that could be a pretty long time, enough to get in higher buildings or in a weak point of your fortress...
 
- Of course zombies are aggressive because of the virus, trying to spreading as much as possible. But after the higher point of contamination, the possibilities to spread just go down, so this organism work on the "health" of his host. According to Max Brooks, zombies in temperate climate (as USA or EU) can live 3 years with a minimal eat. Zombies in cold climate will live longer, and tropical about one year less. But it is still an organism, ruled by a virus who naturally try to live as longer as possible.
So if zombies will always run after a human being, all the other time they will try to feed themselves, with small animals and rest bodies.

Let me keep a pet fish in a tank, I would also like the option to swap it out for a pet lobster / rat / still living zombie head.

I promise I'll feed it and clean my tank.