Ash_Hope's Guide to Your Plushie Petpet

But a Plushie Petpet can be a lot of work, so I’m here, in our garden, to tell you all about how to take care of them!

#1. Grooming

Obviously, a Plushie Petpet can’t take a bath like most petpets, but they still need to be washed. What I do is take a tiny drop of my sister’s Uni Shampoo (but don’t tell her!) and make a lather with it in warm water. Then I put a washcloth in that mixture and gently wash Snowflake with it. Note: Don’t actually place petpet into the water. This is very important. After that, rinse off the washcloth and make it damp. You can now rinse your petpet off. Finally, get a new towel or washcloth and dry your petpet off.

Snowflake plays outside and in the dirt a lot, just like me, so if your petpet is the same, then make sure to put extra shampoo! If you are worried about the fabric of your Plushie Petpet, it doesn’t fade easily. Stains are super easy to get rid of, and it never tears. All the stuffing inside your petpet is super durable and comfy. I got this cleared with PPL the other day; I call them a lot. Before I got Snowflake, I had a rambunctious Lil Frankie whose eyes were always glowing. I went to the the PPL a lot about that and they were slightly not helpful at all. But they do know what they’re talking about! If you have a question that’s not about your Spooky Petpet’s actions, they’ll give you a great answer.

#2. Entertainment

It’s very easy for a Plushie Petpet to get bored, actually. The PPL told me that they have a higher boredom rate than any other color of petpet. I’m not sure why that is, though. It’s very easy for me to get bored, too, so that’s another thing Snowflake and I have in common! Yay! I find that to not get bored, you need to follow my acronym, A.P. It stands for Activity and Participation.

Let me explain it. Obviously you will be bored if you aren’t doing something, so you need to find a good activity. Second, active participation in an activity is needed to have a good time. Take this example: You signed up for an art class at the Art Centre but you don’t get passed a paintbrush by accident. Sure, you have an activity, but you can’t do it. That’s not fun! I recommend engaging your Plushie Petpet in as much A.P. as possible, but a couple of fun activities a day should be enough as a minimum.

Now, I bet some of you are thinking, Why does my petpet need to not be bored? First of all, that’s mean to your petpet! But all petpets need to engage in regular exercise, and boredom is dangerous. The PPL woman told me that bored petpets are twice at risk for Petpet Cough (Who knew that was a disease? I sure didn’t!) than others. Petpet Cough is a very nasty disease and not even Plushie Petpets are immune to it. So make sure your petpet never gets bored!

#3. With Other Petpets

If you have siblings like me (especially if you have 4 and cousins!) then there will probably be other petpets in the house. Most Plushie Petpets are sweet and well-behaved, especially Snowflake. How could they not be? They’re literally adorable bundles of cotton, wool, colors, and happiness (that may have been a bit opinionated, but oh, well).

But you need to make sure that every petpet has her or his own space. Like in my Neohome: All of our petpets live in our rooms, which are also shared, except for Griffin Flight’s, but we also take them outside for fresh air. It’s slightly crowded in our Neohome, so that has to happen a lot. And make sure every petpet has their own toys! No one likes to share all of their toys, or, at least, they like to have a few of their own. Not to say I’m saying they shouldn’t share toys; sharing is a very important value you must instill on your petpet. I’m just saying life isn’t very rich made of just hand-me-downs, and everyone should be treated like they are special!


My siblings and I are best friends, and all of our petpets are great friends, too. If this is the case at your Neohome, then be sure to have lots of petpet fun days! (Note: This does not mean to take them all to have petpet fights with other petpets at the Darigan Citadel. My bro Mustard said that it was very important I put that in here.) Here’s an example: Snowflake and my big sis’ (Cinder; she wrote the article about colleges. Let me tell you, research was really fun!) petpet, Aubrey, are really good friends. They love chatting in their petpet-language and having races. So every week or so Cinder and I arrange to have a racing/shopping/general fun day with them.

Basically, it comprises of spending time inside the city for most of the morning, sipping lots of Sun Teas, and then eating lunch at Exquisite Ambrosia. For the afternoon, we go out into the countryside and just fly and run around. (Well, Cinder and Aubrey fly, Snowflake and I run, and sometimes we fly on Cinder’s back.) Engaging your petpet (Plushie or otherwise; this guide can be seen as a beginner’s guide to looking after ay petpet) with other ones is very important. Just be sure that no one’s feelings are hurt, and separate them if that does happen.

#4. Discipline and Training

Now, Plushie petpets are not little angels all of the time, though I am inclined to assume the best of Snowflake. It is only reasonable to be prepared for when your petpet gets in trouble or does something wrong; it is bound to happen, because petpets are not perfect. When it happens, you need to know how to make your petpet see what she or he did wrong and how to fix it.

You shouldn’t be mean, because your petpet wouldn’t be mean to you and Plushie petpets don’t react well to anger. They tend to become stubborn and listen even less to what you are trying to tell them. Instead, try to be as patient as you can and appeal to what your petpet will listen to. I have another example of this. A few weeks ago, right before the Day of Giving, Snowflake was eating a bunch of cookies I had baked. I had clearly told her not to, so I then told her that she would have to be punished. Immediately after hearing this, Snowflake started to walk away, so I picked her up and took her to her favorite place, in our garden, right next to the small pond and the hydrangea bushes, so she would be calm.

Then I told her that the punishment would not be unreasonable and that I would make it as fair as could be. Her punishment was to have to help me with my chores for the next two weeks, and to help me make a new batch of cookies. I told Cinder and Mustard about the punishment and they said it was fair, too. Snowflake responded just fine to the work she had to do, and we had fun while doing it. I asked if her if she had learned not to disobey me, and she nodded and “Pllllrrrrr”ed adorably. Job well done!

Of course, petpets need to be rewarded for good behavior, too. This is the part where you shower your Plushie petpet in love and affection. For an added bonus, I’ve also discovered this makes them more likely to not break your rules. Make sure to spend lots of time with them so that they know you love them.

Training Plushie petpets takes a lot of dedication! I had to go to the PPL for this one. They say it’s hard to train a petpet, and it’s even harder to train a Plushie one. That’s because Plushie petpets have never been used in a way of transportation or any kind of work at all; they are purely domestic and have never been wild either. That’s right, there’s no naturally Plushie petpets! This bit of information made me treasure my Snowflake even more. Either way, training a Plushie takes about the same methods as I’ve described above: Patience, discipline after doing something bad, reward when they do something good. You also need lots of determination and a will of steel.

Thankfully, being already domesticated and tame makes Plushie petpets less likely to lash out during training. It just takes a long time to get them to listen to what you want them do. I tried to train Snowflake this winter, and it was fun, if challenging! She put up a fight and was slightly apathetic, but I can be, too, sometimes. Eventually, I trained her to fetch me a book from our bookshelf, which is a pretty neat skill to have. Who knows what I’ll train her to do next?

#5. Appreciation

Like I said earlier, every petpet needs to feel special, and plushie ones are no exception. To have a petpet and really know the experience of having one, your petpet needs to know that they are the most important Neo in your life. This can be done in many extravagant ways, like buying them presents and making them food.

While those aren’t bad ways (a little spoiling is fine) I find it’s necessary to tell Snowflake that I love her a few times a day. I know she loves me too and we have a great friendship. In fact, she, my siblings, and my mom are my 6 best friends. That may seem like I lot, but what can I say? I love making and having friends.

Your petpet is your responsibility, so make sure you take care of them and love them as much as they deserve!!!! Especially Plushie petpets, but maybe I’m just biased.

Whew, that was a lot. I’m going to make me some omelette lasagna to cool down. Snowflake, we’ll ask StormFur to make us smoothies too! (He absolutely loves smoothies, and his are actually pretty good.)

I hope you liked my article. I’m proud of myself! Cinder has always been pestering me to write something, since she says I’m “creative enough.”

It was definitely fun for me, because I love Snowflake so much and I think petpets are really interesting.

Be sure to call the PPL whenever, you’ll learn something new, and to listen to my advice and get a Plushie petpet!

Acknowledgements

Here I’m going to thank some of the Neopets (and petpet) that have helped me to write and come up with the idea for this article.

Cinder, for giving me the inspiration to, being my big sister forever, and helping me with spelling and grammar.

Mustard, for being the best big bro ever, giving me lots of tips on petpet care, and bringing Coriander out to play with Snowflake while I was writing this to keep her busy.

StormFur, for being my little brother that seems like an older one, playing your CD in the shed while I was writing this so I could have random dance breaks (hope that doesn’t embarrass you), and making us Stramberry smoothies afterwards!

Griffin Flight, for being such a sweet little brother, making me pump-up snacks while I was writing this, and for making the omelette lasagna for me instead. (I’ll repay you)

Mom, for being the best owner ever, getting me Snowflake and painting her, and just being there for all of us all of the time.

The PPL, for providing me with lots of information to write this article, and always an interesting visit.

My past Lil Frankie, Chase, who was a great, if spooky, petpet that always kept me on my toes and learning about why his eyes were lighting up.

My Plushie Feepit, Snowflake, who was the inspiration for writing this article. I’ll always love you!!!!