In Cornucopia, your animals go above and beyond the call of doody. (Pardon the fowl language.) Using a pet companion to perform actions saves you tons of energy and can increase your output. Select an animal to follow you and off we go!

• You can have 1 pet companion at a time.
  
• Any animal can be used as a pet companion.
  
• A pet can be mounted once its bond level reaches 3.
  
• Pets can perform axe/pickaxe actions and can attack monsters!

My strategy for using pet companions is optimized for efficiency and output. They can save you SOOOOO much energy and help you get way more foraging and mining done.

• Pets' energy and health maxes naturally increase as its skill and bond levels go up; your maxes do not. Every time your pet's skill/bond level goes up by 1, its energy/health meter is refilled and increased by 5. Pets start with max energy 50 and HP 95, but those maxes increase quickly. On Spring 14, I'm at energy 145/HP 120 (13 cornucopia pieces) and my chicken already out paced me with energy 155 (skill 21)/HP 135 (bond 7).
  
  
• Pets' energy and health automatically refill every night. As long as your pet is not hungry, its energy and health will refill at 3:00am regardless of where you are.
  
  
• Pets are more effective when performing actions. Not only do pets chop trees, break rocks, and fight monsters for you, but they're MUCH better at it (more energy-efficient). A low-level cow with power 6, skill 5, kicks trees down in 2-4 kicks, while it takes me 8-14 chops with my orichalcum axe.

Bottom line: Pets provide increasing amounts of naturally-refilling energy and health to help you get more done at a faster rate.

• Work in parallel with your pet! Don't ride your pet when you forage or mine but send it off to do other tasks. If you divide and conquer, you'll have increased output for the same period of time!
  
  
• Focus your energy on scythe tasks. Since your pet is better at axe/pickaxe work and eventually monster fighting, have it perform those tasks while you stick to the tasks it can't perform, namely scythe tasks.
  
  
• Get a hat with a movement speed bonus. When you're working in parallel with your pet, you'll be on foot. Having a hat with a movement speed bonus makes this strategy viable. Patience is a virtue...that I do not possess.
  
  
• Stay out all night. Because your pet's health and energy refill at 3:00am wherever you are, there's no real reason to go home to sleep each night. Refill your much smaller energy meter with snacks and stay out mining and foraging. Note: I stay up most nights, and I have experienced NO bugs with crops not growing and such.

Here's what it looks like in play.

Run around on foot cutting weeds and mushrooms, collecting the drops as you go. At the same time, be assigning your pet to chop trees, mine rocks, and fight monsters. Pets will finish their task even if they are off-screen, so keep moving while they work and only circle back if you want the drops.

Work on foot cutting mushrooms and smashing jars, collecting the drops as you go. At the same time, be assigning your pet to mine rocks and fight monsters. Keep moving forward without waiting for your pet to finish its tasks. If your pet breaks a rock while offscreen, you will automatically collect any bonus drops. You will need to circle back for any stones and drops from monsters. For more details about fighting monsters, see Pets in Combat, In the Mines Pt. II.

Combat takes up a ton of energy, even with a weapon, so I recommend having your pet do most of the fighting. As laid out above, your pet's health and energy maxes will be much larger than yours, and they will only get better at fighting.

• Your pet's attack strength naturally increases as its stats level up. You are done growing and cannot increase your offensive power. In the beginning, with a weapon, you will do comparable or more damage than your pet, but eventually your pet will spend less energy to kill a monster in fewer hits. Leave it to the professionals.
  
  
• Get a ranged weapon. While you work at a distance from your pet, you can still help from there when needed. (I prefer the slingshot because stones are everywhere, while arrows/bolts need to be purchased or crafted.)
  
  
• Don't engage the monsters! Assign your pet to attack monsters before they target you. You don't receive damage if the monster isn't targeting you.
  
  
• Pick a pet with the Heal ability. (A pet's basic ability is assigned when it grows up.) Your pet will lose health more easily than energy, and, unfortunately, most raw food replenishes more energy than health. What if there was a way your pet could naturally regain health? Enter the heal ability! It triggers randomly when your pet's assignment is fighting. (It can be just running around trying to engage the monster and still heal itself.) I can stay out in the mines a lot longer and spend less food with a pet with the heal ability vs. slash.
  
  
• Keep working while your pet fights the monsters. Currently, your pet will keep fighting while you're tooling around, but not the opposite. So sic 'em on monsters and keep doing your thing.

Assign your pet to break rocks while you scythe mushrooms. You don't need to cut everything before moving forward. Instead, keep poking forward to find more rocks for your pet and check for monsters, before returning to finish cutting mushrooms. It's kind of like two steps forward, one step back, rather than a purely forward progression. If you see a monster approaching, assign your pet to fight that monster and move back out of range before it targets you. You don't need to keep them on screen for your pet to keep fighting. You can monitor their progress from the enemy's health bar at the top of the screen and your pet's health bar in the upper-left corner. While your pet is fighting the monster, keep cutting mushrooms around the fighting. (You can usually run/jump past them without being targeted.) When needed, use your ranged weapon to help, after which point you will be targeted If you are targeted, defeat the monster or jump on your chicken's back and flee the scene! Be sure to cancel any fight assignment your pet has.

• Mount your pet to get it back. If your pet gets stuck, falls off a cliff, is abducted by aliens, mount your pet and it will spawn under you.
  
  
• Train your pet at The Game Hall & Racetrack to increase its power and speed levels. Your pet can gain large increases in its power and speed levels from training in the racetrack room (to the right of Philip's booth). The two posters to the right of the Standard Race poster offer training on flat ground, which increases predominantly speed, and training on hills, which increases predominantly power. IMPORTANT: You can't access the racetrack room until you beat the first boss in the Old Mines and receive the starting gun key item.
  
  
• Do NOT feed your pet precious Cornucopia pieces and edible fruit gemstones.

The journal has an animal tab where you can see each animal's bio. Here is a breakdown of MY findings with regards to the various parts.

• Hunger: Ranges between 0-3. Hunger decreases by 1 if an animal goes to sleep outside its respective coop/barn. Feed your pet anything to improve its hunger level by 1. If your pet is at all hungry, its health and energy will not refill overnight. If your pet has 0/3 hunger, it will produce an animal product 1 size smaller than usual the next morning, and it will also become sick, which is only cured by medicine (sold at The Veggie Barn).
  
  
• Happiness: I didn't find happiness levels had any impact. I did find happiness decreased when an animal went to sleep hungry and can be increased once per day +3 by feeding and +5 by brushing.
  
  
• Age: The max size of the animal product is based on the age of the animal. Still best not to ask the female animals.
  
  
• Health: A meter of the amount of health your pet has. Health is affected by combat and statuses (e.g. poisoned, chilled, regen), and only while your pet is unmounted. If your pet's health hits 0, it is automatically returned to your coop or barn. Your pet's health will refill overnight as long as it's not hungry. You can also replenish health by feeding your pet edible items.
  
  
• Energy: A meter of the amount of energy your pet has. Energy is spent when your pet performs a task (e.g. kicks a tree, pecks a slime). Energy is not used to ride it. Your pet's energy will refill overnight as long as it's not hungry. You can also replenish energy by feeding your pet edible items.
  
  
• Stat Levels: Each pet has 5 stats it improves in. Note: Power and Skill levels both contribute to your pet's effectiveness at tasks, but I couldn't isolate the contributions of each.
  
  • Racing Rank: No identified effect. Each time your pet's racing rank levels up, you receive a treasure chest. Increases from racing your pet. The higher your pet places, the greater the increase. Training does not count.
    
  • Power Level: Combined with Skill level, how effective your pet is at its assigned tasks. Increases from performing any task and from training (particularly hills) at the racetrack.
    
  • Speed Level: How fast your pet moves. Increases as it travels around with you, performs tasks, and from training (particularly on flat ground) at the racetrack.
    
  • Skill Level: Combined with Power level, how effective your pet is at its assigned tasks. Skill level also is tied to your pet's max energy. Every time your pet's Skill level increases, its max energy goes up by 5 and is refilled. Increases from performing any task.
    
  • Bond Level: Determines your pet's max health. Every time your pet's bond level increases, its max health goes up by 5 and is refilled. Your pet can be mounted once it reaches bond level 3. Increases as it travels around with you, performs tasks, and once per day by brushing it. Cows can be milked once per day for a second bond level increase.
  
  
• Favorite Foods: Each animal has 2 random foods that it likes. If you feed an animal its favorite food, it will gain +3 health for a short duration. Currently (EA 7.1) you must manually feed your animal the food for the effect to occur.
  
  
• Disliked Foods: Each animal has 2 random foods that it dislikes. If you feed an animal a food it dislikes, it will gain the weakness status (which decreases your pet's attack). Currently (EA 7.1) you must manually feed your animal the food for the effect to occur.
  
  
• Combat Abilities: Each animal has 4 combat-related abilities. Each animal's basic ability is unlocked when it becomes an adult, and the other 3 abilities are unlocked as you raise its stat levels. The abilities are randomly triggered when your pet's current assignment is fighting a monster. Combat abilities are randomly assigned and cannot be changed.
  
  • Ability: A single-instance effect (e.g. Heal or Slash). Unlocked when becomes an adult.
    
  • Buff Ability: Positive status effect applied to self. Unlocks at Skill level 3.
    
  • Debuff Ability: Negative status effect applied to the enemy. Unlocked at Power level 3.
    
  • Special Ability: Single-instance, special move (e.g. Walking Slime Bomb, Toxic Strike, Fat Cow). Unlocked at Skill level 5.

• You can feed your pet anything, the cheaper the better. Recommendations: rock salt, $1 sea creatures, dog food.
  
  
• You cannot feed your pet while mounted.
  
  
• Your pet's statuses [cornucopia-game.fandom.com](e.g. poisoned, chilled) and health level are paused while you're mounted. (Visual effects and sound effects may persist.) As soon as you dismount, any statuses and their effects will reengage. Pets can also gain new statuses while you're mounted, but their effects will not start until you've dismounted. (Current bug: If a pet is hungry, new statuses will not be gained.)
  
  
• Pets are not cured of status conditions overnight.
  
  
• Sick pets can only be cured by medicine (sold at The Veggie Barn and Harold's Store).

• 8/7/24: Major revisions and restructuring. Created a Pets in Combat section with some new content. New findings: Pets' max energy/health are tied to Skill/Bond level.
  
  
• 7/6/24: MAJOR updates in Getting to Know Your Animal section with new findings, key finding being animal product size is related to age not bond level. Added impact of ranged weapons.