Common Sense Media Review
By Dana Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Virtual pet site almost worthless without paid membership.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 83 parent reviews
Based on 155 kid reviews
Kids say that this website used to be a fun and educational space for caring for virtual pets, but it has since devolved into a money-driven platform filled with inappropriate content and poor customer support. Many reviews lament the transition to a pay-only structure, citing experiences of financial loss, cyberbullying, and a toxic community that discourages children from engaging safely.
- toxic community
- pay-to-play issues
- safety concerns
- money-driven motives
- negative user experiences
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's It About?
Once kids adopt and name a pet, they have a few tools to ensure it stays healthy. Pets must get food, water, and playtime about once every 24 hours and email reminders help kids stay on schedule. Arcade-style games earn FooDollars to use for food and other items at the store. Kids can add friends, play with their friends' pets, and even breed with other pets, provided the pets are old enough and the owners have the proper licensure. If kids catch their pet being adorable, they can take a photo and post it to a gallery or brag about it in the pet owners forum.
Is It Any Good?
The realistic images and engaging game play for these virtual pets is impressive, and it's easy for players -- kids, teens, and adults -- to be hooked by cuteness alone. The site, created by a vet, also presents good information about responsible pet ownership and the realities of pet care. But the heavy push to join the pay-to-play membership may cause many tweens to beg more than their virtual pets. FOO PETS also sends a lot of emails to the account with which players register for site access (which is supposed to be a parent account for kids under 13), including e-alerts to let you know if you haven't fed your pet or it otherwise needs some sort of care.
Online interaction: Opportunities to meet other Foo Pets owners and share pet care responsibilities if your child is 13 or older, or gets your permission, as well as play games and interact with other pet owners. Interaction is generally positive, but some mild name-calling happens in the forums.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
What features on a virtual world make it safer for kids? Check out Common Sense Media's guide to virtual worlds for young kids.
What is the difference is between a virtual pet and a real pet. Do you think a site like this makes kids more in tune to the needs of a real pet, or less so?
Like so many other websites, Foo Pets ties heavily into Facebook. Parents, if you don't already know how to use Facebook and if your tween or teen is on it, read Common Sense Media's Parents' Guide to Facebook and discuss what you learn about this site with your kids.
Website Details
- Subjects : Hobbies : pets
- Skills : Communication : friendship building , Responsibility & Ethics : learning from consequences , making wise decisions
- Genre : Virtual Worlds
- Pricing structure : Free
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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