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Characters / Housepets! — Other Animals

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Housepets! by Rick Griffin
Tropes: A to L | M to Z
Main Character Page | Cats | Dogs (Tarot) | Other Animals | Humans | Denizens of Heaven

This page lists the mortal animals in the webcomic Housepets! besides the domestic cats and dogs. This includes the Milton ferrets, Miles' wolf pack, and all other wild animals, as well as domesticated animals of other species, and civilized wild animals.

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    The Milton Ferrets 

As a whole

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/housepets_ferrets.jpg
L-to-R: Keene, Pit, Duke, Breel, Rock, Lana, Simon
For info on Breel, see Denizens of Heaven
  • Big Fancy House: The Milton Estate they own is luxurious, with a swimming pool regularly filled with whatever strikes Keene's fancy at the time. It's said to have been the first part of Babylon Gardens built, after which the town was constructed around it.
  • Cloud Cuckoolander: They built a theme park based on theme parks. They were trying to come up with a theme, so they put tons of ideas on a board and threw a dart... and the dart hit the board's name: "Theme Park Ideas."
  • Conspicuous Consumption: They've all been known to indulge in mindless hedonism, their pool is usually filled with some sort of edible product and they have a chocolate fondue jacuzzi for instance.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: While technically benevolent, they show signs of this when it comes to money, like hiring a corrupt judge so that potential lawsuits go out in their favor and hosting a fair just to avoid paying tax. They also apparently fear the IRS, if the fact that Cerberus' Intimidating Revenue Service being successful on one of them is of any indication.
  • Eccentric Millionaire: Every last one of them is a Cloud Cuckoolander in some way or another, and their immense money and power often makes it someone else's problem.
  • Fiction 500: Throughout the comic's run, what must be millions upon millions of dollars are lost on ridiculous business endeavors and keeping the residents of Wolf House fed and sheltered, but they end the comic no less rich than they began as.
  • Idle Rich: Other than Keene and eventually Lana, none of them seem to have actual jobs beyond what entertains their fancy at the moment, like Pit's radio station.
  • "Last Supper" Steal: The ferrets and Breel appeared like this during "Temple Crashers 2". Breel is in the Jesus position, and Keene has an Eye Take as he's in the Judas position.note 
  • Old Money: The Milton fortune dates back to at least 1955, when the mansion they live in was built. Every cent of it was passed down to the ferrets by Henry Milton when he died.
  • Pet Heir: The ferrets were named in the will of Mr. Milton, the founder of Babylon Gardens.
  • Rags to Riches: The Miltons were going to be sent away in a cardboard box for free, living naturally as pets before they eventually inherited their owner's money.
  • Theme Naming: The Milton ferrets are each named after characters from Captain N: The Game Master.note 

Keene

The de facto leader of the Milton ferrets and the one with by far the most screen time. Also the only one who seems to care about their "dad's" dreams of animal-human equality, founding the "Equal Chance Program".
  • Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: It's heavily implied that he only decides to give Wolf House their rights as citizens because he was heavily drunk when he met Miles.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: In his early years, he's easily seduced to extravagant shows of wealth, and frequently makes financial decisions that are poor or outright awful on a whim.
  • Beleaguered Benefactor: Comes with his Character Development. Initially he throws away money at such length and ridiculousness that it quite literally drives Steward to turn against him, but after a while with Breel he seems to realize how much he's losing. To this end, one of his strategies to calm things down is to start demanding people at Wolf House get jobs so they don't spend his money quite so willy-nilly.
  • Character Development: His first appearance features him cheering with wide-eyed excitement over his newfound wealth, implying a ditzy and fun personality like many pets. Money changes him quickly, making him an Idle Rich who throws cash around carelessly at his problems. Finally, the influence of Breel changes him for the better into a somewhat cynical but ultimately kinder person.
  • Chaotic Neutral: King points out that he 'has no idea where he falls on the good/evil scale'. Keene's ultimate goal is a selfless continuation of his father's work, but he's willing to engage in some pretty heinous acts for it. On the flipside, he's done some good things for selfish reasons, such as financing King and Bailey's wedding to monetize the spectacle of it. And finally he's done one or two bad things just for himself, such as starting a Water War to test his line of water guns. Ultimately, he gets better with some character development and Breel as his Morality Pet.
  • The Chessmaster: Not often, but manages to fake a water war throughout all of Babylon Gardens in order to test his new line of water guns. It very nearly works, stopped at the last moment by Weather Saves the Day.
  • Closet Key: Breel. The Power of Love in the form of a deep kiss is what breaks Breel's chains in Pandemonium, and Keene likes it enough he wants to keep making out right there... much to his demon pal's irritation, since the little guy just wants to escape to Earth.
  • Cool Shades: Usually seen wearing sunglasses when outdoors, and sometimes indoors as well.
  • Drives Like Crazy: By his own admission he knows "a rough approximation" of how to drive. The first instance of seeing him drive, ends with the vehicle in-question embedded part-way though a wall.
    Keene: "Any landing you can walk away from-"
    Breel: "I suspect this machine was never meant to fly, though."
  • Drunk on Milk: Established the running gag of pets getting intoxicated on orange soda while drowning out his guilt over spending his inheritance flippantly.
  • The Dutiful Son: For a stretched definition of 'son'. Keene's primary goal throughout much of the story is to finish the work of his owner, Henry Milton, in using magic to bring together human and animal species. He clearly cares a lot about the man's memory, and Henry himself is one of the titular Four Animals You Meet In Heaven for him.
  • Grin of Rage: Towards Steward when asking why he never noticed Keene's absence. Lampshaded by the title, Smile Though Your Heart Is Breaking.
  • Idle Rich: For quite some time he seems only interested in blowing money, until eventually becoming head of the ECP.
  • Ironic Hell: In life, Keene is a rich man who is physically unable to understand the plight of the working man. During his time in Pandemonium, he's made to undertake back-breaking work under sadistic managers with basic human rights constantly denied to him.
  • Only Sane Man: Certainly less of a Cloudcuckoolander than his "brothers", possibly on par with his sister Lana in the sanity department. And to make matters worse, he has to put up with Karishad's antics as well.
  • Pajama-Clad Hero: When his trap goes off in Temple Crashers 2, he's teleported out of his bed and into the middle of a battle while still wearing his nightcap. This actually works to his advantage; The Temple grants powers to those inside based on their clothing. With the power of the nightcap, he's able to induce 'waking up', which teleports him back to bed.
  • Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: Keene and Zach interact rarely, leading Zach to have a somewhat skewed idea of what the eccentric ferret is like. When Zach is called upon to help with temple crashing, he immediately recognizes Keene as 'the ferret who embroiled the neighborhood in a water gun turf war'.
  • Rich Bitch: He has some traits, although ultimately has a good heart. He's flippant towards those less well-off than him, treats his underlings poorly, and calls being a thief a 'respectable career'. His arc involves doing a lot of terrible things early on, and very quickly sobering up and trying to do better once his money begins to dwindle.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Being incredibly rich, he has a few of these, such as a judge in the Hague.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Many, many times.
  • Sentimental Drunk: One of the earliest hints at his overarching goals comes when he meets Miles, very intoxicated. He briefly sobers up from his rambling and cries into Miles' leg, apologizing to his departed father.
  • Silver Spoon Troublemaker: By far the rowdiest and unbehaved of his siblings, if only because he's the most intelligent (Alongisde Lana) and still acts like a child. This annoys the K9PD in particular, who he's had multiple encounters with.
  • Spoiled Brat: Tends to bitch and yell when he can't get his way. Steward actually takes advantage of this, provoking him at the beginning of '"Temple Crashers 2'' to further his own plans.
  • Straight Gay: Keene has never shown any effeminate qualities. If not for his relationship with Breel, you could never tell.
  • Tyrannical Town Tycoon: Teeters on this line. Keene co-owns the town of Babylon Gardens alongside his siblings, but is by far the most morally black character among them. He's depicted as buying out courts, tampering with the law, and running underhanded schemes to get his way whereas the others more often just use their money for Conspicuous Consumption. Played With, as he's not amoral or vicious, just short-sighted, greedy, and careless. He has ultimately good intentions of bringing about equality, and ends up causing a lot of good change by the end of the comic, even as he pulls ridiculous stunts (like building a Hot Springs in the middle of town on a whim) and bribes his way out of police consequences. Those who have to live under him just find him nearly a bit too frustrating to give him credit for the good he does.
  • Unscrupulous Hero: Has no qualms using his money and connections to get what he wants.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His callous brush-off of Breel during the "Temple Crashers 2" mega-arc led to the game going into Hard Mode as Breel's tears in the mana pool opened a portal directly to The Bad Place. And his agreement for the demon's help to set them free may lead to additional bad things happening, as alluded to in "Heckraiser".
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Keene wants to make his "father's" dream of equality between animals and humans a reality.

Duke

  • Meaningful Name: Duke Milton. 'Dook' is the accepted term for describing a ferret's sound.
  • Stealth Pun: Duke Milton. 'Dook' is the accepted term for describing a ferret's sound.
  • Take a Third Option: When choosing a theme for Theme Park World, the ferrets put several options on a wheel and threw darts at it. Duke hit the words 'theme park', and so they decided to go with it.

Lana

The most level-headed of the ferrets. When Keene considers retirement and a mundane life with Breel, she becomes the new Chair of the Milton enterprises.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Early strips feature her just as chipper and ditzy as her siblings, and seemed to make a few jokes about her interest in technology, which would be seldom brought up after she shifted to the Only Sane Woman. At least one comic, where she pretends not to notice an intruder in her house, suggests it may have been partially Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • Only Sane Woman: Apparently the one who keeps the household running.

Pit

  • Camp: Pit is flamboyant and flashy, dressing femininely at every occassion, but his sexuality is never stated.
  • Conspicuous Consumption: The most notable example among the ferrets, in his second appearance he's trying on a flashy silver jacket sequined with diamonds and the cast page claims he once bought an old missile silo and filled it with vanilla pudding.
  • Cool Shades: Wears a variety of star-shaped sunglasses, or this one with lit sparklers attached.
  • Disco Dan: His outfits take a very 80s approach to fashion, which his co-host in All's Fair derides, saying 'You're not in a music video'.
  • Impossibly Tacky Clothes: His outfits include Triangle Shades on an orange jacket, a pink and black polkadot sweater with sparkler glasses, and a jacket made of diamonds.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Pit usually wears tops with no pants, in general being one of the most commonly clothed ferrets.
  • In Touch with His Feminine Side: In his later appearances has taken to wearing a hot pink sweater.
  • Large Ham Radio: He owns a radio show called WPIT (Or KPIT), where he plays the role of an overly bombastic and soundboard-heavy host, even when announcing his studio's explosion.
  • WPUN: His station is alternatively called WPIT or KPIT, potentially in a Newshounds reference.

Rock

The second most plot-significant ferret, after Keene. Amateur director and producer of whatever medium strikes his fancy.

Simon

  • Cannot Keep a Secret: His owner left a treasure map with a note specifically for him not to display it, what does he do next? Talk about it on a talk show of course.
  • Cool Shades: He wears a pair identical to Keene's for one strip.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: His first appearance, brief as it is, features him with many of the traits that would be passed onto Keene. He barks orders at his subordinate, wears Cool Shades, and puts on a face of faux empathy around others. By his next appearance, he'd already begun shifting into the biggest Cloud Cuckoolander of the entire family.
  • Yet Another Baby Panda: He's twice shown to be given his own television interviews; Not unwarranted, as a member of the Milton Family, but the way The Host talks to him shows a mild condescension towards his cuteness and ditziness.

    Other Pets 

Zachary "Zach" Arbelt (Rabbit)

The third pet to the Arbelt family, and deity to much of the Babylon Gardens forest, as much as he wishes he weren't.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: In his diary, he notes that he feels ostricated from his new 'siblings' due to his suddenly shaking up the formula they had become adjusted to.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Zach is adopted from a shelter into a family with a dog and a cat, and instantly feels alienated in the way they ignore him for butting into their pre-established dynamic. In his diary, he privately writes that he feels invisible and feels like trash. When he runs away into the forest, he stumbles his way into becoming a Messiah by complete accident, earning Unwanted False Faith; meaning now, everybody treats him like the center of the universe, bombarding him with attention and praise even when he doesn't want it.
  • Breaking Out the Boss: Inadvertently releases Pete.
  • Confound Them with Kindness: Zach stuns Jessica when the two meet this way. Jessica spent quite a while hearing Zach hyped up as a prophet and messiah, and came to him to chew him out, only for him to offer her the medicine needed to save her friend's kit. Despite being nothing more than a normal rabbit, Zach's thoughtfulness warms her up to him immensely.
  • Cosmic Plaything: Most likely. He laments to Jessica that the universe itself seems to have it out for him, not just by making him the Opener of Ways, but by constantly putting him in peril and misery.
  • Cowardly Lion: Despite pulling off a few impressive feats throughout the comic, Zach is shown to be afraid of quite a few things, including ghosts and dolphins. In Temple Crashers, he immediately runs at the first sign of combat.
  • Dumb Is Good: Zach is gullible and often out of the loop on things, on top of being The Chew Toy, but genuinely kind in a way that makes Jessica fall for him.
  • Easter Bunny: He serves as one in Ea(s)ter, treating the job much like a Mall Santa, complete with fake ears over his real ones.
  • Expressive Ears: Almost as much as the cats.
  • Fantastic Light Source: He gains the ability to light up his feet in Temple Crashers. This power lingers for a while after he leaves the Temple, and can apparently petrify Gargoyles.
  • Friend to All Living Things: As little as he wants it, his Opener status leads to forest animals flocking to him at all times. Aside from this, he is often shown to be genuinely selfless, although sometimes as a Knight in Sour Armor.
  • Genre Refugee: His entrance into the Arbelt Family is depicted as if a completely normal person entered the formula of Garfield. He's not particularly funny, screws up the established dynamic of the two leads, and reacts with confusion to their punchlines and comedic timing. He'll sometimes even get bored and wander out of a strip before the punchline's been delivered.
  • Happily Adopted: Zigzagged. He was glad to get out of the pet store after spending most of his life there, but the combined weirdness of witnessing and/or getting involved with the antics of the neighborhood pets, being unwillingly worshiped by the local wildlife, living with Tiger, and receiving relatively little attention otherwise has all caused him to wonder if it's worth it.
  • Holy Backlight: When Ink prays to him, he emerges from his hole cast in yellow light from behind, which gives Ink a beam of heavenly light to sit in.
  • Innocent Bystander:
    • To the entire Water War. Zach steps outside his house for some fresh air, and spends the rest of the day swept back and forth between enemy lines before getting caught up in a mission that involves breaking into the Milton Mansion.
    • To the Cosmic Game as well. By accidentally freeing Pete, he makes himself quite important to the Game, although he never plays a large role in it.
  • Intimate Healing: While trapped in a cage together in winter, Jessica warms up Zach by cuddling against him. This comes with many complaints and gripes along the way.
  • The Klutz: Zach has slipped or tumbled into traps twice, off a cliff, on a frozen lake, and into the role of Opener.
  • Loved by All: In the Babylon Gardens forest, at least. Lana's poll here shows many ferals and wild animals were enthused at the idea of his getting his own TV show, despite presumably not being able to watch it without electricity or TVs.
  • Lucky Rabbit's Foot: His feet seem to be Body Motifs. Different characters make jokes or references to his feet being lucky, and in Pete's temple he gains the power to light them up like a flashlight. This is deeply ironic, since Zach has absolutely awful luck.
  • Never Accepted in His Hometown: Downplayed. In the forest, Zach is a literal prophet; back home, he's just another pet without many friends and who his siblings don't really think twice about most times.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His accidental opening of Pete's temple not only makes him an accidental messiah to the forest animals, but frees the Celestial Pete from his 1000+ years imprisonment.
  • Not Quite Back to Normal: For a while after leaving Pete's temple, he still possesses glowing feet, a White Mage power he unlocked inside.
  • Only Sane Man: He thinks he's this. He's really Not So Above It All at some times.
  • Only the Worthy May Pass: Poor Zach didn't know what he was getting into by being the only critter that pushed the button on the gate of the temple...
  • Pets as a Present: Zach was given as a Christmas present to... The other two pets in the Arbelt household.
  • Pets Versus Strays: Zach's initial conundrum. At home, among his pet brothers, he feels like a third wheel to their friendship and longs for somewhere he can be more accepted. So, he runs with a stray raccoon off into the woods, where he finds good company among the herbivore population. One slip-up later, he's deified, and once again prevented from feeling like an equal to everyone else, only now he's on top of the pyramid instead of at the bottom.
  • Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Despite not actually being a prophet, Zach does have one supernatural trait; He writes in his diary about having dreams of Pete, despite presumably never learning who he is (Until Temple Crashers) or what connection Zach has to him.
  • Rabbit Magician: In Pete's temple, he takes the role of White Mage. For a while after leaving, his magic abilities stay with him, although this only extends to casting magic light from his feet.
  • Red Baron: Nearly Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep", since the animals in the forest call him 'The Opener of Ways', but everyone back home just calls him Zach.
  • Righteous Rabbit: A kind, selfless person and holy figure on the side.
  • Sacred Scripture: Against his will, his diary becomes one, frequently stolen by members of Openerdom and read as gospel.
  • Stray Animal Story: Averted. Zach runs from his owners early in the comic, and seems to find solace with the forest animals. Unfortunately, this all changes when he becomes the Opener of Ways, and they go from his equals to his (perceived) inferiors. He immediately returns home, and to his horror finds he doesn't like either world.
  • Tickle Torture: While captured by the canine team during the Water War, he's forced to undergo this until they realize he genuinely doesn't know any information.
  • Unlucky Everydude: Most days are bad days for Zach, who has perhaps the worst luck of anyone in the comic. Despite being held on a pedestal comparable to most priests by Babylon gardens, he's routinely dragged into situations he doesn't want to be in, on the days when his life isn't in danger just for stepping out his door.
  • Unwanted False Faith: Is worshiped by the various forest creatures as the "Opener of Ways" for accidentally opening the entrance to Pete's temple.
  • White Mage: Plays this role in the first Temple Crashing arc, ostensibly to stay out of danger's way.

Itsuki Kitamura (Raccoon dog)

A Japanese exchange student who works at Mr. Sandwich's auto shop, technically not a pet as his species are considered citizens in Japan.
  • Cuteness Proximity: If the Alt Text is anything to go by, he sometimes has this effect on people, though it annoys him more than anything.
  • Foreign Exchange Student: From Japan, obviously. Its mentioned when he's hired that he arrived on a student visa.
  • Gratuitous Japanese: He sometimes uses it. Earl Sandwich even mentions the trope by name, saying that Itsuki can keep using it because it's cute.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: During his off-hours he is always seen wearing only a rokushaku or Etchū fundoshi, a Japanese loincloth. When at work he also wears a uniform and while at school he wears a shirt and tie tucked into the fundoshi.
  • Hot Springs Episode: Itsuki took the fact that Keene made the portable onsen unisex very seriously, and kept to himself in a private bath.
  • Japanese Politeness: Is a stickler for Japanese social norms, which naturally leads to Culture Shock now that he's living in America.
  • Mr. Fixit: Of the auto-mechanic variety.
  • Starving Student: Mr. Sandwich theorizes that Itsuki's invitation for the Sandwich family to eat at his apartment (which is cartoonishly tiny) is a thinly-veiled attempt to let them know how much he needs a job.
  • Tanuki: Itsuki's fundoshi is a nod to known tropes regarding the physical traits of raccoon dogs.

Spo (Mouse)

Fido's ride along companion in the K9PD.
  • Alphabetical Theme Naming: Spo's next youngest and oldest brothers are Spn, and Spp.
  • Casanova Wannabe: He tries to hit on Squeak for a bit, though she rejects his advances due to being in a relationship with Joey. He gets turned off slightly when he inquires what she sees in him, and she promptly demonstrates.
    Spo: I am both impressed and appalled. I am impalled.
  • Claustrophobia: He's not particularly fond of staying in Fido's locker.
  • Head Pet: Often he hitches a ride aboard Fido's head, after having been given to Fido by Sabrina.
  • Hot-Blooded: See for yourself:
    Spo: THIS IS EXCITING AND ALSO AWESOME Are you gonna go all COPS on him when you catch up? PLEASE TELL ME THERE WILL BE BLOOD
    Fido: THIS IS WHY I DON'T LET YOU TAG ALONG ON MY SHIFT
  • Secret-Keeper: Fido's relationship with Sabrina.
  • Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: Plays this role to Fido (who isn't human either, but you know what we mean).
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: When the Case of the Aztec Gold first begins, he assumes the arc's genre will be a Police Procedural, and guesses that the gold disappearance was falsified for insurance money. As it turns out, the genre is Fantastic Noir, and the gold is protected by an Aztec ghost.

Squeak (Mouse)

Joey's girlfriend with a rather intense foot fetish.
  • Amusing Injuries: As long as it's anyone's foot, Squeak is perfectly happy to be stomped on.
  • Closet Geek: Despite not partaking in her boyfriend's DND sessions, she's shown an affinity for nerd culture on several occassions. Spo encounters her reading a game manual, and she's able to identify Peanut's comic book plagiarism and its source at a glance.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic among Joey's nerd circle as she's the most laid back.
  • Giant Foot of Stomping: Has somewhat of a fetish for this, as lampshaded by Spo and further mentioned on her Valentine card.
    WANTED: a toetal heartthrob not afraid to bare their sole, who wants to get their foot in the door with me
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The tiny, mouse-sized girl to Joey's Huge.
  • Interspecies Romance: With Joey (a dog).
  • Nigh-Invulnerability: Considering that she will willingly get stomped on without being visibly injured at all, and that's a pretty good way to kill mice...
  • Shoulder Teammate: Like other mice, she sometimes gets around by riding on Joey's shoulder- That, or Head Pet.
  • Too Kinky to Torture: As part of her blatantly obvious foot kink. When hunted by one of the Bigglesworths, all she needs to do to get them to back off is start flirting as soon as they stomp on her.
  • White Mage: While Temple Crashing, she takes the role of Healer via a mouse-sized Princess Classic uniform.

Sofia (Camel)

Thomas' camel beast of burden, who he enlists to help steal gold from Pete's temple.
  • Bilingual Bonus: All of Sofia's lines are (mostly) accurate Arabian, and fan translations exist on the wiki.
  • Bilingual Dialogue: Sofia only speaks Arabic, but is understood entirely by Thomas. Most likely, anyway; he seems to ignore her a lot, and she wonders at one point if he even can.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Sofia is implied to have been the camel Thomas first rode in Arabia, meaning he would have brought her back to America to help continue the search.
  • Insulting from Behind the Language Barrier: Sofia insults Thomas a few times in Arabic, including calling him Ja'far ibn Yahya.
  • Interspecies Romance: She falls for Thomas as soon as he turns camel, and the two are implied to get together while isolated with each other for company in the zoo.
  • Women Are Wiser: Throughout Temple Crashers 2, she's shown to be far more sensible than her human, male companion. She repeatedly tries to get him to call off the crashing, and drags him out during the temple collapse while he's still trying to undo the curse.

Jinx (Mouse)

    The Wolf Pack 

In General

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wad_8.PNG
Your average suburban family.note 

A pack of wolves granted citizenship by the ECP. They all share a house in Babylon Gardens and try to uphold the classical Nuclear Family so as not to disturb their human neighbors, but aren't very good at it.

  • Big, Screwed-Up Family: Having spent much of their lives in the woods, the wolves have numerous traditions and instincts that frequently feature blood and carving up meat (of intelligent animals, at that). Despite that, it's usually understood that Predation Is Natural and the family is nothing but pleasant otherwise.
  • The Clan: Wolf House holds many, many denizens, all belonging to the same family. Only a fraction are named.
  • Conditioned to Accept Horror: Members of the pack routinely carve up prey in the house, bury it in the lawn, or casually discuss the eating of other animals or even people. Nobody bats an eye at this, which is why King has some trouble adjusting when he moves in with them. Lucretia, being a cook, deserves special mention, as her valentines day card implies she's willing to give the one she loves an actual torn-out heart.
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference:
    • Early on, Miles' design was a lot more generic- Less muscular, and not yet wearing his distinguishing glasses.
    • Lucretia didn't yet have her 'mask' Facial Markings in her first appearance.
    • Jack's only defining feature was his one arm early on, and only over time did he gain his scraggly muzzle.
  • Feuding Families: With Gale's family. After telling her she couldn't have children without jeopardizing the ecosystem, Miles went and got Lucretia pregnant. Shortly after, they fled the woods, and their return years later is taken as a declaration of war by Gale and her son.
  • Hired Guns: In return for Keene providing their home and citizenship, certain adult wolves will sometimes serve as bodyguards for him and his family.
  • Home Nudist: The wolves are one of the few species in the comic to go complete Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal, with no collars. However, at work as a teacher, Miles puts on a suit and pants, presumably to look less wolven to the humans.
  • Joke of the Butt: Several strips bring up their habit of sticking their noses in the butts of other dogs, frequently to King and once to Bino.
  • Meaningful Name: Intentionally. Miles states that the reason wolves wait until maturity to choose a real name is so that they can take time to learn about themselves and pick one that represents them well.
  • Naming Ceremony: Wolf children name themselves when they come of age. Miles' comes from the Latin word for 'Soldier', while Lucretia named herself after the Roman noblewoman.
  • No Nudity Taboo: None of the wolves wear clothing, except sometimes when out in public. Because Animals Lack Attributes, nobody seems to mind outside a few one off gags.
  • Recurring Extra: Many of the wolves have names and personalities, but few have important roles. Lucretia's mother, Natalie, Rodney, and Snow often show up only because it's been a while since they were last seen.
  • Quirky Household: All of the wolves live in a sole household funded by the Miltons, aptly named Wolf House. Over time it becomes a haven for anyone liberated or legally owned by the ECP, to the point that it becomes a Running Gag how stuffed the place is. Transformed humans, Cloudcuckoolanders, Savage Wolves, and the stray animal living in one house makes for an interesting environment.
  • Sapient Eat Sapient: The wolves eat animals. Sapient animals. This is rarely commented on, and they never eat main characters of course, but when asked if she would eat Lana given the chance Lucretia refused to answer.
    • In Call o' th' Wild, two wolves very nearly eat Zach. His life is saved just in time by Pueblo giving away their position, but neither of them seem too unwilling to feast on a side character regarded as a deity in the woods.
  • Stepford Suburbia: Played for laughs, as every member of the family is an apex predator trying (to varying degrees of care) to appear as upstanding citizens in Suburbia.
  • Savage Wolves: Parodied. The wolves are quite civilized, but occasionally lapse into behavior that reminds everybody they're still wild animals at heart, always Played for Laughs.
  • Technologically Blind Elders: Subverted for the adults. The switch to modern technology is a hard one, and Lucretia laments that her cubs will no longer know what living in the woods was like once they become adjusted, but she takes a warming to cable and later starts a YouTube career.
  • White Wolves Are Special: Snow, Rodney's mate, is the sole white wolf of the family and always stands out in a crowd shot.

Miles & Lucretia

Miles and Lucretia are your typical happily mated couple trying to fit in to suburban human society; he working for a group of Millionaire ferrets, she trying to remember that most Babylon Gardens residents prefer their food cooked before it is served.

In General

  • Happily Married: The two are mated, not married, but they do seem to be a couple without any unhappiness or conflict between them.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Basically the alpha male and female of the Babylon Gardens pack, though portrayed more realistically.

Miles

The patriarch of the family, one of Keene's bodyguards, and eventual teacher at River Ridge High.

  • Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: His usual outfit is just a pair of glasses. In the past he's worn a gold necklace.
  • Common Law Marriage: Miles notes to a reporter that he and Lucretia aren't technically legally married, despite considering each other husband and wife.
  • Embarrassing Relative Teacher: Miles is eventually hired as a teacher of his sons at the same school, and embarrasses them heavily with his support.
  • Gentle Giant: Miles' appearance is initially intimidating to humans and pets alike, but he quickly proves to be friendly and sociable, if a little deaf to human social cues.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Peanut runs him through many outfits to try and put the humans at ease, none of which include pants. Eventually averted, since he ends up wearing nothing but glasses.
  • Help Mistaken for Attack: While at the zoo, a patron realizes Miles is a wild wolf running around and faints into his arms. Immediately, he's assumed to be carrying her off.
  • Smart People Wear Glasses: Generally the most mature and reasonable of the Pack, and the one who cares the most about fitting in with his neighbors.
  • Specs of Awesome: Noticeably, Miles doesn't take his glasses off when he fights Jata. It's implied he only wears them to appear friendlier, but is still a wolf under them.

Lucretia

The matriarch of the family, stay at home housewife, cook, and eventual Youtuber.

  • Daytime Drama Queen: She tells Mrs. McLuhan at her Housewives Book Club that she religiously watches soaps, and takes notes on human behavior from them.
  • Housewife: She tries to emulate the classical Nuclear Family housewife for the humans, even being invited to a Housewives Book Club.
  • Mama Bear: Hinted at with Lucretia (she is a wolf, after all). In one strip when she's alone with King, she instinctively holds him close too her in a protective fashion. The Alt Text chalks it up to King invoking this kind of response from most people because of his size & appearance, and Lucretia is acting as she would if he were one of her pups.
  • Naked Apron: Lucretia wears a "Sniff the Cook" apron, and nothing else.
  • Through His Stomach: Upon first moving in, Lucretia holds a barbecue to make a good impression via her food. Despite forgetting to cook, Bill seems to enjoy it nonetheless.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Played for laughs. She engages in standard wolf roughhousing with her kids, which includes fighting them for the TV.

The Cubs

  • No Name Given: Intentionally with the cubs, who won't receive permanent names until they reach a certain age. This hasn't stopped them from coming up with rather... interesting names for themselves for the time being. In 2015 they underwent their coming-of-age and settled on North Star, Darth Vader Sanchez, and Rockstar Hawk
  • Precious Puppies: Initially, though they can be a bit rough.

Daryl & Daryl

  • Big Eater: Overweight Daryl, definitely. It'd probably be easier to list the instances where he isn't eating something.
  • Crushing Handshake: Upon first learning of them, Daryl's attempt makes his strength very clear.
  • Fat and Skinny: Normal-Sized Daryl is still pretty big and muscular as a wolf, but their appearances and inseparability call this trope to mind.
  • Flat Character: Overweight Daryl exists solely to make fat jokes.
  • Noble Wolf: Sabrina recruits Yellow Hat Daryl expecting him to act as the "warrior" in their expedition, but he responds that he's a total coward. He also Screams Like a Little Girl when they're attacked by gargoyles inside the temple.
  • Paper Tiger: Or wolf, as it is. Despite his intimidating appearance, Daryl proudly fesses up to being a coward to Keene and turns down his offer to be his muscle. He elects to be the archer in Temple Crashers instead, a position that allows him to hang back and still help out.
  • Shout-Out: Miles' brother Daryl... and his other brother Daryl is an obvious reference to Newhart, which has a similarly named pair of siblings.
  • Signature Headgear: The Daryl-with-the-hat's defining feature being the yellow cap he always wears.

Jack

Poncho

  • Meaningful Name: His only article of clothing is indeed a poncho.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Although his signature poncho covers more than most clothing seen on animals in the comic, it still only partly covers his body.

Uncle Deadeye

  • Badass Cape: The long piece of cloth worn around his neck has this effect, especially while billowing in the wind dramatically.
  • Cassandra Truth: Soon after Jata's introduction, Deadeye non-verbally decides that he doesn't like him for some reason. He was more on-the-ball then anyone realized...
  • Cool Old Guy: As it comes with the territory, he is certainly no exception. He's Lucretia's uncle and Rodney's father, making him great-uncle and grandfather to their respective cubs, but still a feared warrior. He catches a full-on punch from Jata (who is also quite ripped) without reacting at all, then proceeds to totally own the leopard off-panel.
  • Ear Ache: Almost all of his left ear appears to have been bitten off.
  • Handicapped Badass: His constant vacant stare, and Gale referring to him as “the blind one with the blue shawl” suggests he’s visually impaired. Doesn’t stop him from grabbing Jata’s fist and dislocating his shoulder.
  • The Stoic: He never speaks at all, and his expression is always the same stark, unwavering and onlooking stare, no matter what's happening around him or what the situation is. He does, however, crack a smirk once Jata makes the mistake of throwing a punch in his general direction.
  • The Voiceless: He has yet to speak one line of dialogue.

    Zoo Animals 

Bruce (Red kangaroo) & Roosevelt (Grey kangaroo)

  • Ambiguously Gay: At first. Until 2017, the comic never said anything definite about the nature of their relationship - they've been pictured in some pretty intimate situations, like cuddling together under a blanket while watching American football or sharing a hot tub with just each other, and their conversation on the flight to Australia is incomplete but has obvious implications. Now, however, there's nothing ambiguous about it.
  • Kangaroos Represent Australia: Downplayed. They put on a very stereotypical Australian demeanor to entertain the zoo-goers, but in the presence of regulars like Peanut and Grape, they immediately drop the act (and seem to quite loathe it). They still exhibit some Australian habits every now and then.
    Roosevelt: OH THANK GOODNESS every single word feels like throwing up.
    Bruce: "Shrimp on the barbie?" We're HERBIVORES.
  • Those Two Guys: They're almost never seen apart from each other, which did nothing to avert the ambiguously gay aspect of their relationship before it was all but confirmed.

Karishad (Fox)

  • Amazon Chaser: One of the only romantic pairings he pursues is Cerberus, a much, much larger and more muscular character than himself.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Flirts with Keene when he's hired, kisses Tarot's hand (with a love heart) and eventually is implied to get with Cerberus, dating her in supplementary art.
  • Achievements in Ignorance: Assumed, anyway. He seems capable of quite a few things that should be impossible, simply because he doesn't believe they should be. Pete even admits that he has no idea how Karishad continues to break into and survive inside his temple time after time. The Reveal in Heckraiser seems to imply this isn't entirely ignorance.
  • Asian Fox Spirit: Turns out he's actually a kitsune, being Great Kitsune's younger brother.
  • Born Lucky: Apparently to borderline Reality Warper levels; at one point Rock Milton asks if he's some kind of Genius Ditz or if the universe itself just rearranges things so that everything he does works out. Evidence suggests the second one.
  • Bullying a Dragon:
  • Bumbling Sidekick: He works for the slightly more competent Keene, and is shown frequently bumbling up the orders he's given.
  • Character Catchphrase: 'Right-O' seems to be one for him for a while.
  • Cloud Cuckoolander: Very much so. Almost nothing that comes out of his mouth makes complete sense.
  • Creator Cameo: One of the real life Karishad's fursonas.
  • Fearless Fool: He teases crocodiles, casually throws around chainsaws, and wanders around temples full of dangerous supernatural creatures. This aspect of him is immediately noticed by Keene when the two meet, and he becomes Keene's go-to hire when he needs someone to help explore the aforementioned temple.
  • God Was My Copilot: Revealed at the end of the "Heckraiser" arc, when Kitsune refers to Karishad as his "little bro". And if you look carefully at the panel borders you might notice more than one tail.
  • Hilarity in Zoos: Greatly often the source of these in his home. Keene takes notice of this when the two encounter each other, and post-hiring this dies down quite a bit as he's taken out of said environment.
  • Human Ladder: In early strips, he ocassionally lets Tarot climb up on his shoulders to give her extra height.
  • Horrifying the Horror:
    • Even Negabreel doesn't want to face Karishad head-on when the latter is asked to stop him, instead choosing to sneak away while Kari is distracted.
    • The gargoyles from Pete's temple stand so perfectly still around him they've managed to convince him that they're harmless. Once he leaves one's vicinity, the camera lingers on it long enough to show it breathing a sigh of relief.
  • Immune to Drugs: In this strip we see him stuck with ten tranquilizer darts, and suggestions of having been hit with even more from similar darts being held by two of those present, with no apparent effect on him. He even made a game out of it just to see who is the last predator (A.K.A the wolves) standing. Since he's actually a Demigod, being impervious to tranquilizers makes a bit more sense.
  • In the Hood: Twice he wears a red hood, in My Life As A Teenage Squirrel and Housepets 5000 BC.
  • Lame Pun Reaction: Most of the time Karishad shows up, you can expect this reaction due to something he has been doing to follow-up the pun with.
  • Literal-Minded: Often combined with Pungeon Master. When he's hired by Keene, he manages to come up with a literal interpretation for every line he says, responding to each with a comeback.
  • Multiple-Tailed Beast: Heavily implied through some of his dialogue up until his final appearance, where he's confirmed as a Kitsune. Curiously, the panels work to keep his true number of tails Behind the Black, although at least two are confirmed.
  • Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Has a habit of being unintentionally creepy, especially towards the Nervous Wreck Marion.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Implied by the end of Heckraiser. While its known he's been keeping an eye on the mortals for some time, and explains some of his odder tendencies, its never clear just how intelligent he actually was.
  • Odd Friendship: With Tarot. While it's rarely explored in the comic, supplemental art shows them frequently interacting amicably, and he celebrates her returning from Australia with a hug in Heaven's Not Enough... despite the fact that he was also there with her. In Heckraiser, he even kisses her hand before seeing her off. Her texting him is how Keene knows where Tarot is when she goes missing in Heaven's Not Enough. How they get along so well despite her short temper and his... being Karishad is left unsaid.
  • The Omniscient: He seems to know a lot of things, and frequently surprises others by knowing exactly what they're going to say and how to turn it around on them, a trait he shares with his brother.
  • Pals with Jesus: Celestials seem to like him, and for good reason. Cerberus even lets him ride on her shoulder in Heckraiser.
  • Perpetual Smiler: Only seems to ever genuinely frown once, when the Temple he lived in is destroyed, and he gets better soon after.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Often. His role in Temple Crashers seems to be solely guiding them through the temple and offering funny comments after every line.
  • Pungeon Master: And how. A great deal of strips including him end with him finding a way to crack a pun out of the situation, particularly while in the zoo.
  • Sapient Eat Sapient: Ocassionally expresses his desire to eat other characters. When he meets Pete he reads from 1001 Poultry Recipes, and likewise when he meets Marion with To Serve Squirrel.
  • The Thing That Would Not Leave: Everything indicates that he's skipped the zoo and is now living in Babylon Gardens, apparently with Keene (Although later developments show him living in Pete's temple, and then with Jessica). It's mostly subverted, though, because outside the usual invoked Lame Pun Reaction, no one, including Tarot, seems to mind him moving in. Tarot even uses him as a ladder, occasionally.
  • Too Dumb to Fool: He's dumb enough to not understand how a battery works (or electricity in-general), but when Falstaff attempts to get his trust, he immediately identifies what the raccoon is there to do. And when he goes to buy building supplies from Cori (who'd been stealing them), he pays by giving him one of his spare credit cards, which gets Cori arrested when he tries using it.

Gambit & Tarmac (Otter)

    Forest Animals 

The group of side characters that inhabit the woods behind Babylon Gardens, used in many a Breather Episode.

In General

  • Animal Religion: Pete's Temple being relocated to Babylon Gardens from Saudi Arabia springs up a branch of worship around it, which grows even more powerful when Zach enters the scene and shows himself capable of opening it. This religion, Openerdom, grows to encompass nearly every creature in the woods, all of whom worship Zach as a deity.
  • Inhumanable Alien Rights: Jessica alludes to the fact that ferals have no rights a few times, despite their being perfectly sapient and (usually) intelligent. The ending of the comic implies this may be changing, as the recent Mass Transformation is drawing more attention to animal rights.
  • Introduced Species Calamity: When Pete's temple is destroyed, the Gargoyles inside are introduced to the forest. Keene immediately sets out to trap and relocate them, keenly aware of how devestating a species that pretends to be statues to hunt prey could be for a group as unassuming as the forest animals.
  • Predation Is Natural: Since pets are protected by humans, the ferals are the ones who have predation the worst. It's always offscreen, but predatory characters will frequently threaten to eat prey when the latter gets on their nerves, and being eaten is a constant threat for animals out and about.
  • Woodland Creatures: The cast of the forest is composed primarily of these.

Cory "Cilantro" (Skunk)

  • Acquainted with Emergency Services: Implied. Two separate strips feature the punchline as his being arrested, and both times the police dogs wear gas masks (Although this could just be their profiling).
  • Ambiguously Gay: Cory hits on Zach as part of a con, but how much of it was an act hasn't been expanded on and he hasn't shown any romantic interest in anyone of either sex since.
  • Ass in a Lion Skin: Mall Rats features him entering a mall under guise of a cat, wearing Bino's stolen collar.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': To the point of irony. Despite committing actual (petty) crimes, he has only ever been arrested when he wasn't knowingly doing anything illegal; he takes the fall for Truck overspending on a credit card, and later for spraying someone in a perfume store because he didn't know the employees would spray him with perfume.
  • Churchgoing Villain: A member of Openerdom along with the rest of the woods. Ironically, he suggests Trinket go to confession to make up for their sins, unaware that he's just robbed the prophet of said religion.
  • Con Man: Or perhaps more accurately Con Skunk; in their first appearance, he and Trinket trick Zach out of his tag and collar, leaving him sitting alone in the woods.
  • The Flirt: Part of his con with Zach requires flirtatiously complimenting and teasing him. Zach falls for the rest of the trick, but whether or not the flirting affected him is ambiguous. He also calls Trinket 'dear', suggesting Ambiguously Bi.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Cory is indeed a criminal, but he fails at it so much that it doesn't get held against him too often. Likewise, he may be a skunk but he's so unintimidating regardless that most people don't care, and it does little to protect him from Jessica.
  • It Runs in the Family: The single time we see his sister, Cassia, she seems to be attracted to Zach like Cory (maybe) was.
  • Meaningful Name: "Cori" is likely short for "coriander", which is another word for "cilantro".
  • No Sense of Personal Space: He's rather touchy with Zach, and during their first meeting the rabbit can be briefly seen wiping his shoulder off after Cory takes his arm off it.
  • Shady Scalper: One of his schemes involves stealing supplies from Karishad and reselling them to him, which backfires when he's paid in a credit card and gets arrested trying to cash in.
  • Smelly Skunk: Referenced, but downplayed. He takes offense to Zach inadvertantly calling him "stinky" note  and Jessica's rule of "no spraying anything" in her house is clearly directed at him, but otherwise his smell has never been commented on and any instances of him playing the trope straight are simply implied. His dubiously canon valentines day card also features him teasing the reader with this idea, claiming 'Love stinks (and I'm into that)'.
  • Stupid Crooks: Either due to his own incompetence or just a lack of prior knowledge to get away with anything. The best example being when he's given a credit card and decides to cash out on it, without understanding what it is or how to actually use it since he's a wild animal - to him it's just a piece of plastic that compels people to give things to whomever has it. While he thinks ahead enough to let someone else use it first to see if it really works, he makes the mistake of giving it to Truck, who unknowingly overcharges it before giving it back to Cory and ensures that Cory immediately gets arrested when he tries to use it himself.
  • Those Two Guys: Tends to be partners in crime with Trinket.

Trinket (Magpie)

  • Buffy Speak: Calls wood 'Tree Stuff' and bricks 'Square Rock'.
  • The Bus Came Back: After roughly three and a half years since her last tagged appearance, Trinket pops up at the end of the "My Life as a Teenage Squirrel" arc to swipe Steward's cursed gold coin before the K-9 unit can lock up in a safe place, potentially being the badger's accomplice.
  • Feather Fingers: Although Trinket uses her beak to hold a ring and a paint brush, her wing does take on a distinctive hand shape as she ponders something.
  • Fusion Dance: Steward's One-Winged Angel form is actually the result of Trinket fusing with him, though she apparently only contributes wings to the transformation and the majority of the form is just Steward.
  • Hired Guns: It's implied she'll work with anyone who she can profit with, alternating between Cory and Steward (and heavily regretting the latter).
  • Meaningful Background Event: With the revelation that she's become Steward's accomplice, it's conceivable that the distant bird in the sky when Lois was transformed was actually her.
  • Parrot Pet Position: She rides on Steward's shoulder during the brief time she works with him.
  • Thieving Magpie: From her minimal screentime, she seems to work for anyone who can benefit her, usually committing theft or cons and aiding both Cory and Steward in different arcs. Inverting this, she quickly realizes she's in over her head with the latter, but too late to back out.
  • Those Two Guys: She usually hangs around Cory.
  • You No Take Candle: Oddly, she seems to have a harder time speaking in full sentences than the others, for reasons unknown.
    "Said was grateful you took him in, but didn't belong here. Was going back. World gonna eat him alive."

Falstaff and Truck (Raccoon)

  • Affectionate Nickname: Fals.
  • Ascended Extra: Its implied that Fals was one of the unnamed raccoons that met up with Grape and her broom near the beginning of the comic.
  • Ass in a Lion Skin: To enter the mall in Ea(s)ter, they disguise themselves rather poorly as Maine Coon cats.
  • Big Eater: Truck certainly qualifies, though not to the same extent as the likes of Other Daryl.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Understandably, since they're not used to human behavior. They think "Allergy" means that if Marion eats nuts, an owl will be urged to eat her, and that "Babysitter" means that someone sat on her as a baby.
  • Delusions of Eloquence: Tied with Know-Nothing Know-It-All, Falstaff frequently tries to use Shakespearean-esque insults, without actually knowing what any of the words he's using mean.
  • Expy: Falstaff and Truck act like a raccoon version of Abbott and Costello.
  • Fat and Skinny: At least as fat as a feral raccoon can get.
  • Fat Comic Relief: Truck.
  • Fat Idiot: Textbook example in Truck. Most of the jokes about him involve his rotundness and love of eating in some way, which leads to him being enrolled in an eating competition in one arc.
  • Have We Met?: Falstaff calls Grape 'Distressingly familiar', referencing the much much earlier strip that marked his first unnamed appearance, where she fought him off with a broom.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: The two are never seen without each other, and seem to have a very close relationship, but don't appear to be lovers.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Fals onsiders himself the intellectual of the two as indicated by his Shakesperean reference name. While marginally smarter than Fat Idiot Truck, that doesn't say much for his own tendency to come up with half-thought out schemes and his love of 'defining' words with definitions that are blatantly wrong.
  • Meaningful Name: Truck got his name/nickname from the fact that he came from Oregon to Babylon Gardens on a truck. On the grill that is.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Truck's first disguise to breach Max's crawdad party is a domino mask. Which he puts over his natural fur-domino mask.
  • Rascally Raccoon: Falstaff qualifys as the brains and schemer of the pair. Averted with Truck who just faithfully follows him.
  • Secret Test of Character: Convinced Zach is giving them one.
  • Those Two Guys: To the point that when Falstaff is seen at King and Bailey's wedding alone, some readers wondered where Truck was. Then Fridge Brilliance struck — he was most likely raiding the reception foods while Fals acted as lookout.
  • Visual Pun: In this strip, Truck is shown laundering money raccoon style.

Jessica (Opossum)

  • Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Custom Ink gives her a green scarf in her first appearance that she wears every winter season after.
  • Big Eater: Quite a few strips feature her eating (presumably pilfered) human food while talking, such as subway sandwiches in Tiger's Very Own Super Special Television Show! and Doritas in The Hot Springs Episode.
  • Big Fancy House: Flip That Den renovates her tree into a gargantuan modern house, courtesy of Karishad's television program. When she sees the result, she's mortified.
  • Cop Hater: Both times the police try to enter her house, she refuses entrance and bitterly rejects them, despite being happy to offer entrance to ferals.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Her expression is typically deadpan, and she's quite sassy most of the time.
  • Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: Her default expression, to match her Deadpan Snarker traits.
  • Flat-Earth Atheist: Jessica rejects the magical properties of Pete's temple and the idea of a loving god, both of which are true; although she's completely on the mark that Zach has no power in that regard. Ironically, she ends up living with two reincarnated Celestials.
  • Good Samaritan: She offers her house to any feral who needs shelter, which unintentionally involves her in Steward and Marion's situations.
  • Hollywood Atheist: In her first appearance, she not only rejects Openerdom, but tells a potentially dying child to his face that angels aren't real.
  • Inter Species Romance: With Zach, a rabbit, eventually.
  • Intimate Healing: While trapped in a cage together in winter, she warms up Zach by cuddling against him. This comes with many complaints and gripes along the way.
  • Just Here for the Free Snacks: Like most of the forest residents, she comes to Babylon Gardens' fair for the smell of food that wafts over to her.
  • Killer Rabbit: Opossums in general aren't very aggressive, but Jessica definitely can be when her nerves are gotten on too much.
  • Knight in Sour Armour: A deeply cynical character, but one who will repeatedly put the needs of the other woodland animals above her own.
  • The Needs of the Many: When given a massive house, she initially rejects it, pointing out how unfair it is to live in such luxury while the rest of the woods have to live in dens and trees. At that moment, said forest animals point out another option; share it with everyone, which she ends up doing.
  • Pilgrimage: invokes on an Opener-themed version of one in her debut arc, venturing out into the cold to chew out the Opener, and returning with the medicine needed to save her friend's child.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: A practically Mouse World example; rather than rage against the pointlessness of life to one of the Housepets universe's actual Gods, she goes to the deity of the animals in the forest, Zach. When they meet she chews him out for giving pointless hope to her friends, unaware that Zach never wanted to do that.
  • Shout-Out: Readers trying to ship Zach and Jessica have come to call the pairing Jessica Rabbit.
  • Through His Stomach: Lois convinces her to give up Marion's location by offering her a sandwich, which she's shown several other times to greatly enjoy.
  • When She Smiles: She doesn't let anyone see it, but her overjoyed smile upon seeing her reflection wearing Ink's scarf is the final shot of her debut.

Gale (Cougar)

  • Amazonian Beauty: Gale is heavily muscular and covered in scars, but nonetheless beautiful.
  • Fingore: While capturing Lucretia, the wolf bites her in the hand hard enough to draw tears. When we next see her, she's wrapped a bandage around said hand.
  • Iron Lady: Due to being a cougar working as a shareholder post-forest life, she's shown to be a ruthless businesswomen who openly threatens those who can't get her what she wants.
  • I Surrender, Suckers: Happens when she got caught by Poncho. Luckily for Gale, she wooed him long enough for her son to cut her loose. Happens again later when Miles threatens to toss her into the pit where she's keeping his family prisoner so they can tear her apart; she responds by deliberately rocking back and forth to throw off his balance while he holds her above his head, calling his bluff since he's too nice to actually do it. His attempt to stop her from knocking herself in enables her to turn the tables and get him into a chokehold.
  • Lady in a Power Suit: After taking a business job, she begins wearing a tailored black suit to work.
  • Mrs. Robinson: Subverted, she was only flirting with Poncho to distract him long enough to allow Pueblo to free her from a trap. Even so, he seems to have been left with a lasting impression since he still ends up with hearts in his eyes while watching her attempt to kill Miles.
  • Noodle Incident: The particulars of what went down between her and Miles years back are still not entirely certain. In particular, we still don't really know why she was stitching her own face up during her last conversation with Miles before he went off to read his book and had Lucretia sit down next to him to say, "Miles, our life sucks." Their falling-out was clearly a bitter one, though.
  • Rugged Scar: One over her eye.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: Gale despises Miles at least partly because she feels he went back on a promise to not start a family of his own after he advised her to abstain as well due to the limited resources of their area. She wouldn't listen to his attempt to justify it, and she won't settle for anything less than killing him in front of his family now that he's back. That is, until during the ensuing battle he mentions in passing that his pack live among humanity now, which immediately gives HER the idea to move herself and her son there as well. Miles successfully buries the hatchet with her after that.
  • This Means War!: She thought Miles bringing his family back into the area was an attempt at reclaiming territory he'd effectively ceded to her when they moved to civilization, and mobilized her son Pueblo to help her deal with them.
  • Would Hurt a Child: It's implied while she's preying on the wolves in Call O' Th' Wild that Gale was willing and intending to eat Bailey and King's puppies, only to be very quickly warded off by Bailey.

Pueblo (Cougar)

Gale's son.
  • Parental Sexuality Squick: Has an issue with Gale using her charms on a smitten Poncho.
  • Sapient Eat Sapient: Along with the wolves, Gale and Pueblo are heavily implied to eat animals and people. Only Pueblo confirms it- He mentions at his playdate he was specifically banned by his mother from eating people.

Kix (Fox)

A former pet fox, who ran away from home after her owner bought a Fur Farm. She's the mother of Craig and Draig, raising them with assistance from Kitsune, but is initially unaware of her kits' past lives as demigods and just thinks they have an active imagination.
  • Cute and Psycho: She's a caring mother and a nice person overall, but she also enjoys brutalizing Kitsune when he does something to cross her badly enough. While some character are understandably bothered by this, Kitsune himself allows it since he's so powerful that she can only ever do it with his consent anyway, and it's Played for Laughs as just another quirk of their relationship.
  • Divine Date: Kitsune claims to be the "daddy" of her kits, though this is partly (if not entirely) to irk the former two demigods.
  • Foxy Vixen: Kix is noticeably curvier than most females in the comic, with a developed set of breasts. Her Valentines Day card is also one of the more overtly sexual ones, with her giving Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes and a sultry smirk to the camera.
  • Hidden Depths: She was oblivious to her mate and kits being demigods, but she's seen reading Descartes and is able to debate philosophy with Kitsune.
  • A Pet into the Wild: Kitsune explains she used to be a pet before running away into the woods, moving in with Jessica. Justified in that her owner became a fur farmer.

    Past Characters 

Satau

  • Animal Jingoism: Back in his time-period, he has a rival (Ptah) who is (surprise, surprise) a cat. They dueled over who would get to be Dragon's avatar and get power from her. He also claims all cats are treacherous (he claims Grape clearly has the spirit of a dog) and keeps Ptah's fortifications surrounded as a precaution.
  • Chick Magnet: The few female characters he had met, other than Tarot and Sabrina, that is, managed to develop a crush on him simply because of his manly build. This includes Grape (much to Max's chagrin) and Natalie.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Played with in that while he is indeed marveled by developments in human technology, he just brushes them off as being similar to magic (to the point where he confused it for such until Peanut pointed out to him that they run on electricity). In fact, he didn't fall to the common reaction of time travelers when it comes to televisionnote  and instead, instantly knew what it was: a device meant for telling stories.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: With Mungo. It's strongly hinted this is not a coincidence. Mungo's family is all over North Africa, which is where Satau's home was located around in 5500 B.C
  • Time Travel: Manages to accidentally accomplish this (in spite of it being against the rules of the game) by convincing the Spirit Dragon to send him into the future briefly to get a glimpse at where Pete's temple could be, only to realize too late that time isn't "cyclical".
  • Willing Channeler: Was the Spirit Dragon's second avatar.

Ptah

  • Animal Jingoism: He's rivals with Satau and he expresses hesitance to host guests at Satau's suggestion.
  • Cat Stereotype: Grey with dark stripes. He's not particularly dark, but he's still a jerk.
  • Cats Are Magic: Thanks to Dragon, he has a magic hat that allows him to do a variety of things.
  • Cats Are Mean: The fact that he's a stuck-up jerk gives Grape zero interest in him.
  • Cats Are Superior: Him in particular in his opinion. He considers himself the pinnacle of cat-kind.
  • Narcissist: Oh yes.
  • Your Size May Vary: Thanks to the hat he wears (courtesy of Dragon), he can change how his body is built and he can make himself giant if he needs or wants to. He is normally the same size as anyone else.

    Other Characters 

Jata (Leopard)

  • Amicable Exes: With Sabrina, unfortunately for her. He holds nothing against her for leaving him, but now that he's back, he fully expects her to return to him against her will.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: During his wedding he takes the suit jacket off, but leaves on his tie and undershirt to fight Fido.
  • Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Unlike pretty much all other animals that walk on two feet, other than nothing on his footpaws he wears human-style clothing.
  • Battle Strip: He can obliterate any clothing on his torso just by flexing, a la Armstrong, and does so whenever he believes a fight is necessary (or occasionally just to show off).
  • Cannot Tell a Joke: Jata first seems to think Fido's interrupting the wedding is an American joke. When it becomes clear he's serious, he attempts to counteract with his own before beginning the Trial by Combat, by simply stating what is happening.
  • Childhood Marriage Promise: With Sabrina, at six months old for her and eighteen for him. Now that she's (?) years old, he fully expects her to come back to him.
  • The Coats Are Off: Before he fights Fido, he makes sure to take his suit jacket off and set it aside.
  • Fantastic Racism: Against humans, due to seeing them as 'slaveowners' of pets. He's amicable with them, but clearly sees them as inferior to animals.
  • Groupie Brigade: Upon first arriving, he's immediately swarmed by girl cats. First, it's because he's attractive- it only gets worse when they're told he's royalty.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Jata and Sabrina.
  • Man of Wealth and Taste: Serves a villainous role for his seizure of Sabrina's rights, and is rarely ever seen undressed.
  • One-Man Army: Against the entire Wolf Family he holds his own, dispatching them one by one until finally Deadeye manages to take him down.
  • Prince Charmless: While physically very attractive and very dedicated to his country's affairs, Jata is naive, stubborn, conceited, and quite aggressive when he's at his worst. His shortcomings culminate in him very nearly forcing Sabrina to marry him in spite of the countless egregious hints that she's not interested anymore, and he comes close to seriously hurting Fido and many of the wolves when they object.
  • Shirtless Scene: In addition to his tendency to Battle Strip, sometimes he just doesn't even bother wearing a shirt to begin with.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Other than his father's banishment of Sabrina and her 'Dad' and closing of his country's borders, Jata appears to want to rule in his Father's pawsteps.
  • You Are a Credit to Your Race: Quoted verbatim to Keene's butler, doubly for being White and Human.

Spot (Superdog)

what chicken

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