Tropes A to L / Housepets

Housepets! by Rick Griffin

Tropes: A to L | M to Z

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Abandoned Pet in a Box: Very nearly. Just before it's announced that they have become the Pet Heir to the Milton fortune, the Milton ferrets can be seen in a cardboard box with 'FREE' written on the side.
Aborted Arc:
- The author chose to prematurely end a story arc which depicted catnip use as similar to smoking marijuana because it would break the self-imposed PG rating, although catnip itself is still available as seen in later strips.
- Two other arcs were aborted by acts of god. "The Arc Specifically About Being Naked" was killed by a broken computer, and "All Hallow's Ween" was ended by a medical emergency.
- Subverted with "All's Fair". The author had a health flare-up that led him to urgent care, but it timed perfectly with the Year 7 milestone. He respectively took a week off, did a week-long Spot arc, and resumed "All's Fair" with a Part 2.
- In-Universe, Peanut realizes the Guys and Dolls Imaginate Show Within a Show is running long and ends it with a cardboard sign saying "Everyone Gets Married. The End."
Abusive Parents: Sasha's owner is a drunk who yells at her and locks her outside all night in the snow.
Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Pretty much all of the cats, dogs, and rabbits wear collars as their only attire.
Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: A subtle one. After the intense action of Temple Crashers 2, we get a few brief panels of Keene and Breel silently enjoying each other's company and showing love for each other before Cerberus enters.
Adventure-Friendly World: Part of The Masquerade in Housepets is that the entire Earth as we know it is the setting for a centuries-long TTRPG. This doesn't effect day-to-day life, but springs up when relevant; Temples are all but explicitly dungeons, and the rules of reality within them bend to RPG conventions, allowing characters to select classes and gain powers all according to the outfit they wear inside. Other, subtler changes to reality exist to allow leveling for the player characters; Faith and Mana are both numerical resources that can be added and subtracted. Avatars have separate classes decided by certain aspects of their lives (Dream Sunderers, for example, must not be in love with anyone, and a Dark Paladin must be kept discontent) which are predetermined by forces outside the player's control; presumably the game's Rulebook.
Affectionate Nickname:
- Sasha often uses pet names for the other dogs. She calls Fox "Foxie-bon", Bino "Biney-bon" and Kevin "Kevvy".
- Grape calls Maxwell "Maxie". She also expressly forbids Peanut from calling Maxwell that.
- Bailey calls King "Kingy".
- Bino tries calling Duchess by a pet name, but she won't allow him to do so in public.
Affectionate Parody: Pretty much the whole point of the Imaginate arcs, which are comic retellings of classics such as Macbeth, Guys and Dolls, And Then There Were None, and Jurassic Park.
Afterlife Angst: When Keene finds out in The Four Animals You Meet In Heaven that he's died prematurely, his first response is panic and to run from Cerberus as soon as he can.
Afterlife Tour: Keene is given one in The Four Animals You Meet In Heaven, meeting each of the titular animals whilst trying to figure out how he got here in the first place.
Afterlife Welcome: Keene (Again in Four Animals) gets to meet both his biological mother and his adoptive father, two of the titular four animals. When he meets his mother, he even shifts back into a younger version of himself automatically, being the age he remembered her at.
Agony of the Feet: In this strip, Jasper is seen being given a hotfoot by Jinx the mouse while wooing a white female cat (a Toodles Galore counterpart) as a Shout-Out to Tom and Jerry.
All Animals Are Domesticated: Played with regarding the wolves. They initially cause quite a stir when they move into the neighborhood, but integrate without too much trouble.
All Dogs Are Purebred: Mostly averted. As one can see scrolling the list of dogs, very many characters don't have a specific breed, only hand-waved away as a 'Mutt'. A few exceptions exist, such as King (a Pembroke Welsh Corgi), Bailey (a Siberian Husky), and Duchess (a Saluki), although for the last being purebred fits her job as a show dog.
Alliteration & Adventurers: Universes and Unrealities, a cosmic level of the game's namesake.
All Just a Dream: A commonly used ending for any of the mortals' dealings with the celestial nerds. It doesn't negate what happened, but it becomes a convenient way to close off an audience with the gods.
- Keene even calls Pete out on the use of a dream "explanation" here.
  Pete: Then I must ask something of you, mortal.
  Keene: And that is?
  Pete: Wake up. [snaps his fingers]
  Keene: [waking up in his bed] DON'T YOU PULL THAT IT-WAS-ALL-A-DREAM THING ON... ah crud.
- Subverted at the end of "Heaven's Not Enough" when Great Kitsune surprises everyone by not doing invoking the dream excuse, which leaves all the mortals involved in the middle of Australia.
- Defied when it's revealed that all the main characters are NPCs in a Dungeons & Dragons ripoff. The deities are quick to point out that the universe and everyone inside it existed before they turned it into a game setting, so it's all just as real as before.
- Invoked in the penultimate strip of "The Four Animals You Meet in Heaven". Cerberus uses the dream rationale on Keene when restoring his life and returning him to just a few moments before what was his death.
- The ultimate payoff of the "Temple Crashers" arc — everything actually happened, but this ends up being how Keene gets everyone trapped inside the collapsing temple to safety, since he wields the power of dreams there. Naturally, he's none too happy about the anticlimactic resolution.
All Myths Are True: Heaven, Hell, and the Multiverse are all real. Gryphons, Kitsune, and dragons exist alongside multiple fantasy species alluded to. Cerberus is The Grim Reaper. When asked about the existence of Frost Giants, Sabrina sums it up by saying Everything is a thing.
All of the Other Reindeer:
- Applies to Joey (a canine) most acutely because he strongly identifies with felines — to the point that he's a cat cosplayer. He even plays Rudolph in a Christmas pageant.
- Tiger qualifies as well, being a dog with a cat's name.
All of Time at Once: In Heaven, this rule applies, meaning every living soul that will ever exist is already present within. This allows for temporal anomalies like Fox meeting his future self, Christmas Every Day, and Year Inside, Hour Outside.
All There in the Manual: The official names of several characters are only given within the tags of each comic. This also holds for any official monikers a character may have (such as "The Other Daryl" to refer to a Big Eater wolf who happens to have the same name as another character).
Alternate Appearance Aura: Peanut, Grape, Max, and Tarot are magic(k)ally made to look and sound different from their usual selves in the Pridelands Imaginate, thanks to Tarot's powers.
Alternate Reality Episode: Happens in "The Gallifrax Protocol" arc, in which Tarot, Peanut, Grape, and Max visit an alternate Earth where they resemble "normal" animals instead of their usual Funny Animal appearance.
Alternative Number System: Spo comes from a very large family. How large? The sibling born immediately after him is named Spp.
Alt Text: Especially in the later comics, the alt text occasionally provides a secondary punchline for the strip, or some other humorous comment.
Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Entering Dragon's temple in Heckraiser teleports the cast to a black void filled with floating debris, lit by the glowing blue star-like Mana Pool at the center. As they run around in it, streaks of green light constantly explode around them from Eudoant's attacks. Once Pete and Dragon reincarnate, the blue glow becomes even brighter and encompasses the whole battlefield.
Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Normally averted, though there are a few exceptions.
- Grape is a purple cat. Turns out there's a good reason she's named Grape Jelly.
- Jasper, an Expy of Tom from Tom and Jerry, is indigo colored.
Ambiguous Gender:
- The Biggelsworths. They are several of them and they look identical. Even they have trouble knowing what sex their feline family members are.
- Fiddler and Keys. We know one is male and one is female, but there has so far been no indication which is which. Given that the former is a calico cat, chances are very good Fiddler is female, though.
- When the pine marten masseuse Breel was introduced, their sex was ambiguous. It eventually was revealed he was male.
- Peanut automatically assumed Grape was male for some time until she revealed otherwise. It proved hard for him to process.
Ambiguously Gay:
- Bruce and Roosevelt, judging from this strip, where they're practically cuddling on the couch while watching (American) football. Later, they share a rather intimate moment in what looks to be a hot tub but turns out to be the otters' pool with the heater cranked. Their status has become less ambiguous with this comic.
- Cory the skunk, who in his first appearance flirts with Zach, although that could just be his patter as part of The Con.
- Breel, who when introduced was very 'friendly' with Keene. Like with Bruce and Roosevelt, his status was eventually confirmed.
Amicable Exes: Sabrina used to date Maxwell, and they're still on fairly friendly terms with one another.
Amplified Animal Aptitude: Even non-anthropomorphic animals like deer and horses can speak, gesticulate, and articulate intelligent thoughts to others, but can be kept as pets or beasts of burden nonetheless.
Amusement Park: The titular subject of the arc "Theme Park World", built by the Milton ferrets as one of their many random ventures with their limitless money. After the arc ends, it is never shown again, perhaps collapsed deliberately like their hot springs.
Amusing Injuries: Kix's relationship with Kitsune essentially revolves around this, as when she's upset with him, Kitsune allows her to beat him up because he can take it, and it helps to balance out their dynamic.
Anachronistic Animal: Housepets 5000 BC is set, contrary to the title, in 3000 BC, during the Protodynastic period of Egypt (Stated by Peanut here.). However, Peanut encounters a Sabertoothed Cat early in the arc, which would die out in the Late Pleistocene epoch, around 9700 BC (source).
Anchored Ship: Peanut has strong feelings for Grape, and while she insists that they are more than Just Friends, she also claims that she is not romantically attracted to dogs. Played With nonetheless, as apparently "mushiness is okay". See these four examples.
Animal Goes to School: Marion is made to finish his last year of high school after being turned into a squirrel. Deconstructed by his attempts to find a college afterwards, as none will allow him in for fear of what may happen to him surrounded by larger humans.
Animalistic Abomination: All of the demonic and celestial forces in the Housepets universe take the forms of animals, some mythological, some real. Even The Forgotten, the least humanized and most Eldritch Abomination, resembles a goat/T. Rexpy monster.
Animal Jingoism: Not outright hatred, per se, but the Good Ol' Dogs Club only admits dogs, and then there's the Interspecies Romance taboo...
Animals Lack Attributes: Natural, given the rating. However, given a lampshade when Grape asks how Peanut didn't know she was female despite both of them being naked.
Animal Nemesis: Several strips are made of the human Miltons trying to steal back their fortune from the ferret Miltons; As the niece and nephew of the late Henry Milton, Celia and Thomas believe themselves to be more deserving of his money than the Pet Heir(s) he gave it to. This hatred only increases when they see the lavish ways said ferrets throw away their money on live television. This comes back to bite Thomas Milton in the ass, although Celia Milton gets off scot-free.
Animals Not to Scale:
- Almost all dogs, cats, rabbits, and raccoons are the same size (about waist height on a human) while mice are about real life size, and ferrets (plus King and Tarot) are on a scale somewhere in between them. The wolves are huge and muscle-packed, apparently from living in the wild, while real wolves are smaller than some dog breeds. Equines and kangaroos, despite being sapient the same as everyone else, are no more outwardly anthropomorphic than their real life counterparts, and are of the same size as them. In short, the consistency is all over the place with this comic.
- Skip, a bird of prey in Wolf's Clothing, is large enough for Bino to ride on and only slightly smaller than the average human. This in contrast to Trinket, a magpie who is a far more reasonable size for her species.
Animal Religion: The animals of the Babylon Gardens wood have a Christianity counterpart named Openerdom, derived from worship of a hidden temple deep in the forest, and the one rabbit who proved himself capable of unlocking it. Ironically, said temple belongs to a God who gains power from worship, but doesn't get any from said religion because it's not him they're worshiping. The rabbit they do worship really wishes they didn't.
Animal Superheroes: Spot (Superdog) is a Show Within a Show comic book about one of these, drawn by Peanut himself. Several filler arcs show the Stylistic Suck adventures contained inside.
Animal Stereotypes:
- In the first Christmas strip, after Joey gives his girlfriend Squeak a block of cheese, she tells him straight out "the whole cheese thing's a stereotype".
- Based on his first appearance, some readers assumed that Cory was on the way of joining the long list of cartoon skunk bad guys. They ended up being right.
Animal Wrongs Group: PETA is portrayed as being a group of malevolent crusading nutcases during the "A Sinister Shadow" arc.
Animorphism: A recurring event, which is unfortunately very Spoileriffic to talk about.
- Joel Robinson is transformed into a dog by the Celestial Pete to serve as a chesspiece in a Cosmic Chess Game, which demands only dogs and cats be viable players. Joel was an exploitation of this rule, seemingly to get a leg up on the actual dog who was already enlisted on the other side of the Game.
- Investigating Pete's temple in Babylon Gardens, Thomas Milton is transformed into a camel by touching cursed gold. As revenge on Herman Steward, who sent him into the temple, he carries a single coin of gold out and spreads the curse to Steward, turning him into a badger.
- Marion Wheeler wakes up one day to find himself mysteriously turned into a squirrel, and shortly after his girlfriend falls victim to the same curse. They both privately suspect the ECP to be behind it, transforming humans into animals to argue for animal rights, but the real culprit is Steward, of course, trying to bankrupt the ECP by straining their resources.
- In Heckraiser, a city-wide Forced Transformation turns hundreds if not thousands of humans into animals in a nearby city. A Weirdness Censor keeps them from noticing this at first, but its eventually lowered, meaning rights for humans-turned-animals becomes an immediate hot topic again.
Anti-Climax: After all the buildup and explosions, the final battle of the first Imaginate is ceased when Jill Sandwich comes home and brings batteries for Peanut's 3DS.
Arbitrary Skepticism:
- Lampshaded when Fido voices skepticism that Marion has been turned into a squirrel.
  Fox: How is this ridiculous to you!? You are dating a literal witch!
  Fido: Hey, just because I have direct evidence of ghosts, spirits, prophecies of the future, magic(k)al control over time and space — okay, maybe you have a point.
- Lois accepts the fact that she, her boyfriend, and Thomas have been transformed into animals, yet finds it hard to believe that demigods are responsible.
  Lois: So there's demigods in this now? You expect us to believe that?
  Marion: Lois, everything about our predicament violates every known law of physics, so I think we can afford to suspend disbelief a little.
Arranged Marriage: Not a marriage (yet), but the whole reason Peanut and Tarot ended up together is because Spirit Dragon asked Tarot to attract Peanut. This was to keep Pete from trying to take Peanut as an avatar.^note
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Tarot, especially early on, tends to follow dire predictions with more mundane inconveniences, like this one:
Tarot: The truth shall be brought to light, and I fear that day, for all who do not hold love in their hearts shall perish, and their souls will be broken into shards as countless as all the sand on the face of the earth. Plus it's terrible for your complexion.
Art Evolution:
- Compare this comic to the next day's. A second evolution was implemented around October 2012, this one a conscious decision by the artist for a new art style. The change is summarized here and here, the latter comparing Fox's second strip appearance to how he looks currently, minus the scar on his eye.
- An in-universe inversion occurs with Peanut's Spot (Superdog) comics, where the characters actually look more primitive in later incarnations. Compare his first appearance with how he's drawn here.
Artifact Title: More and more characters (the Wolf Pack, Itsuki, the Galactic Nerds, the Forest creatures, the zoo creatures, Karishad) have been introduced into the strip over the years who wouldn't exactly be considered 'house pets'.
Art Shift:
- Played for laughs In-Universe within "That's Why You Save It For The Cover", where the last panel of the Show Within the Show "Spot (Superdog)" was drawn well by Joey, causing it to heavily stand out from the rest of the normally Stylistic Suck comic. The Punchline of that comic is that said drawing was actually a commission Peanut didn't expect to have to pay.
- In a meta sense, with the author's shift to a more comic book-like style of page with the 101st "chapter", there are some changes — the colors are more muted, the backgrounds more detailed, and the female animals (at least the dogs, from what's been seen so far) have more noticeable... assets.
Ash Face: In this comic, King is seen with a soot-blackened face after he opens an exploding gag Christmas gift from Bino.
As Himself: In-Universe example as Peanut is drafted by Grape to roleplay relationship-related interactions for Tarot:
Grape: Maybe what we need here is a roleplay demonstration. I will be you (referring to Tarot), and Peanut will be Peanut.
Peanut: Woo, I get to be me!
Aside Glance:
- Peanut in the fourth panel of this comic glances at the audience after Grape solves his problem by simply breaking the remote control to Bino's shock collar, cutting off Peanut's rambling panicked explanation so she can take a nap in peace.
- Bruno the bear gives a sidelong glance to the reader when Bino challenges her as part of his attempt to become an honorary wolf, displaying her disbelief that such a small canine seriously thinks that waving around a stick is going to scare her off.
Ass Kicking Pose: Miles and his pack strike stylized heroic positions just before coming to Fido's defense near the end of the "Jungle Fever" arc.
As the Good Book Says......: Kitsune quotes Matthew 23:17, "You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?" He refers to Jesus as a good friend of his.
Attractive Bent Species:
- Played straight with Thomas when Sofia hits on him after he becomes a camel like her, thanks to Pete's cursed treasure.
- Inverted with King when he meets Bailey, since in that case he's the one who falls in love and wasn't of her species to start with. In both cases, it's Love at First Sight.
Author Tract:
- In-Universe, lampshaded by Grape in "The Boring Adventures Of Spot" when she suggests Peanut has stopped telling a story and started soapboxing:
  Grape: Don't you think you're editorializing a bit much?
  Peanut: A little, but that's why people make comics, right?
- Out of universe, Rick Griffin has a clear hatred of PETA. In their first appearance, a member showing up at the Sandwich household front door is enough to warrant Earl punching him in the face, and even Joel Robinson is shown to detest working for them, seeing it as his last resort to try and help animals. The police dogs who chase down the other member crack repeated fat jokes at his expense, and later in The 4 Animals You Meet In Heaven, Keene is said to explicitly consider PETA destructive.
Awkward Kiss: Maxwell gets one, from Rufus, oddly enough. Especially because Rufus is a dog, which Maxwell has been shown to be quite smug around. Because Rufus lives on the sandwich farm, there's also a question of how he met Rufus in the first place. It furthermore doesn't help that Grape wants to know all the fun, juicy details of why Rufus kissed him as Maxwell blushes more obviously.

Babies Ever After: The final page of the final main storyline, Heckraiser, ends with the revelation that Tarot is now pregnant.
Babysitting Episode: The second half of Save The Date is about Peanut and Grape's attempts to babysit King's kids going comedically wrong.
Backup Bluff: When superpowered Res is holding off The Forgotten, it constantly claims the fight to be hopeless in its own favor. Res replies he may just be stalling, while trying not to reveal how terrified he is. As it turns out, he has the power to finish it after all.
Backup from Otherworld: Temple Crashers 2 has a number of reinforcements from Heaven arrive on Earth to ensure the Mana Pool is secure, including previously dead characters like Rufus.
Bad Date: Combined with Terrible Interviewees Montage. Bino arranges one of these for Sasha on purpose after she delivers him a "Dear John" Letter, trying to make every other male dog in town look bad on purpose so she'll get back with him. It doesn't fly.
Balloon Belly: In Peanut's Spot (Superdog) comic, the title character discovers that the orphans have eaten so many fattening foods that they have become comically bloated, seen in this strip.
Bat Scare: Despite being nowhere near a cave, a swarm of bats surprises the K9 unit while investigating a road.
Bear Hug: Fox gets a healthy embrace from his new partner Mungo, as seen here.
Bears Are Bad News: Bino's encounter with Bruno, as part of his efforts to become an honorary wolf, does not go well. After the audience gets an Aside Glance from her, in disbelief that Bino thinks his challenge is a serious threat, she then simply falls onto him, squishing the dog beneath her.
Beast in the Building: Played for Laughs. An office worker in Heckraiser complains about Tarot running around the building, oblivious to the fact that they are also currently an animal and a giant demon just punched through the building's wall.
Beast Man: Most pets and mammals are bipedal and intelligent in this world, only much shorter in stature than usual for the trope. Bat People, Bird People, and Snake People are all averted; those species are intelligent, but appear identical to the ones in real life.
Beauty Contest: Duchess' trying to win one with King's enlisted help is the subject of Show Business. In the end, she loses, and takes her anger out on King.
Becoming the Mask:
- It's heavily implied that Spirit Dragon wanted to assume a fake identity to be in a relationship with Peanut before he broke her heart to stay with Tarot.
- Even though he didn't want to be one at first, after falling in love and marrying Bailey, it's safe to say Joel/King has decided he wants to be a dog. At the end of the Cosmic Game, he chooses to remain a dog and stay with Bailey, Fox, and all the friends he's made.
Berserk Button: If you should ever find yourself in the comic's universe, here's a handy list of things you should not do:
- Don't tease Tiger about having the name of a big cat.
- Don't wake Grape from a nap.
- Don't be a cat or cat-lover in the Good Ol' Dogs Club when Bino's around.
- Don't mention the name Joel around Fox. He's quick to get angry ever since he was kidnapped (or rather dognapped).
Big, Bulky Bomb: Played with in this strip during "The Great Water Balloon War" story arc. A huge water balloon, requiring much of the contents of a pool to fill it, is shown.
The Big Damn Kiss: One between Keene and Breel frees them of their bonds.
Big Eater:
- Tiger has a huge appetite that at times manifests itself in eating questionable fare, as in this strip, where he develops a stomach ache after chowing down on wax lips, wax bottles, and wax candy sticks. Though as this comic suggests, he's perfectly happy to scarf down large quantities of normal fare like pizza.
- Grape eats voraciously during the Jurassic Park Imaginate, causing King to broach the possibility to Max that she might be "eating for two". Max scoffs at the idea...then asks Grape if she is. She body slams him to the floor in response.
- It’s strongly implied that Truck (a raccoon) and The Other Daryl (a wolf) are voracious eaters given how overweight they are.
Bigger on the Inside: In this strip, even Zach, who's been in the temple in the back yard of Mr. Milton before, is absolutely stunned by how huge the place looks like from the inside, far in excess of the external dimensions.
Big "NO!":
- Spot from Peanut's strip "The Adventures of Spot (Superdog)" yells a long, drawn out "Nooooo!" here. He's apparently upset about the prospect of upcoming evil that can't be subdued by fisticuffs.
- In this strip, Santa Claus appears in Peanut's comic "The Adventures of Spot (Superdog)" and yells out "Noooooooo!" as he's being captured.
Bilingual Bonus: The line from the Japanese comedy show in this strip is, ‘Call a doctor!’
Black Comedy Burst: In one of the earliest strips, Grape casually stomps on a (sapient) radicalist mouse (with the rather-appropriate name of "Karl-Lenin Faust") who is leading a revolution in the Sandwich household, which kills it (off-panel). Following this, Grape tosses his body in her mouth, swallowing it WHOLE (on-panel, no less!). (He gets ''semi-''better...)
Black Dude Dies First: Parodied as Max, who has all-black fur, plays the first victim in the And Then There Were None Imaginate.
Blackmail: A unique variation done by Celia to Thomas. She gives him false directions while he's sneaking through the Milton Manor, and then threatens to call the police with his location if he doesn't increase her share.
Bland-Name Product:
- One of the books Peanut uses to get caught up on the Pridelands series of books is Pridelands for Imbeciles.
- Nothing goes as well with a game of Universes and Unrealities as a fresh bag of Doritas.
Blank White Void:
- Dragon's bedroom is located in one of these. How Max gets here is unclear, but he leaves by waking up from it, implying it may have been a Shared Dream induced by her.
- The Celestials and Kix appear in one at the end of Heckraiser, possibly (if the stone Kix stands on is any clue) the remnants of Dragon's temple.
Blinding Camera Flash: Peanut pulls one off on a sabercat while time travelling, seemingly accidentally, although with Peanut it's hard to tell.
Book Ends: The very first strip of the comic was in black and white, and depicted Peanut and Grape playing pretend with paper bags on their heads. The final panel of the final page of "Heckraiser", the final major story arc of the comic, is in black and white and has Peanut and Grape playing pretend with paper bags on their heads.
Boring Vacation Slideshow: Spo subjects Fido, Joey, and Squeak to a lengthy presentation of dull slides from his alleged trip to Europe.
Bouquet Toss: Tarot catches the floral bouquet thrown after King's wedding, with the help of Karishad.
Brain Bleach: Evoked by King in response to Miles' Christmas party plans. When Miles mentions that the festivities' theme will be "Party naked," King replies that he's going to go gouge out his mind's eye with a melon baller.
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: When Peanut and Grape go to the zoo, they encounter a dolphin that Grape explains is trying to communicate via telepathy. Its thoughts obsessively revolve around the word "fish" — except for one interpolated "Usurp the human leaders," which has Peanut doing a double take. Two years later, a similar thing occurs, when Fox and Zach visit the aquarium and the dolphin begins heatedly obsessing over the idea of a coup d'etat of their human overlords — only to be distracted when it is interrupted by feeding time and has its focus return to "fish."
Brick Joke: They happen from time to time.
- When Peanut is done up as the ghost of Banquo in their Macbeth Imaginate presentation, Maxwell screams like he did when he was freaked out by Sabrina and her spiritual connections.
- Most recently, the alt texts of this and this are concerned with a joke referencing Pete's wish to use a ballpoint pen instead of a "writing wedge".
- The comic of 8/18/2010, and this one just over three years later, is a Brick Joke concerning Tarot's prophesy of Sabrina nearly drowning — which indeed almost happens in the later strip.
- In "Heaven's Not Enough, Part 2", Tarot is seen using her cellphone to make a text message. Come part 3 of the same arc, it's revealed she was messaging Kerishad, the local Cloud Cuckoo Lander.
- The first thing King ever said to Bailey was, "Please don't sniff my butt." Apparently she obliged, because when his proposal to marry her is accepted, she suddenly remembers, "I never got to sniff your butt!"
- Fox is pretty big on believing he's the protagonist of a summer blockbuster adventure. That comes up a few times, especially when he goes on the run to try to prove Sasha didn't attempt to kill Keene Milton and is being reprimanded for it. In response to being told that the case wasn't a summer blockbuster type thing, he exasperatedly asks:
  Fox: Why does everyone keep telling me that?!
- At the end of Pete's first appearance, he deliberately invokes a form of All Just a Dream in order to warp Peanut and Grape back home. It then became a Running Gag with demigods repeatedly ending interactions with mortals that way, climaxing ten years later at the end of the Temple Crashers 2 arc, Keene (to his own frustration) does the exact same thing to himself and everyone stuck inside the temple before it collapses. Hammering it home is the Alt-text:
  "Here's to ten years of setting up that stupid gag!"
- In the "HECKRAISER REVELATIONS" arc, Keene at one point asks Karishad to "stop the purple guy" (Nega-Breel, who is trying to kill Breel to steal his mortality), which Karishad interprets as a request to take out Grimace, who he apparently holds a grudge against. When he shows up again 37 strips later, he's wearing Grimace's decapitated head as a hat.
- A few pages into Heckraiser, Lois tries to cheer Marion, but it becomes Interrupted Intimacy when Sasha mistakes it for Lois trying to eat Marion. A few pages from the end of Heckraiser's epilogue, Lois jokingly refers to Marion as "Nugget", summoning Sasha and her broom again
Broken Tears:
- Grape finds Zach crying in Pete's temple after his attempt at befriending the forest animals is ruined by Unwanted False Faith.
- Tarot begins crying as she talks about her hero complex, flying into "The Reason I Suck" Speech after a long build up of stress.
Brown Bag Mask: A staple of Imaginate sessions are the brown bag masks, usually with a symbol drawn on them to communicate which character they represent.
Bubble Pipe: Here, Peanut is seen smoking a pipe, which emits bubbles instead of smoke. It’s a reference to the painting “A Friend in Need” from the Dogs Playing Poker series.
Bulungi: Jata's home country (where Sabrina spent a chunk of her childhood), Feraga. It's explained to be an African country that completely avoided colonization and holds no distinction between animals and humans, considering both equal citizens. Its royal family is even composed of leopards, including Jata.
Burn the Witch!: Subverted in this installment of Peanut's Spot (Superdog) comic. Jim-Jim gets accused of being the alter ego of Spot, and when he "confesses," he gets lashed to a stake atop wood sticks that are set ablaze. Spot swoops in and rescues him at the last minute.
By the Lights of Their Eyes: A few times. Noticeably, in the earlier art style, eyes always kept their same color and brightness no matter the opacity of the surroundings.

Call-Back:
- Early in the comic, Sabrina dumps Spo off on Fido. Nearly 3 years later, He uses this incident as an excuse to dump Teoxihuitl on her.
- In "Theme Park World", Tarot says Sabrina, three years from then, would nearly drown. A bit over three years later, not only does it happen, but we find out why.
- In "Separation Anxiety", Sabrina threatens Fido with a visit from the same jaguar ghost he pointed to her, which doubles as a reference to his fear of big cats gained from dealing with Jata in Jungle Fever.
- Played with at one point when Fox tells King that if he ever saw Joel again, he'd give him what's coming to him. When King earlier actually revealed himself to be Joel however, Fox started throttling him, but was unable to go through with it.
- In "Housepets Babies!", a young Fox believed his life would become an action blockbuster. That's exactly how he described the vague memories that remained after his trip to Heaven in "Heaven's Not Enough". And then again after the mystery of the attempt on Keene Milton's life had been resolved in the most anticlimactic way possible well before Fox attempted a daring escape to prove Sasha's innocence, he's told that despite what the action hero in him wanted to believe, it wasn't as if the case depended entirely on him to solve the crime and exonerate Sasha.
Call to Adventure:
- In "Temple Crashers 2," Tarot recruits Fox's help in a quest. While a little reluctant, he ultimately joins.
  Fox: Resolving the fate of the world might be outside my wheelhouse.
  Tarot: Nah, you'll be fine. Come on, we need to get you a hat.
- Then at the climax of the arc, Great Kitsune enlists Res to join him in his own pursuit.
  Res: Why can't you stop this?
  Kitsune: Despite the omnipotence, there's quite a few things that I cannot change — it's beyond my paygrade, as it were. So if you act now, one of a dozen things is about to happen; if you don't, one thing will happen.
  Res: What's that?
  Kitsune: You'll find out! In about, oh, five seconds.
  Res: (jumps into the mana pool)
Camera Obscurer: Thought initially here, then averted. Turns out, no, he didn't put his thumb over the lens; he put carbon paper into the printer.
Camping Episode: Call O' Th' Wild, which doubles as a "Rediscovering Roots" Trip for the Wolf Pack as they return to the forest they grew up in alongside King and Bailey.
Candlelit Ritual: Sabrina and Tarot's (psychics who frequently engage with the supernatural) conducting one is their excuse for missing the power going out.
Canines Primary, Felines Secondary: Grape and Peanut are co-protagonists, but a look at the character list shows far more canines than felines in important roles. The K9PD are entirely canine, and the majority of the neighborhood pets are dogs.
Car Meets House: Keene trying to drive results in his crashing a car through a wall.
Carnivore Confusion:
- Usually played straight. It's accepted as a fact of life that predator species kill and eat prey animals for sustenance (something that gets pointed out more than once and even happens on-panel); however, it should be noted that like the predators, the prey species are also fully sentient, able to talk to and even hold lengthy conversations with the animals who want to eat them.
- Except for some, like the cows, which seem to be either non-sapient, or just don't care.
  Peanut: (to Uncle Rueben's horses) Well, no offense, but you guys do look delicious.
  Action Replay: None taken.
  Money For Nothing: We also get that a lot.
  Made of Win: Now that I think about it, that's probably why your cat friend was so eager to go riding.
  (Smash Cut to Grape sitting on the fence of the cattle enclosure, shouting at a cow)
  Grape: Hey... Hey, I'm gonna eat your innards... AT LEAST GET A LITTLE INDIGNANT?
- Illustrated by the title and cover of the second book Housepets! Hope They Don't Get Eaten featuring a picture of the wolf cubs seasoning an understandably concerned looking Zach.
- One of the Bigglesworths attempts to eat Squeak and Spo, only to be foiled (and disturbed) by Squeak's foot (macro?) fetish.
- In Wolf's Clothing, Natalie cracks an off-color joke to Bino about Bruno (A bear) eating a bird off a tree. We later find out birds are sapient creatures just as the rest of them are (Albeit with You No Take Candle tendencies) with Trinket.
Cartoon Dog Breed: Only a few select dog characters have named breeds, such as Tarot being a Pomeranian and Duchess being a Saluki. The vast majority of the rest are only hand-waved away as 'Mutts', and a few come with fanciful fur patterns, although none veer into Amazing Technicolor Wildlife like the cat Grape does.
Can't Hold His Liquor: It only takes one orange soda to get King flirting with every girl at the party he attends.
Catchphrase: For Peanut: "_______ is/are a thing, isn't it/aren't they?"
Cat Concerto:
- Fiddler and Keys are a feline musical duo. Both sing, and the characters respectively play violin and piano.
- Max jumps up onto a fence to sing "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat" here. He gets knocked off by a thrown boot.
Cat Ninja: Temple Crashers Part 2 takes place in Pete's temple, where the magic(k) within allows inhabitants to gain powers based on the clothing and outfits worn in. Grape and Max, both cats, game this system by wearing paper bags with the word 'ninja' scrawled on it. As soon as they enter, it transforms them into more appropriate attire, scarves and masks included.
Cat Up a Tree: Grape has been trapped up a tree by angry dogs at least once.
Cerebus Retcon:
- Lucretia's remark to Miles: "Our life sucks." When introduced years earlier, it was just a funny, succinct way of explaining why Miles' pack chose to enter civilization rather than remain in the wild. When called back to much later on, it was in the context of showing how the friendship between Miles and Gale ended, implying it's his fault.
- Steward's comedic exasperation at the ferrets for their insane financial decisions, including their only accepting him as steward because of the pun, is Played for Laughs initially. We later find out just how badly trying to keep up with them affected him, to the point where he helped Thomas Milton rob them in a desperate attempt to put the Milton fortune in the hands of someone (he thought) more deserving. After this goes awry and Steward is reduced to a literal animal living in squalor, it can be hard to laugh along at his grievances that led up to it.
Chained Heat: Zach and Jessica end up in a trap, both dirty, injured, and cold, so they snuggle for warmth. Cue Keene showing up thinking he caught a gargoyle.
Chair Reveal:
- Those ferrets sure love showmanship, with a twirl of a tall-backed chair revealing the instigator of the big water balloon war.
- Breel turns the tables, er, chair on Keene in the Year 9 finale.
Charity Workplace Calendar: One is printed by Kevin for the K-9 unit. Ralph expresses confusion at his enthusiasm for the project, until its revealed that the calendar only contains pictures of himself.
Chekhov's Gun:
- The last panel of this just seems to be a throwaway gag, involving the reactions of Peanut and Grape to seeing what Fido is up to with Sabrina. A year and a half later, it turns out it's not.
- The golden statue of himself the Great Kitsune sent to King within "Never believe it's not so" eventually comes to prominence within the "Housepets 5000 BC" arc when it was used to contact the Great Kitsune about Satau managing to find himself within the present. It's revealed within this arc that the statue is the Great Kitsune, himself, disguised as a golden statue using shapeshifting magic(k).
  King: Have you been in there the whole time?!
  Great Kitsune: No! ...not anymore than I'm everywhere all the time.
Christmas Episode: The arcs "Housepets Christmas", "It's A Wonderful Dog's Life", "Hope of the Pridelands", "A Holiday at the Zoo", "The Unbearable Lightness Of Being a Dog", "Yes Jessica, There Is An Opener Of Ways", and "Pageantate!" all have a Christmas based theme.
City of the Damned: Pandemonium is a massive industrial city in the Bad Place, distinguished by strange spiky architecture and a grueling capitalist system without worker's rights of any kind.
Clarke's Third Law: The unwitting time traveler Satau marvels at the various "magic(k)al devices" of the future. When pointed out by Peanut that they actually run on electricity, Satau says this doesn't seem much different from magic(k).
Clark Kenting: In Peanut's comic "The Adventures of Spot (Superdog)," the only difference between the hero's Superdog persona and his secret identity as a professor is a cape and a pair of glasses. Even the name's the same! See here, for example.
Clingy Sleepers: Supplementary art shows Lois not only clinging to Marion as they sleep, but gnawing on his head and dreaming of meat.
CloudCuckoolander: Sasha frequently indulges in strange and eccentric, if usually harmless behavior. Examples include this bookmark◊, which is covered with stream of consciousness babble, as well as this comic, where she suddenly changes the subject in her conversation with Bino and rambles distractedly.
Bino: So tell me! Are we an item again or not?
Sasha: I guess I'm over being flush for your brother. It's just...
Bino: Just what? What are you thinking about?
Sasha: Praying mantises. What's their transmitting range, and how do they broadcast back to the mothership with such a tiny unit?
Clue from Ed.: In certain Superdog comics, yellow captions have extra information written in them, usually in order to admit Peanut's failings. These often serve to lampshade the obstructive nature of poorly done notes in real comics, or to exaggerate them by making them larger than the actual panel.
Cluster F-Bomb: The audience doesn't see the words used, but King's response to being included on a quest with Tarot and Grape includes "a crescendo of creative profanities".
Color-Coded Speech:
- Pete's is Black.
- Dragon's is Green.
- Kitsune's is Red.
Comically Missing the Point:
- Peanut in particular happens to be prone to this, as shown in this strip where he asks about a trivial issue instead of about the fantastical world he and Sabrina are descending into — and here, where he misunderstands what Grape means when she says they're going to carve pumpkins.
- Often applies to Sasha, as in this example, where the toilet water she gives Bino to drink turns out to be cologne.
Comical Overreaction:
- Upon learning Grape doesn't subscribe to the rules of The Game, she's promptly chased up a tree by the neighborhood dogs.
- Grape gets irritated with Peanut here when she finds him drawing cats.
Comically Small Bribe: Max tries to bribe a pet store employee to sell him catnip (which pets aren't allowed to buy) with a quarter. It works in an ironic way.
Common Tongue:
- Sabrina has to use a translator spell so they can communicate with Satau.
- Averted with Sofia the camel. She speaks Arabic, and no subtitles are provided, leaving it to the fans to translate on the forum. Thomas seems to understand her, though Sofia has doubts.
  Sofia: هل تعلم اللغة العربية فعلا أم أنك تخمينت هذا الوقت؟ (Did you actually learn Arabic or have you been guessing this whole time?)
Cone of Shame: Bino ends up in an e-collar after his shenanigans at the Milton mansion.
Continuity Nod:
- Fox, when he was kidnapped in "A Sinister Shadow", let on that it wasn't the first time. We arrived at "the first time" in a flashback story.
- "Didn't I eat your guys' leader, once?" Yes, it turns out Grape did eat the leader of this group of mice in this earlier strip.
- "Let's just say, I know what it's like to be left behind." Or at least that's what the letter from Keene Milton to Bruce and Roosevelt says regarding the lavish Christmas display left to brighten up the holiday for the two 'roos (Keene had experienced a lonely and non-festive Christmas when he was locked up in the zoo by Karishad).
- Bino shouts "I'll be one with the ferals!". Way back when the comic started, Grape references this quote to Peanut when they look outside their species for romance.
- While trying to con Bino out of his watch, Sasha asks for it as a Valentines Day present. He immediately counters that he gave her one already to prevent a repeat of last year, referencing the prior Valentines Day arc.
- Tiger claims to be 'an expert at waiving' in All's Fair, referencing his previous job as an Excited Kids' Show Host that involved waiving many of his rights away.
- Wolf's Clothing features Jack stealing Bino's collar and selling it off to Cory. Much later, in Mall Rats, Cory sneaks into the mall disguised as a cat and wearing the same collar.
- One of Heaven's waiters gets promoted to Complaint Desk between appearances, showing up in both The Four Animals You Meet In Heaven and Heckraiser.
Contrived Coincidence: It just so happens that the moment Peanut and Grape's relationship might be heading somewhere interesting, another dog shows up having been told by the spirits themselves that Peanut would need a companion. Three years later, we find out that Tarot had been sent by Spirit Dragon as part of her gambit to prevent Pete from acquiring an avatar. In fact, it seems most of the coincidences and plot holes found throughout the series have been caused directly by the Great Game.
Conveniently Common Kink: Joey is a dog who gets turned on by dressing up like a cat and stepping on mice. His girlfriend Squeak has a foot fetish and enjoys being trodden on by cats. Shown in this strip and treated as comically perverse Squick — or as the final strip panel says over a scribbled-over depiction of their roleplaying, "Agh Too Much Information!"
Cooldown Hug: Cerberus brings Pete down from a Villainous Breakdown with a simple paw on his shoulder.
Corner of Woe: Grape sits away from the other characters curled up moping at one point during the Imaginate play for And Then There Were None here. Her unhappiness is further magnified by having dark clouds dumping rain on her.
Cosmic Chess Game: Or rather Universes & Unrealities. Pete and Sprit Dragon's rivalry while playing this game causes significant real-world impact from the spirit world onto the mortal characters of Babylon Gardens. King even Lampshades this word-for-word; it's the trope page quote.
Spirit Dragon: To compare the game to chess would be like comparing all of civilization to an amoeba!
Cosmic Horror Reveal: Downplayed only in regards to the "horror" aspect. The large majority of supernatural happenings are rooted in the realm of human understanding (Heaven, Demons, etc.) and aside from a select few examples aren't too dangerous to begin with, unless you consider the Jerkass Gods like Pete. Though admittedly one wouldn't expect a webcomic about pets to feature divine events or characters.
"Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: After Fido's fight with Jata, Ralph says (at least professionally) he had no issues with Fido being involved with Sabrina, and only wished he had known beforehand what Fido had planned instead of dragging the K-9 force into a potential international incident.
Ralph: Who you decide to snuggle with after hours is none of the department's business nor concern.
CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable:
- Played with in this comic, when a police dog Sgt. Ralph douses an apparently non-breathing Fox with water to revive him after being smothered by Joel's boss.
- Inverted in this comic where resuscitation is neither clean nor pretty: the moment Fido gives Sabrina a breath after her near-drowning, she barfs water in his face.
Crazy Cat Lady: The owner of the Mr. Bigglesworth cat group has a huge collection of felines.
Crazy-Prepared: Peanut brings a backup generator to the country to power his Nintendo DS.
Crossover: Ponbon, a small yellow creature from another of the author’s works makes a number of appearances from time to time - as a novelty ice cream pop, as a Macy's balloon, and in person in this arc.
Crotch-Glance Sex Check: Averted by Jessica. When she first meets Marion, she begins using female pronouns for him. When he corrects her, she glances between his legs briefly before letting the issue go and correcting herself.
Cruel Coyotes: Max ran into a hungry coyote and her right-hand crow back when he was a kitten, which didn't stop the coyote from gleefully hunting Max down. Luckily for kitten Max, Rufus was there to save him.
Cut a Slice, Take the Rest: "Four Finger Discount" Jack does a variation here using lemonade. He pours Poncho a glass, then chugs down the rest of the pitcher himself.
Cutting Back to Reality: Literally, in the sense of Tarot forcibly aborting the Pridelands Imaginate. Max is rudely interrupted from the fictional world, leaving him with a broom instead of a weapon as the house comes back around him.
Cutting the Knot: Running out of time to solve puzzles in a Temple Crashing and left with one class of his choosing, Peanut chooses the class 'Puzzle Master' and simply solves the remaining ones automatically.

Dances and Balls: The Yarn Ball is a new year's dance celebrated by cats.
Dawn of an Era: By the end of the comic, all of Earth's Celestial protectors are gone, save for the Grim Reaper Cerberus and possibly Bahamut. The Masquerade broke and Humanity now knows that magic(k) is real, but the only person left alive who can understand it fully is Tarot, who is content to only interfere as much as she needs to while she enjoys her new life as a mother. Animals are gaining human rights, meaning Marion can finally go to college, and King may be able to get a job. Despite Tarot's assurance to Sabrina that not much will change, quite a lot already has.
Dead to Begin With: The Four Animals You Meet In Heaven begins shortly after Keene's untimely death, and focuses on his journey through Heaven.
Deal with the Devil: When Keene ends up in hell and is trying to find a way to escape and rescue Breel, he realizes too late that he has accidentally made a deal with a devil when the cute demon he has just made an agreement with suddenly speaks in a less cute voice and says "THEN THE CONTRACT IS SEALED".
"Dear John" Letter: Here, Sasha and Bino exchange holiday gifts — except that Sasha's present for Bino is a break-up note.
Death Is Cheap: The number of characters who die in Housepets (mostly in Heckraiser) is rather shockingly high. In some cases, such as Rufus, they stay in Heaven but are still allowed to interfere in Earthly matters, such as settling their unfinished business, with approval from Celestial Bureaucracy. In other cases, such as Keene, it's agreed that they died too early and they're allowed to return. Finally, temples made during the Cosmic Game operate off RPG rules, meaning any who die inside respawn outside, no afterlife required.
Déjà Vu: Grape comments upon coming across the Old Man Who Speaks In Limericks how familiar this feels, referencing that it's the second time she's been to Pete's Temple (the first being in her Dreaming of Things to Come.)
Deus ex Machina: Tarot had somehow managed to get a hold of a special lantern, that hides the presence of those around it from Pete and the Spirit Dragon, allowing the plot to be resolved quite easily. It is implied she was directly given the lantern by the Great Kitsune himself as part of his Batman Gambit.
Demoted to Extra: In a meta sense. Bino was initially planned as the protagonist of the comic, and the first ever character conceived. When the comic began proper, he was quickly illustrated as a side character, and noticeably Took a Level in Jerkass at that.
Deteriorates Into Gibberish: As a result of the lack of oxygen in the jet plane during Heckraiser, one of Tarot's innocuous comments trails off into calm but meaningless words until she finally collapses.
Devious Dolphins: In their rare appearances, this is usually implied through telepathy. The dolphins speak frequently of subjugating humans and taking over, but are usually pacified with feeding time. King's confusion on hearing dolphins called telepathic may imply humans cannot hear this.
Didn't Think This Through: When the newly-emancipated Sasha is pawned off on King, he immediately asks Kevin why he, being her boyfriend, didn't take her in himself
Did They or Didn't They?: Dog Fido and cat Sabrina are heavily suggested to have done something sexual in this comic — and much to Grape and Peanut's surprise.
Grape: We never speak of this again.
Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery: On one Valentines Day arc, Bino realizes he never got anything for Sasha. His plan to circumvent this is to get her something late, and then argue that he's still recovering from his injury as a result of falling from the Milton ferret's window.
Distracted by the Sexy: Grape ignores what Max is saying when a very buffed-up Mungo walks by.
Distracted by the Shiny: Daisy looks at King's collar rather than King himself while he's dancing drunk on a table on the cover of the Third ''Housepets!'' book.◊
Divine Date:
- In THE GALLIFRAX PROTOCOL, it's revealed that Dragon's harbored a crush on Peanut for a while, which she's taken advantage of him to entertain since he assumed Dragon was just Tarot in another form. He ends up choosing Tarot over her, of course, which she doesn't take well to.
- Late into the comic, Kitsune picks up a mortal wife in the form of Kix, seemingly partially as a way to father his reincarnated friends.
Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- In this strip, Bino responds with indignation to Fox's allegations that he has a small... neck. Keep in mind that the neck is the only area the pets seem to have any modesty about...
  Fox: *snrk* I was wondering, how does someone with such a big head get by with a neck so pencilly?
  Bino: It's comparable to the national average!
- Maxwell squeezes the pillow between his legs when Peanut and Grape are offscreen showing off their affectionate 'chemistry'
Domestic Abuse: Played for Laughs with Kix and Kitsune. Kitsune allows her to beat him up whenever she gets frustrated with him, as it doesn't hurt him by virtue of him being a demigod. He says it helps to balance out their dynamic.
Don't Fear the Reaper: Cerberus assumes the mantle of the Grim Reaper for the sake of working with children, greeting a puppy who was thrown off a bridge by his owner and drowned with a giant cookie.
Donut Mess with a Cop:
- Averted with Kevin in this comic when he is told he needs to go on a diet of donuts and whole milk because he has too much muscle and almost no body fat.
  Kevin (crying while eating a donut): This feels wrong.
  Fido: My condolences.
- According to Sasha, Kevin took her to a donut shop for their first date. It's unknown if Kevin ate any while there.
- Fox and Mungo head to the donut shop here. The Alt Text says "Be as active as us and you too will be grateful for readily available and digested sugar-carbs."
Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Kix's relationship with Kitsune is partially defined by her beating him when angered, albeit in Amusing Injuries ways with weapons and comedic face-flattenings. Kitsune sees it as fair to fix the power imbalance inherent in Divine Date, but it would likely be treated differently by the narrative if it were, say, a male partner with Spirit Dragon.
Draco in Leather Pants: In-Universe example for Peanut, who depicts the Pridelands villain Saso as a sympathetic character.
Grape: So you lifted the entire plot of the eighth chapter and wedged Spot into it, just so you could rescue an unimportant minor villain you particularly liked?
Dramatic Irony: Applies when Bailey is griping about King's behavior at one point. He suggests that King acts like a human in a dog suit — and it turns out that's true.
Bailey: Sometimes I suspect he's a miniature human in a dog suit.
Dressed in Layers: Tiger does this with a series of Halloween costumes. He's a ghost over an "Invisible Man"-style dog over a mummy over a plastic-wrapped "cheap imitation" dog.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Played with literally. They nearly dropped a boat on CSI dog Terrance.
Drowning My Sorrows: The two Milton heirs both come to the same bar after losing their fortunte, intent on doing this. When they realize the coincidence, they begin talking, and eventually hatch their plan to try and earn it back.
Drowning Unwanted Pets: Implied here. The ghost of a young dog is found crying by a river when Cerberus picks them up, offers them a cookie, and escorts them to Heaven.
Drugs Are Bad: In Peanut's Spot (Superdog) comic, the title character urges the orphans to give up fattening foods that a villain (shown dressed in black and standing in front of an alley, looking like a stereotypical drug dealer) has sold them, and which have turned them into Balloon Belly kids here. He even uses the sterotypical phrase "Just say no."
Drunk on Milk: Orange soda causes pet inebriation in the strip. Lampshaded by Miles the first time a pet is depicted intoxicated by the beverage.
Miles: I must say, I did not expect intoxication was possible from a can of orange soda.
Dungeon Crawling: The focus of both Temple Crashing arcs, under different excuses that boil down to the same premise; Something valuable is in Pete's temple, let's bumrush in and grab it. The rules of the Temple specifically demand an RPG-esque party be assembled to do so, including granting powers based on the outfit you wear inside.
- Temple Crashers keeps it simple with one team (Keene, Sabrina, Zach, Karishad, Daryl) storming the temple for information on Pete's deal with Keene's father and mana.
- Temple Crashers 2 undergoes some serious Sequel Escalation; multiple teams dungeon crawling to reach the Mana Pool for their own purposes, split across multiple chapters and finally ending with the Temple's destruction.
Dynamic Entry: Rightly or wrongly, a number of readers were shocked that Friend to All Living Things Sabrina would pull the old Time Out-Time In gag on Bailey and charge feet-first into her.

Ear Ache:
- Max is shown with a bite having been taken out of his right ear, the result of an unrevealed past incident.
- In this strip, Tarot angrily pulls a grimacing Peanut along by the ear after he inadvertently says something hurtful.
Early-Installment Weirdness:
- The first Imaginate is the only one to not be based on a property. The one following it is loosely based on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, albeit with some creative liberties, but the first is an original fantasy story.
- It's Bino!, Housepets' predecessor, made obvious from the beginning due to Bino being the main character.
- 'Mouse Mouse Revolution' features the only instance in the entire comic of an animal eating another, while the other are only implied. Rick would later admit he wanted to avoid the types of confusion associated with this trope in other media.
- Pete's first appearance has him alluding to the fact that 'Pete' is a nickname, that his real name is The Unpronouncable. Later on, everyone calls him Pete, including Bahamut and his own sister, and no such true name is ever brought up again.^note
Ear Worm: Grape gets a video game tune stuck in her head here courtesy of Peanut.
Edible Theme Naming: Earl Sandwich is clearly fond of naming his pets after food, given that his dog and cat were christened Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly. It seems to be a common practice on his side of the family given that his brother's name is Reuben.
Eldritch Abomination:
- Grape sees the vet as a tentacled and clawed monster when she was young.
- In a less metaphorical sense, the being known only by its internet handle 'Spookmaster' is summoned by Sabrina in Scaredy Cats to create a haunted house. When Max comes across it, it manifests as a barrage of psychedelic imagery and hopeless messages that surround his floating body on all sides.
- The Forgotten, a being summoned accidentally by Keene in Temple Crashers 2. Its form resembles a skeletal T-Rex/Goat hybrid, and its mere presence threatens to make all of the universe non-existent.
Eldritch Location: Pete's (And presumably Dragon's as well) Temple. Appearing from the outside as a decrepit Mayincatec structure, entering reveals it to be infinitely Bigger on the Inside, set up like a videogame dungeon containing different rooms and monsters on each floor. At the very center lies the Mana Pool, a fraction of Pete's power which can fulfill wishes and make abstract concepts manifest.
Elephant in the Living Room: Or, 'The Pachyderm Lounge'. Keene eventually reveals that he's been aware of Pete's temple for some time, and has taken to simply ignoring it until he becomes fearful he may die before unraveling its secrets.. This makes sense, given his owner is the one who put it there.
Embarrassing Middle Name: Grape's shelter name is Princess Periwinkle.
Embarrassing Relative Teacher: When Miles becomes a substitute teacher at his cubs' school, his children are aghast and embarrassed.
Miles: Go get'em, Rockstar! Study hard!
Student: So is Mr. The Wolf, like, your dad?
Rockstar Hawk: No, total coincidence.
Enemy Rising Behind: While investigating a lost case of Aztec gold in a cave, the ghost of an Aztec Jaguar comes into view behind them. To even the ghost's surprise, none of the officers turn around and notice him, and they nearly leave free of harm.
Enhance Button: Parodied here, with a police dog calling for enhancing the actual scene of the crime.
Ensemble Cast: While the first year of the comic focused largely on Peanut and Grape, afterwards it started giving more focus to other members of the ever-expanding cast, with no definite protagonist.
Enter Stage Window: Res comes to see Grape when she locks her door this way, climbing in through the open window to her room.
Episode Finishes the Title: Each of the print books continues a sentence from Housepets:, including Are Naked All the Time; Hope They Don't Get Eaten; Can be Real Ladykillers; Are Gonna Sniff Everybody; Don't Criticise Your Lovelife; Will Do It For Free; Don't Ask Questions; Let Instincts Do Their Thing; Don't Know How Stuff Works; Can't Always Get What They Want; Feel Strangely Exotic; Rock the Bottomless Look; Want To Speak To Management; and Were Left Unsupervised.
Everyone is Jesus in Purgatory: Parodied in this strip. The comic takes a simple panel of Grape and Peanut playing in a pool, and labels everything that could possibly be a metaphor for the Bush presidency.
Everytown, America: All that can be said about the geography Babylon Gardens, ???, is that it's in North America, is a bit small, and is in close proximity to a nearby forest. Wherever you think it is may make Truck's story about riding on a truck's grill there from Oregon more or less impressive depending.
Escaped Animal Rampage: Several mistaken, but never in actuality. Miles and Lois are on separate occasions mistaken for escaped zoo animals (In The Visitor and Heckraiser), and Marion's Valentines Day card references the same thing happening to him off-screen.
Expecting Someone Taller: Lois and Marion have this reaction to Kitsune. He obliges them by suddenly becoming huge.
Expressive Ears: The characters in this webcomic often have their ear position mirror their moods, with cats being especially prone to this.
- Feline examples include Grape here, whose ears droop with guilt in the third panel when she realizes she hasn't been fair to Peanut, and stand erect with anger in the last panel when she realizes the psychic Tarot should have warned her about the situation beforehand.
- A canine example is seen here. Peanut's normally erect ears droop with embarrassment in the second panel (accompanied by Shy Finger-Twiddling) when Grape confronts him about his sexual attraction to her.
Expy:
- Jasper and Jinx are obvious counterparts to Tom and Jerry, as is an unnamed white cat appearing as an analog to Toodles Galore. Seen in the first panel of this strip.
- Spot McCloud, one of the characters within the Spot (Superdog) comics, is a clear expy of Scott McCloud who teaches the readers about comics in an identical (/slightly parodic) fashion as Understanding Comics.
- Tiger Arbelt is a plain expy of Garfield, often used in a Take That! against the comic. When his owner Jerry's face is shown, he bares an obvious resemblance to Jon Arbuckle. One other Garfield expy, a puppy named Pap who serves as one to Nermal, shows up for a single strip.
Extraordinary World, Ordinary Problems: Zig-Zagged. Some arcs, like Heckraiser, feature great universe-spanning conflicts. Others, like THE GALLIFRAX PROCOTOL, use supernatural settings (Tarot and Peanut travel to another dimension and meet up with Tarot's patron goddess) to explore mundane conflicts (Grape and Max's relationship troubles and Peanut being forced into a love triangle).
Eyepatch of Power: One of Miles' cubs dons an eyepatch during the water balloon war when acting as the 'leader' of the dog soldiers. According to the author, this is somehow the same eyepatch worn by Delusional Steve, a one time character seen in a flashback to Grape and Peanut's first meeting. Unfortunately for Steve, any signs of Power seem to be averted in his case.
Eyes Are Mental: During the Pridelands Imaginate, even shapeshifted into fictional characters, everyone retains their eye color.

The Faceless: For the longest time, the humans have never been seen above the nose. Some non-parent humans, like Joel, do have faces exposed. More have had their faces shown as the comic progressed, until a full reveal in the Christmas Day, 2015 strip.
Face Palm:
- Grape puts her face in her paw in frustration when she sees how Peanut chose to carve a pumpkin in this comic.
- Res covers his eyes with his paw when his comment makes Grape run off crying to her room in this strip.
Face Framed in Shadow: Joel and his PETA associate, initially. The eventual reveal of his face coincides with his transformation, both literally and metaphorically.
False Start: Peanut goes to tell Grape how he feels about her, but before he can, he overhears her making a date with Maxwell.
Fan Dumb: An In-Universe example. Lester is practically the poster boy for several varieties of Fan Dumb. His fannish behavior spills over into obsessiveness, lack of perspective, righteous anger, and utter humorlessness. He even mentions the trope by name in one of his rants.
Fan Fic: In-universe, Grape's Pridelands fanfic is referenced on several occasions — complete with an author insert named "Gapre". Peanut draws a comic strip version of it here, much to Grape's ire.
Fanservice Faux Fight: Implied in this strip and its follow up. Three sexy barn cats invite Peanut to join them in a slow-motion pillow fight — but when he gets tongue-tied with his reply, they rescind the offer. Grape takes them up on it, however.
Fantastically Indifferent: Peanut barely reacts to his first time seeing a Gryphon deity, to receiving a psychic girlfriend out of nowhere, to teleporting between dimensions, and most of the other supernatural phenomenon Tarot brings with her into his life. Generally he's more concerned with their relationship, and keeping both of them happy, which leads him to turn down Dragon's proposal.
Fantastic Racism:
- African Prince Leopard Jata 'compliments' Jeeves by saying "Thank you, pale human....you're a credit to your species."
- Bruce warns Roosevelt that his parents may see them as a Maligned Mixed Marriage owing to being different kangaroo species.
Fantasy Keepsake: All the Or Was It a Dream? scenarios have a tangible real life item left behind from the fantasy — with each example gradually decreasing in terms of subtlety. Here, Keene wakes up to find a note and a portion of Pete's power in his bed.
Fantasy Kitchen Sink: According to Sabrina, "everything is a thing." That would explain the presence of gryphons, dragons, Cerberus, and Norse frost giant Aurgelmir.
Fat Bastard: Fox and other characters repeatedly feel the need to reference the fact that one of the PETA members is fat, especially after he uses it to help escape arrest. He's still undoubtedly villainous, feeling no remorse for his actions, unlike Joel.
Feather Fingers: While birds in this universe (Tarot in the Pridelands simulation and Trinket for example) can't use their wings for picking up or manipulating things, their wings do tend to take on a hand shape when pointing or gesturing.
Fed to the Beast: As a kitten, Max barely avoided being fed to an alligator thanks to the help of Grape.
Female Feline, Male Mutt: Applies to Grape (female cat) and Peanut (male dog) who are housemates, as well as Fido (male dog) and Sabrina (female cat), who are a romantic couple.
Fictional Document: The Prideland Series. Its popularity, particularly among pets, is equivalent to that of Harry Potter or Twilight.
Fingore:
- In anger at one of the Milton ferret's financial decisions, Thomas Milton crushes a glass in his hand. When he next appears in disguise, he wears a conspicuous bandage around his hand.
- Similarly, in Call O' Th' Wild, Gale puts her hand over Lucretia's mouth to keep her silent, and the wolf bites it hard enough to draw tears from Gale. Again, Gale wears a bandage around the hand in her next appearance, although she very quickly loses it and shows no sign of damage later.
Fire and Brimstone Hell: The very first part of The Bad Place we see, next door to City of the Damned Pandemonium, is a massive lava pool where Hellish creatures swim.
First-Episode Twist: A few reveals happen early on, and then become integral to future plots.
- Grape is a girl, which was kept secret the first few months and is now common knowledge.
- The Cosmic Horror Reveal, which technically starts when Pete is introduced but only really becomes apparent when more details about him are shared.
- Joel Robinson is turned into a dog, although his first appearance introduces him as human.
- Tarot is the avatar of Dragon, and opposes Pete and King in a Cosmic Chess Game.
- Pete and Dragon are siblings, which was revealed so nonchalantly many newer readers may not even be aware it was meant to be a twist.
Fisher Kingdom: Transportation to the Gallifrax Dimension forces all travelers to comply with that universe's biology; namingly, our own, resulting in an Unanthropomorphic Transformation.
Flexing Those Non-Biceps: Max, after doing half a rep in weightlifting here, gleefully attempts to show off his manly muscle increase by flexing his arm. Not surprisingly, no muscle pops up. Fortunately for him, Grape finds this Endearingly Dorky.
Foot Popping:
- In this strip, it's King's foot that rises when going for the kiss with Bailey, instead of the usual gender roles for the trope.
- In this strip, Sasha's foot rises as she kisses Fox's cheek, wishing him goodnight.
Forced Transformation:
- Joel, who starts out as a Jerkass, gets transformed while in jail into a corgi by an ancient Sumerian griffon deity by the name of "Pete" in order to serve as his "pet". At first, the audience is led to find this a fitting karmic transformation considering Joel's established personality. However, it is later revealed that Pete didn't do this to force him to become a better person — he wanted to use Joel/King for his own ends in a grand celestial game. Once Joel/King falls in love with another dog and realizes how much he prefers his new life, he decides to remain a dog once he's finally free of Pete.
- Thomas Milton, the nefarious and conniving nephew of the late Mr. Milton, breaks into Pete's temple to steal treasure. However, it turns out that Pete placed a protective spell on it, in order to fulfill a deal Mr. Milton made with the griffon, one designed to ensure no that no human hand ever touches the treasure (this meaning that all humans who touch the treasure will be turned into an animal)... Thomas learns this the hard way when he looks into the mirror after touching the treasure and sees himself now as a camel. Thomas now has to figure out how to reverse its effects... but all the scrolls he could have used are buried under the temple once it comes down, forcing his camel Sofia to drag him out by his new tail to save him. Whether he'll also find true love and life as a camel to be better than his human life remained to be seen, as his camel companion Sofia has a bit of a thing for him now, but the epilogue of the Heckraiser arc has him claim that regaining citizenship status would just land him in jail while also failing to hide that he and Sofia are indeed in a relationship now.
- Herman Steward, the steward of Mr. Milton's estate who was part of the conspiracy with Thomas Milton to steal loot from Mr. Milton's temple is himself transformed into a badger when the latter angrily spits a single coin from the temple at Steward (this was likely done out of spite, but unbeknownst to Thomas Milton, it turns out that the treasure is ''still'' cursed, resulting in Steward ending up being the latest human to be transformed thanks to Pete's magic(k)).
- The late Henry Milton himself is revealed to have transformed himself into a ferret in Heaven. How appropriate for a ferret lover.
- Marion Ward, a high school student, inexplicably wakes up as a squirrel one day.
  Marion: (smacks his alarm) nngh, man I need to shave my... (sees his hand is furry) ...hand. (Beat) ...aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...
- Lois, Marion's girlfriend, who Marion, now in squirrel form, initially finds it nigh impossible to convince that he has been turned into a squirrel, spontaneously turns into a bobcat herself when the pair go to the zoo to meet Thomas in order to investigate the possible cause of Marion's transformation.
  Lois: Marion... my head feels kinda... fuzzy...
- Taken up to eleven in the final arcs. As the comic went on from 2020, it's revealed that more and more humans have fallen victim to Steward's baleful polymorph serial attacks against random people via the cursed temple coin. Seen here is one such victim of Steward's serial transformings. Then in the "Heckraiser" arc, Steward later makes a literal deal with the devil and transforms into a demonic badger unleashing a furry transformation apocalypse upon the entire city. Finally, in its epilogue, a "completely scientific method" of transforming is made available to the public, meaning the "forced" part is no longer an issue, though many choose to remain as animals.
Foreshadowing:
- Back when we first found out about the Cosmic Game, you can see the name of Pete's avatar has been scribbled out and replaced with King's. All you can see are the letters "GRA," but we later find out that Grape had been Pete's first choice for his avatar. Incidentally, this was set up way back in the first six months of the comic's run.
- "Introduce me to your sweetheart sometime." Said by Keene to Zach, regarding Jessica, a few strips before they became a couple.
- At the beginning of "Temple Crashers", Res says the expectations for what he was planning to be the last book for Pridelands were crushing him. At the climax of the arc, he is literally crushed under the collapsing temple.
- Eudoant explains that demons are "the shed vices surrendered by mortals" as they enter Heaven, shortly before The Reveal that the previously unnamed demon is specifically the shed vices of Breel.
  - In his very first appearance, Demon tells Keene who he really is; Breel. He was lying, of course, and Keene doesn't believe him for a second, but he had no way of knowing just how correct he was.
- Quite a few comics hinted at the twist that Karishad was a celestial brother of Kitsune, hidden under his Cloudcuckoolander tendencies.
  - Earlier in Heckraiser, upon returning to Earth, Karishad denies the ability to use Keene's jet by offhandedly explaining 'he left the keys in his other tail'. When we see his Kitsune form, he does indeed have two tails.
  - Doubles as Five-Second Foreshadowing: Only a few strips before the reveal, upon Cerberus' arrival, Tarot points out the oddity of Karishad riding along with her, which he deflects by saying 'you left me unsupervised'.
  - At the end of Heaven's Not Enough, upon leaving the diner to head back to America, Karishad and Kitsune briefly exchange a familiar wave.
  - In Temple Crashers 2, the appearance of multiple Celestial individuals in Keene's competition is explained by Tarot as Heaven sending denizens when a mortal (in this case Keene) poses the risk of growing too close to an artifact of power. In the first Temple Crashers, Karishad was hired by Keene for his uncanny knowledge of Pete's temple and his ability to find his way around inside.
  - In Housepets 5000 BC, when Tarot and Sabrina are in need of easy on-hand mana, Kari just happens to be walking behind them with some, and gives it up easily.
  - And of course, this comic makes it fairly obvious, even if nobody took it seriously. Though being it was a guest comic, it may have stumbled onto it accidentally...even if one of the people that made it was Karishad's namesake.
Forgotten Friend, New Foe: Inverted. When Joel and Fido first meet, the former is arresting the latter, and rather pissed at their attempt to kidnap a fellow dog. The next time they meet, Joel has become King, and his fear of being found out by his new friend drives many of his actions until the Internal Reveal.
Formally-Named Pet:
- At least ten cats are called Mr Bigglesworth, due to their owner being a Crazy Cat Lady. They all look the same, though most are not related and some are female. They occasionally mess with other pets who don't know there's more than one.
- Grape's shelter name was Princess Periwinkle, a name she greatly detests.
A Form You Are Comfortable With:
- When King meets Bahamut in Heaven, the latter takes the form of a Space Whale doubling as a Zelda Shout-Out — unlike his prior appearance, where he was a judge.
- Inverted when Lois suggests Kitsune doesn’t look mystical enough.
Four-Fingered Hands:
- The entire bipedal non-human cast has four fingers on each hand.
- Lampshaded when King uses "hold up five fingers" as a test to confirm Marion the squirrel used to be a human.
- Inverted in this guest comic when a dog is shown who has five fingers on each hand.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: Joey and his nerd friends:
- Joey is Melancholic as he's the artistic perfectionist of the group.
- Lester is Choleric as he's usually the most irritable and aggressive of the bunch.
- Dallas is Sanguine as he seems more cheerful and playful than the others.
- Squeak is Phlegmatic as she's the most laid-back of the nerds.
Free-Range Pets: The housepets, who even as adults usually have a childlike demeanor, are allowed to roam Babylon Gardens for the most part unattended. When they go somewhere such as the mall or the zoo they sometimes are required to wear leashes. However, they're allowed to wander about freely if they hold on to their own leash.
Freudian Couch: Sabrina owns one, and allows Teoxihuitl to rest on it for therapy when he comes to her.
Freudian Excuse: Joel's backstory is that he was kidnapped by his own pets as a child, but this fact is rarely brought up again after his initial Motive Rant.
From Bad to Worse: King's consequences if he turns back into a human get progressively worse in the strip. If he reverts to human form initially, he will have had to suffer the punishment of being an escaped convict. Later, he discovers he will literally go to hell if he becomes human again — and the only way that won't happen is if he remains a dog, as they are judged less harshly by heaven than humans.
Frustrated Overhead Scribble: Used in its usual sense often, such as upon coming home from being chased by dogs.
Full-Body Disguise: Fox and Karishad dye their fur to appear as each other, in a halloween strip.
Fox (as Karishad): This was his idea.
Karishad (as Fox): Oh no you don't, this was MY idea!
Full Moon Silhouette: One illuminates pete's dramatic escape, as he flies in front of it in clear view of the search party for Zach.
Funny Background Event: Some readers would like a reverse comic telling what exactly is happening here. Here, Karishad says something to Tarot that enrages her and embarrasses Peanut.
Fun with Homophones: Kevin confuses tackle (as in, fishing equipment) with tackle (as in, the move), and winds up rather bored at the fishing store he offered to come to.
Furry Reminder: Every once in a while, the non-human characters are treated as non-sentient beings. According to the author: "I do this partly because people want to see them act like animals for some reason." Taken to an extreme in a Saturday bonus pic that shows kangaroos Bruce and Roosevelt being shipped home from Australia in pet carriers after the ferrets inadvertently canceled their plane tickets home.

Game Show Appearance: Great Kitsune is seen as a typical Game Show Host stereotype here. Pete and Spirit Dragon appear as contestants — and game losers.
Garage Band: In this strip, Peanut has formed an impromptu rock group featuring himself and the neighborhood dogs. Grape barges into the garage to confront him, not amused that they're keeping her awake.
Gender Bender: When Marion and Lois fall under the influence of the curse and became animals, it also changes their gender:
- Marion is turned into a female squirrel, and doesn't realize until Lois points it out.
  Lois: If this is seriously your senior prank, you're gonna have to explain why you're a female squirrel.
- Lois ends up turned into a male bobcat. Though Lois takes it more in stride because, compared with everything else, a sex change is pretty minor.
  Lois: Listen, for all the adjustments I may have to make to my life, this is the most lateral. Consider: I no longer have to plan around "that time of the month".
  Marion: Oh, thanks for reminding me I have that to look forward to.
Gender-Blender Name:
- The bear that Bino is supposed to challenge as part of becoming an honorary wolf is named Bruno, but has certain feminine characteristics that show the bear isn't male. This has led some fans to claim her name is short for "Brunhilde".
- All of the Mr. Bigglesworth cats all share the same name, 'Mr.' included. In-universe, this has led to some confusion, even among them, since they're all identical.
Gender Flip:
- The 2018 Halloween comic arc had Grape and Peanut trick-or-treating as the main protagonists from Zootopia, but with Grape dressed as Nick Wilde and Peanut as Judy Hopps.
- In the Jurassic Park Imaginate, Olive plays Dr. Grant, Rook plays Dr. Sattler, and Grape plays John Hammond. Grape later lampshades the casting decisions in this strip.
  Grape: ...You know I didn't realize the implications of gender-swapping three quarters of the cast until this moment.
Genre Roulette: The comic switches genres often depending on which characters are the subject. Tarot, King or the Celestials will be a Supernatural Soap Opera, the K9PD will be a Police Procedural or Paranormal Investigation, Tarot and Peanut or King and Bailey will be a Romantic Comedy, the forest will contain Woodland Creatures stories, Imaginates will be adaptations of classic fiction, and Spot (Superdog) will be Stylistic Suck comic book parodies.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: In this installment of Peanut's comic "The Adventures of Spot (Superdog)," Stripe slaps Spot across the face and yells at him trying to snap him out of his irrational brooding funk. In fact, she uses almost the exact same words as the trope title while doing so.
Ghostly Goals: For Teoxihuitl, its protecting his king's gold, even centuries into the future.
Ghostly Animals: Teoxihuitl is explicitly a ghost, presumably not allowed into Heaven, as opposed to Rufus and Breel who are angels visiting Earth (And in the latter's case, reincarnating as a mortal). They come with the telltale signs to distinguish, Teoxihuitl with Monochromatic Eyes and translucent blue skin, and Rufus and Breel with a golden aura and halos.
Giant Medical Syringe: Grape faints when she sees the vet get out a giant syringe. Turns out it's actually an industrial foam syringe, used to make pets faint in shock as a makeshift anesthetic, and the actual injection is done using a regular-size syringe.
Giant Robot Hands Save Lives: Kitsune saves Lois from a massive fall in this way, casually catching her with one of his giant hands with no ill effects to her.
Gibberish of Love: In this strip, Peanut is reduced to babbling incoherently when three barn cats flirtingly ask if he wants to join in their pillow fight. They interpret his being tongue-tied as lack of interest.
Barn Cat 1: Oh, it's that cute visiting dog.
Barn Cat 2: We were just about to have a pillow fight in slow motion, did you want to join us?
Peanut: Aba ugah burble uh buh duh fuh.
Unidentified Barn Cat: That sounded like a no so let's go somewhere else and never bring it up again.
Gift-Giving Gaffe: Multiple in 12 Days of Housepets.
- Peanut gifts Tarot 'Five old things', which are all completely useless.
- Max realizes he forgot to get Grape anything, and tries to make up for it with various cutesy gifts like free kisses.
- Zach gives Jess a Nintendo Switch, which is initially this as she's a feral animal and has no idea what to do with it. Subverted when she starts to pick up on it and becomes hopelessly addicted.
- Joey gives Squeak a 'Deep tissue massage' by stomping her into the snow, which results in her needing to be warmed up in a cup of hot liquid.
Gift of the Magi Plot: Cruelly parodied. Bino shaves his fur to buy Duchess a cover for her iPhone. Duchess gets him a ten dollar gift voucher, then complains that the cover doesn't fit her phone.
Gilligan Cut: "Four Finger Discount" Jack is operating a ferris wheel at one point, and when he's questioned about his ability to do so, he points out that even if he has only one arm, the controls are simple and "What could possibly come from that?" Next panel, we cut to a news anchor cheerfully reporting civilians running from a runaway ferris-wheel, which seems to be going 60 MPH in the video.
The Glomp: Happens on a few occasions, and normally Lampshaded with a descriptive Unsound Effect saying "GLOMP!" or "TACKLE!"
- In this strip, Sasha gives Fox a tackle hug from behind.
- Here, Karishad gives Tarot a flying tackle hug. Which to her irritation is more than she got from her boyfriend Peanut here.
  Tarot: And where's my enthusiastic welcome home?
  Peanut: My tail's wagging! See?
- Fido gives Sabrina a flying tackle welcome home in this strip.
Gods Need Prayer Badly: Although not in the traditional sense. They can survive fine without it, but the rules of the Cosmic Nerds' Game measures faith as a form of currency which determines the winner.
Gosh Dang It to Heck!:
- Typically, the word "carp" is used in place of "crap", "Dog" in place of "God", and "howl" in place of "hell". In the first instance, "carp" replaced "crap" after the initial strip posting.
- There are a couple bowdlerized Precision F-Strikes:
  - "Who the dook is 'The Opener of Ways'?"
  - "...so I'm calling your bluff, MOTHER PHEASANT."
- The phrase "TUNA FISH ON A CRACKER!" gets used as an epithet here.
- Cerberus refers to Hell as "the bad place".
- There's a story arc titled "HECKRAISER".
Gross Up Closeup: A bone chewtoy of Peanut's is given a close-up shot of the gnarled, chewed-up end.
The Ground Is Lava: Apparently a game Max played in the pound, crossed with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom by Peanut and Grape.
Growling Gut: Truck manages to play music on his growling stomach in one strip.
Grub Tub: The Milton ferrets are known for filling their Olympic-sized pool with gelatin and the jacuzzi with chocolate fondue.
The Guards Must Be Crazy: The TSA agents in Heckraiser let in Eudoant, a giant demon in a Paper-Thin Disguise, on a plane without screening him beforehand.
Guest Strip: Housepets routinely does guest strips, which have their own section in the archive menu.

Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal:
- When on duty, the police dogs wear a vest onto which their badges are pinned, but nothing else.
- Fox sometimes wears a leather bomber jacket, such as when he first meets King — and only this on such occasions.
- When he's not more formally dressed, Itsuki only wears pants.
- Played with and lampshaded in this strip when Miles tries on several outfits to help him blend better into human society.
  Miles: Is there any reason none of these configurations contain pants?
- Averted when Marion puts his school clothing ensemble together.
  Marion: I am used to wearing pants, thanks.
- Grape may need Linus's security blanket after the trauma she suffers being forced to don a striped sweater in this strip. Normally, she doesn't wear clothes and neither does Peanut, who by contrast seems to enjoy sporting his zigzag patterned Charlie Brown top.
Halloween Episode: The arcs "Scardey Cats", "All Hallow's Ween", "All Hallow's Ween: Resurrection", and "Directed To Video" are all set during Halloween.
Hands Looking Wrong: In his first appearance during "My Life As A Teenage Squirrel", Marion wakes up in bed and notes he needs to shave. Looking at his hands clues him into the fact that they've both become covered in fur, leading to the rest of his realization shortly after.
Happily Married: More than a few of the regular cast.
- Miles and Lucretia, although not technically married (as they're wolves), are official mates and are known to behave like a happy husband/wife. At one point Miles acts enthusiastic at the prospect of making it official in the eyes of human law.
- Mr. Earl Sandwich and Mrs. Sandwich are the only known human family in the series so far to be officially married, and by all available evidence it's a happy marriage.
- Another pair of wolves, Rodney (Miles' cousin) and Snow, are mates as well, without any signs of it being an unpleasant pairing.
- King and Bailey. They do have to fight for their life together, but other than the problems outside their marriage (namely Pete), they are happy together. King just has a few things to learn about being a father to puppies, that's all.
Hard Mode Perks: Attempted, and brutally subverted. Pete plunks his temple in the middle of the desert at the start of the game, meaning less people will encounter it but more mana will be collected. Unfortunately, Dragon responds by cursing the temple, and for the next two thousand years only one person ever enters it until it's finally moved into the Babylon Gardens woods.
Harmless Freezing: Fido spends the majority of the Hot Springs arcs frozen in a block of ice to cement the Closed Circle setting and show what happens if the rest try to leave during a blizzard. He seems to have thawed out by The Maxwell Thing, and doesn't bring it up afterwards.
Haunted House: 'The Abandoned Manor', which Max dares Marvin to sleep in over Halloween. Upon a checkup from Tarot and Sabrina, it turns out the house actually has no spiritual activity whatsoever- so they decide to add their own.
Head Pet: Squeak and Spo both ride around on the heads of their dog companions (boyfriend and Heterosexual Life-Partner, respectively) to get around and follow the action in arcs more easily.
Heaven Versus Hell: The rivalry between the two becomes crucial in Heckraiser, when Earth becomes a battleground for a cold war between them. Eudoant notes that because Earth is protected by Heaven's forces, gaining control over it could provide Pandemonium a major milestone towards victory.
Heist Episode: Ocean's Two, one of the only human-centric arcs in the entire comic, details the Villain Team-Up of Celia and Thomas Milton as they attempt to steal a treasure map from the ferrets.
Hell: Exists, under the name 'Pandemonium' to skirt by the G rating. We see very little of it, but know that it's populated by the bad parts of people's souls stripped away before the rest is sent to Heaven. Keene briefy visits, and is enslaved by Eudoant.
"Help! Help! Trapped in Title Factory!" When Simon goes on a talk show, the Crawl reads "trapped in editing room send help".
Herbivores Are Friendly: Parodied in the Jurassic Park Imaginate's take on the Brachiosaurus scene, in which herbivores are universally regarded as safe to be around.
Olive/Grant: Remember kids, herbivores are not dangerous under any circumstances! Ask your local zoo to place Hippopotamases in the petting area!
Heroic BSoD:
- Peanut is prone to shutting down from shock. So far it has happened when three cute barn cats ask him to have a slow-motion pillow fight with them, when Grape herself is invited for it, and once more when Grape tells him she knows about his crush on her.
- When King finds out Bailey is pregnant, he suffers a full mental shutdown. It also happens to him here when he realizes Duchess is up for a particularly kinky type of "snuggle" with him.
Heroic Sacrifice: Parodied by Max in the arc "The Great Water Balloon War", specifically in this strip, where he throws himself onto a water balloon to shield others.
Hidden Depths:
- In this strip, Sasha apparently is able to play the piano and compose music in her head — even though she's never attempted either! Apparently the only reason she hasn't done this before is lack of opportunity.
  Bino: I didn't know you played piano!
  Sasha: Well, I never had a piano until now.
- Daisy, who has always been portrayed as a Ditz who only introduces herself and says nothing else is surprisingly revealed to be erudite and observant.
  Fox: Next... name please.
  Daisy: Hi, I'm Daisy!
  Fox: Last name?
  Daisy: Hi, I'm—
  Fox: Look, whatever—when was the last time you saw or had contact with Sasha Hartford? This is serious.
  Daisy: drops her smile I spoke with her a few weeks ago, she was ruminating on the expectation of obeisance from all dogs, especially by her owner, and was having trouble reconciling the systemic reinforcement of her projected behavior.
  Fox and Mongo: *Stunned Silence*
  Daisy: What? Sometimes it's easier to put on a happy face, you know?
Hilarity in Zoos: Most storylines involving the zoo end up comically, featuring everything from otters getting frozen in their lake to various shenanigans involving Bruce and Roosevelt. Karishad leaving to be employed by Keene did not relieve the hilarity.
Hold Your Hippogriffs: Alongside specific Oh, My Gods!, 'Oh My Dog' seems to be a specific turn of phrase that doesn't refer to any deity in particular.
Hollywood Darkness: Lampshaded in the Pridelands Imaginate. Since the world of Pridelands is an illusion created by Tarot, she manages the darkness to let them clearly see the fight they're having.
Grape: It's awfully easy fighting in the dark, what with all the light.
Homage Derailment: The early arc Thematic Arc of Questionable Quality featured a trilogy of homages to Calvin and Hobbes, most of which ran smoothly. The exception is 'Philosophical Quandries Must Wait', which prevented the classic 'riding a wagon down a hill' gag by reason of Babylon Gardens not having any hills steep enough to ride down.
Homemade Sweater from Hell: In this strip, Peanut and Grape’s owners make them wear Peanuts themed sweaters echoing Charlie Brown and Linus respectively. Peanut seems to enjoy doing so, Grape not so much.
Hospital Hottie: Peanut is bizarrely implied to be attracted to one he meets at the vet, who wears a low cut shirt that shows off a lot of cleavage.
Hot Springs Episode: "The Hot Springs Episode", natch. Though it actually happens in a portable spa.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl:
- In their relationship, Peanut is one to Tarot; he's not particularly large, she's just much smaller than everyone else.
- Joey (a male dog) and Squeak (a female mouse) are an extreme example. Fido and Sabrina are closer in size, though Sabrina's ex Jata is a leopard and much larger than her. Peanut and Tarot also count, the latter being far shorter than her boyfriend.
- Describes Lois and Marion following their respective transformations from human form; Lois is now a male bobcat and significantly larger than Marion, who has become a female squirrel and can now perch on her arm like a parrot. Subverted in that they still identify as their old genders.
Humanity Is Special: They're the species with inexplicable control over pets, for one. In a cosmic sense, they're the species that remains exactly the same in both the prime universe and the Gallifrax Dimension, and they might have their own specialized Heaven whereas all other animals share one (Ambiguous due to retcons). Tarot admits she's not sure what makes them special, but that the universe seems to like them.
Humans Are the Real Monsters: While the majority of humans shown are actually quite nice, when there is the need for a villain (who isn't Pete) it's normally a human being. This also bleeds into the comic's depiction of heaven, where its spelt out that humans have to work extra hard to be permitted into the pearly gates, whereas the sentient animals generally get a free pass.

I Ate WHAT?!: Whatever Max fed Grape in this strip, (it doesn't appear to have been typical sandwich filler) gives her a surprised reaction.
I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!:
- To pets, orange soda acts like alcohol. The Alt Text to one strip warns a Forced Transformation human not to drink orange soda because "it does different things to animals for no discernable reason".
- To cats, catnip acts like cannabis, to the point where the author chose to abort an arc — an example being when one character proclaimed another "blew through his stash like kibbles!"
- In Peanut's Spot (Superdog) strip here, a villain tries to tempt innocent orphans with fattening snack foods such as Lard Bons, Cheez-in-a-Bucket, and Mayo Snaps. He's shown dressed in black and standing in front of an alley, looking like a stereotypical drug dealer.
Iconic Sequel Character: King, Tarot, and Keene are notable examples of characters who don't appear until over a year into the comic. ^note
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming:
- Both in and out of universe. Every Hot Springs arc features the term in the title, and nearly every Pridelands book title ends in 'Of The Pridelands'.
- Each published book plays on the title, ending with a statement that finishes the sentence; ie 'Housepets! Are Naked All The Time.'
Ignore the Disability: Peanut puts his foot firmly in his mouth when accidentally using a bunch of cliche phrases about hands and arms when talking with "Four Finger Discount" Jack, who is missing an arm. Jack looks angrily at Peanut over it but then lets up in the last panel, saying he was just messing with Peanut.
I Have No Son!: The rare occasion it's Played for Laughs, when Marion is reunited with his mother after being recovered by the K-9's. (Though it's still true...from a certain point of view).
Marion's mother: I can't... I can't believe I've lost my son!
Marion: I'm still your son, I'm just a squirrel now!
Marion's mother: I didn't give birth to a squirrel!
Marion: You also didn't give birth to a fully-grown seventeen-year-old boy, but you were okay with that two days ago.
Marion's mother: Don't talk back to your mother.
I Have This Friend:
- In this strip, Fox asks his cousin Bailey about a hypothetical dog with a romance problem, but she in turn cuts straight to the chase and tells him to just go ahead and hook up with the object of his newly discovered affections.
- Here, King asks Bailey how she would approach someone who would make her life incredibly happy. Bailey immediately figures out King is speaking about himself and grabs him by the collar for a snuggle.
Infinite Canvas: In this strip, Spot (Professor) addresses the concept of a never-ending presentation space for web comics, while the comic itself appears to orient itself as such. He explains the concept as follows:
Spot (Professor): Not only does it take advantage of UNLIMITED page space, but it's also impossible to anthologize! (Next frame shows Spot looking sad)
Informed Species: For the most part averted. The majority of the cast either looks well enough like the species or breeds they're supposed to be within the comic's style, or in the case of many of the dogs they're simply stated to be mixed breed. One exception is Mungo, who's stated to be a Great Dane but looks more like a giant German Shephard which could be intentional since it's heavily implied he's descended from Satau, a jackal.
Insistent Terminology: In the epilogue to the final arc of the series, "Heckraiser", one of the effects of the boon everyone decides on as a reward is to enable everyone in the world to freely swap between human and animal forms, with a "scientist, some kind of weird naked cat?" appearing on Repackaged News insistent that it's science and not magic(k). From that point on, it's always referred to as an emphasized "completely scientific method" whenever anyone is talking about it.
Insurance Fraud: When hearing the details of the missing Aztec artifacts, Spo's first guess as to the explanation is that the disappearance was faked for insurance money, despite how little sense it makes.
Intercontinuity Crossover: In-Universe, Peanut enjoys inserting the Super Hero protagonist of his comic, Spot (Superdog), into the Pridelands books fandom universe. One example occurs here.
Interface Spoiler: The tags give out the official names of the characters before they have been formally introduced as such. Also, if the character's explicitly named within the tags, either they're recurring characters or will star in a major role later in the comic. Nowadays, you have to scroll down to see what the tags are, so perhaps this is less of a problem than it was before.
Interrupted Intimacy:
- While looking for a quiet place for himself and Bailey at a Christmas party, King walks in on Fido and Sabrina making out in a closet.
  Fido: Get Out!
  King: Yessir!
- Sasha walks in on Marion and Lois making out. But in a reversal, she takes a broom to Lois, thinking she's trying to eat Marion.
Interspecies Romance:
- A sensitive issue; within the context of the comic, interspecies relationships are considered taboo. Nevertheless, Fido and Sabrina (a dog and a cat, respectively) are romantically involved; Peanut thought his crush on Grape was a secret, but she knew it all along and it eventually appears to develop into a real romance between the two over the years. Joey (a dog) is involved with Squeak (a mouse).
- Peanut's character Spot dates a "dog"^notepossibly a disguised cat named Stripe. Believe it or not, that's why Bino gives Peanut trouble about being a cat-lover.
- While Peanut officially dates Tarot, he and Grape seem to share open relationships and do 'mushy stuff' with each other more than a few times, including going on dates.
- Apparently there's at least one coyote in the other Daryl's family tree.
- Zach (rabbit) and Jessica (opossum) eventually become a couple.
- In Heaven, Keene's owner, Henry Milton, who has taken the form of a ferret, is attracted to Keene's biological mother.
  Keene: Dad, don't hit on Mom, that's weird.
- Also in Heaven, Rufus (a dog) is dating a familiar sabre-toothed cat.
- Marion and Lois turned into this by default once Lois was changed into a lynx, as Marion had already been turned into a squirrel.
- Puppy Olive has a crush on cougar cub Pueblo.
- Breel (a pine marten) and Keene (a ferret) become a romantic couple.
- Kitsune begins a relationship with the mortal (but still fox-adjacent) Kix, which crosses with Divine Date.
- At the very end of the comic, Karishad (A Kitsune) and Cerberus (Take a guess) are implied to have a thing for each other, and have dates in some supplemental art.
Intellectual Animal: The premise of the comic. Nearly every animal in this universe is anthropomorphic with moderate intelligence (Although rarely so intelligent they outclass the average human), who nonetheless fills their role in the food chain and ecosystem without much complaint. Zoo animals live in comfortable captivity, pets willingly subserve themselves to owners they see as parental figures, and wild animals try to get along with each other despite the lingering threat of being eaten.
Intimidating Revenue Service: Cerberus threatens the Milton ferrets with an audit if Rock doesn't take Tarot, Sabrina and Bailey home from Australia with them.
It's a Wonderful Plot: The arc "It's a Wonderful Dog's Life", where Joel is turned into King. Joel even invokes it at the very beginning. In this arc, it proves to be a Deconstructed Trope: King's initial experiences (outside befriending Fox and Sasha) do not result in any sort of epiphany, and Pete never intended to change King back into a human. He also explains to King that real life doesn't work that way.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
- Peanut helps Grape get ready for her date with Maxwell, even though Peanut is in love with Grape.
- Bailey took King's place as Pete's avatar to keep King safe from harm. Which is strongly inferred to be Pete's intention ever since King proposed to her.

J-L

Jerkass Gods:
- Pete, definitely Pete. With all he's done to torment Joel/King in order to get a game piece. And Spirit Dragon's avatars have a few complaints too.
- King also worries that Kitsune is one, to the point that he won't let Bailey ask him to look after their three children while the couple have a night out to themselves. He won't even let Bailey say his name.
Jumping on a Grenade: During the water war, Max tries to do this with a water balloon. Unsurprisingly, he survives.
Just Friends: Peanut and Grape have the opportunity to move from a platonic to romantic relationship, but reject it. Or maybe not — likely Subverted here.
Kangaroos Represent Australia: Downplayed. Kangaroos Bruce and Roosevelt 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). In subsequent strips, they exhibit a few Australian traits every now and then.
Roosevelt: OH THANK GOODNESS every single word feels like throwing up.
Bruce: "Shrimp on the barbie?" We're HERBIVORES.
Kiss of Life: After giving mouth-to-mouth to Sabrina after she fell into a pool and nearly drowned, Fido gets water barfed into his face.
Fido: That wasn't very romantic.
Sabrina: Sorry to ruin it for you, hon. Now get me to the Vet before I die of pneumonia.
Knee-High Perspective: An early quirk of the comic, since it was told entirely from the perspective of housepets. As time went on, they graduated away from this since taller characters were being introduced, like the Wolves.
Knights and Knaves: One of the puzzles in the temple has three idols, one tells the truth, another lies, the third is random and you need to figure out which one that is. But, they only speak an obscure language and say "bo" or "lal" instead of "yes" or "no", you only get two questions and then everything scrambles, and there might be some spiked walls.
Peanut: Would you answer bo to the question "will you answer lal to this question?"
BOOM!
Lame Pun Reaction:
- When King asks Fox what good a watch representing Joel's fate is for a dog, Fox replies that King could be a watch dog. King is not amused.
- In the very first strip, Peanut declares Grape's weather wizard to be the rain-ing king. She responds by shoving her bag over his head.
Lampshade Hanging:
- The Alt Text for the comic Desert Jewel lampshades Grape lampshading them not "inoculating against ancient diseases", directly naming this trope in the process.
- This is the entire point of "Let's Imaginate Jurassic Park", as they throw lampshades on everything in the film, from the water ripple scene to Maxwell Chewing the Scenery channeling Jeff Goldblum.
Lampshade Wearing: Played with when Grape is seen returning from a party celebrating Fido's return to Babylon Gardens wearing a lampshade on her head here. The strip title is "The Lampshades Were Party Favors."
Large Ham: The characters in Peanut's "Adventures of Spot (Superdog)" comic are often portrayed as being melodramatic, over-the-top scenery chewers, as in the latter half of this strip.
"Last Supper" Steal: Breel has a meal with all the ferrets, and the first frame of the two comics looks exactly like The Last Supper. Interestingly enough, Keene is in the Judas position.
Lawyer-Friendly Cameo:
- Alan, Simone, and Teddy D, are Housepets stand-ins for Alvin and the Chipmunks.
- Prof. Killbody is an obvious stand-in for Mr. Peabody in Peanut's Spot (Superdog) comic..
Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- Rex mentions the "computer issues" that thwarted "The Arc Specifically About Being Naked," which was supposed to be the first Bino-centered arc.
- Peanut is literally leaning against the back wall as he talks about not seeing Crossover character Ponbon again in this comic.
- Peanut does so here regarding a common fan reaction to the type of plot that was being lead into.
- Joey looks out at the reader as Peanut says he is glad there's no one out there watching the Ten Little Indians Imaginate.
- During "Temple Crashers 2", Kitsune says he's usually "just off-panel" when he's casing Joey's LARP group in the temple.
Leeroy Jenkins: In a moment of panic during Temple Crashers 2, Res charges in to fight The Forgotten while Tarot is already trying to hold it off. The Forgotten is able to latch onto this fear initially, but the action pays off thanks to Res' strength preventing The Forgotten from entering Earth.
Leet Lingo: Actually used for practical reasons. To summon a spirit, Sabrina utilizes a ouija board like a cellphone in order to 'text' her messages. To save time, she uses abbreviations and leetspeak so she doesn't need to spell out each message letter for letter in a timely manner. The spirit, on the other hand, speaks normally, and is considerably annoyed by her refusal to write the same way.
Legion of Doom: One in the universe of Superdog, spoofing the one from DC comics.
''I have brought together all of the crime leaders!''
Leotard of Power: Stripe adorns one in the Spot universe when first getting her powers, but quickly rejects it.
Let's Just See What WOULD Have Happened: In this strip Great Kitsune may or may not have let the Earth explode (restoring it afterward) in order to show Spirit Dragon what would happen if she were to modify an infinite-range detection spell to cause damage. (This is actually a call back to a much earlier strip in which one of the players in Fido's owner's D&D game tried the same thing.)
Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Grape's reaction when she and Peanut see Sabrina and Fido kissing is to pretend they never noticed it here.
Like Brother and Sister: Played with. Grape and Peanut usually interact like siblings, but the latter has also admitted to being sexually attracted to the cat. Their stance on the matter has elements of being a Ship Tease.
Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: In the Housepets universe, nearly every mammal is anthropomorphic and moves like a human. Other species zig-zag this, but they all live in relative peace with humans.
List of Transgressions: In this strip, Spirit Dragon asks both her mortal realm representatives what she has done to harm them. The first one replies in a way suggesting that there's a Long List of harm done, and the second has a list of harmful acts that's apparently so long that it's been compiled into a rather thick notebook labeled "Grievances".
Literal Cliff Hanger: Zach in this strip is left dangling from a branch over a chasm.
Literal Split Personality: Breel and NegaBreel. It appears that this is true for all the characters in Heaven, we just haven't seen their demonic counterparts.
Literal Transformative Experience: The Celestial Pete transforms PETA member Joel into a Corgi named King. While this trope is played with at first, with Pete invoking it for his own ends, King does undergo a lot of Character Development over the course of the comic.
Little Miss Badass: Grape as a kitten shows a fully grown alligator who's who and what's what, with just a broom.
Living Statue: Pete's temple contains multiple gargoyles that pretend to be statues to catch prey. When it collapses, a few of them escape into the surrounding woods. The last we see of them, they're living underground near Jessica's house. Karishad seems to be under the impression that they've stopped moving entirely and have returned to inanimate stone, although it seems more likely they're just scared of him.
Locked in a Room: Zach and Jessica get trapped in a relocation cage during "Rabbit's Foot," first shown here.
Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard: In the story arc "Show Business", King finds himself trapped in a tool shed when being chased by Duchess. This strip even mentions MacGyver by name. The ultimate solution to his dilemma is, however, more directly violent than most of MacGyver's solutions.
Loophole Abuse: Laws require that housepets be on a leash when out in public places, but it doesn't specify anything about who's holding the other end of the leash. The pets exploit this by going out holding their own leashes.
Love at First Sight: King for Bailey, to the point that it drives him to question whether he would want to remain a dog or become human again. Seemingly reciprocated, since the first thing she does when he indirectly confesses his feelings to her, is drag him off for "snuggling".
Lovecraft Lite: Eldritch abominations exist, and in the grand scale of things, Earth is a tiny fish in a gargantuan pond. Fortunately, the stakes are never too terribly high, and most of the truly wicked beings can be beaten back by skilled magic(k) users like Tarot.
Love Hurts:
- Particularly in play for Peanut in the "n-Ple Date" story arc, who helps Grape get ready for a date with Maxwell despite him having a crush on her himself.
- Also in play in "Love & War," with Fox falling for Sasha. Unfortunately for him, a delay in telling her how he feels leads to Sasha going out with Kevin first.
Love Is in the Air: King is especially smitten with Bailey after she jumps into a pond to save his MacGuffin stopwatch.
King: Why does she smell even better now? ^note Hint - wet dog
Fox: I think that's in your head, lover boy.
Love Transcends Spacetime: Because all of time exists at once in Heaven, a number of partners can pair up despite having lived and died centuries apart.
- When he dies, Rufus ends up dating Sabercat, the female sabre-toothed cat that received the Blinding Camera Flash from Peanut in "Housepets 5000 BC". The title of the strip, "Love Across Space And Time", even lampshades it.
- Fox's girlfriends, Spring and Summer (As well as an unseen, potentially male third partner), don't get together until after he dies. Despite this, they're always sure to visit his younger self whenever they can, either when they're on Earth or when he's in Heaven.
Love Triangle: Or rather, Love Quadrangle involving Peanut, Grape, Tarot, and Maxwell. And nowhere it is more explicit than in the arc "Hearts and Minds". While it's clear that Grape and Maxwell love each other, and Peanut and Tarot have a thing, the elephant in the room is the feelings Grape and Peanut share for each other and the obvious chemistry between them. In the first of those links, at one point, Max is blushing furiously and holding a pillow over his lap at an off-frame scene of "mushiness" between Peanut and Grape while Tarot acts jealous.
Tarot: See, you have chemistry! Why can't I have that!
Lower Half Reveal: In "the Gallifrax Protocol", Grape, Peanut, Tarot and Max, all four bipedal, anthropomorphic animals, travel to a different universe. After they enter it, all seems normal, aside from the characters being placed oddly low on the panels. Grape notices she's suddenly the same height as the diminutive Tarot and looks down...
Lucky Charms Title: Housepets! Exclamation point mandatory!
Luminescent Blush: Apparently, in the Housepets! universe facial fur can change colors, given that blushes show on the faces of several characters when they're embarrassed.
- Peanut gets a full-face blush when Grape reveals more evidence of his crush on her.
- Zach gets a rather intense blush when Jessica first kisses him.
- Oh lord, do we get a good one when Grape lets slip her admiration for a canine.^note
- And then there's Fox when Kevin walks in on him and Sasha smooching in Keene's portable onsen.^noteOw my tongue!
Lying on a Hillside: Sabrina and Tarot are shown resting on the side of a hill while looking up at the sky and discussing their future plans in this comic.

Housepets / Tropes A to L

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