How to tame every pet in Minecraft: wolves, cats, parrots, horses, foxes and more

Some Minecraft mobs can be tamed: they become yours, follow you and sit on command. Others can only be befriended or ridden. This is the full list, with the exact item each one needs.

Quick table

How to tell it worked: red hearts appear above the mob. A tamed wolf, cat or parrot gets a collar or sits when you right-click it.

Image: SyntaxMine, made from Minecraft's own textures.

Wolves

Hold bones and right-click a wolf. Each bone has a chance to work, so keep feeding until hearts appear. A tamed wolf follows you, attacks what you attack, and defends you.

• Sit and stand: right-click with an empty hand.
• Heal: feed it meat.
• Protect it: craft wolf armor from 6 armadillo scutes. The armadillo scute farm makes this easy.
• Collar color: right-click with any dye.

Never hit a wolf that is part of a pack: the whole pack turns hostile.

Cats

Hold raw cod or raw salmon and move slowly toward a stray cat (village cats and swamp hut black cats). Cats are skittish, so stand still and let it come close. Feed until hearts appear.

A tamed cat scares off creepers and phantoms, and sometimes brings you a gift when you wake up.

Parrots

Right-click with seeds: wheat, melon, pumpkin, beetroot, torchflower or pitcher pod seeds. Tamed parrots sit on your shoulder and imitate nearby mob sounds, which works as an early warning.

Horses, donkeys, mules and llamas

These are tamed by riding:

1. Right-click with an empty hand to mount.
2. It will buck you off. Mount again.
3. Repeat until hearts appear.

Feeding sugar, wheat, apples, golden carrots or golden apples first makes it more willing, so it takes fewer tries. Then put on a saddle (horses), or attach a chest (donkeys, mules, llamas) to carry items. Llamas cannot be steered, but a lead on one makes the whole caravan follow.

Mules come from breeding a horse with a donkey.

Foxes

Adult foxes cannot be tamed, but their babies trust you. Lead two foxes together with sweet berries or glow berries and breed them. The baby fox trusts you, will not run away, and attacks your enemies.

Mobs you befriend but do not tame

• Axolotl: catch one in a bucket of water. It fights drowned and guardians with you underwater.
• Allay: give it an item and it collects copies of that item for you. Find allays in pillager outposts and woodland mansions.
• Ocelot: feed raw cod or salmon to make it trust you. It stops running away but does not follow or sit.
• Happy ghast: grown from a dried ghast, then harnessed and ridden. See the happy ghast guide.
• Camel: no taming at all. Put a saddle on directly and ride it, with room for two.
• Pig and strider: saddle, then steer with a carrot on a stick or warped fungus on a stick.

Keeping pets alive

• Make them sit before fights, caving and lava, and before using portals.
• Leads keep animals with you when walking long distances.
• Pets teleport to you when you get far enough away, but only if they are not sitting and the destination is safe.
• Tamed pets never despawn, so you never lose one to an unloaded chunk; they wait where you left them.

Frequently asked questions

What do you use to tame a wolf in Minecraft?

Bones. Keep feeding bones until red hearts appear.

How do you tame a cat?

Hold raw cod or raw salmon, approach slowly, and feed it until hearts appear.

Can you tame a fox in Minecraft?

Not an adult one. Breed two foxes with sweet berries and the baby will trust you.

Can you tame an axolotl?

No. You can carry one in a bucket and it will fight alongside you underwater, but it is not tamed.

Why won't my horse let me ride it?

It is not tamed yet. Keep mounting it until hearts appear; feeding it first helps.