Oh. Well I'm disappointed! This makes me lose faith in the corpse of Maxis even more! I'm starting to regret paying full price for every expansion thus far and hoping that this game would, at some point, feel like a complete game.
I'd like if they weren't playable, like in the Sims 2. I think that having to control your pets along with your Sims is a chore and takes away part of the challenge of owning a pet.
My family had to move to a bigger apartment due to a new addition, and their neighbor likes to walk into their apartment to cook food and dance to classical music.
Do you own the base game on disc? If you contact EA support and give them your code, they'll add the Sims 2 Ultimate Collection to your Origin for free.