Housepets!


 * Housepets redirects here. This is also the term for a domestic animal or pet.

Housepets! is an anthromorphic webcomic by American cartoonist Rick Griffin. The comic follows the slice-of-life antics of the pets and animals in Babylon Gardens. The comic is loosely based upon a series of sketches created in Griffin's childhood about a dog named Bino, who appears as a supporting character. Griffin came up with the idea of expanding his sketches into a full webcomic in 2006, drew up a few rough strips in 2007, and unveiled the comic in black and white on June 2, 2008. Starting in December 2008 the comic has been released in color. Housepets! won the Ursa Major Award for Best Anthromorphic Comic Strip from 2009 to 2017.

Synopsis
The action of the comic revolves around the lives of the various pets living in Babylon Gardens. Many of the early strips focus specifically upon Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly, pets of the Sandwich family. Most strips adopt a "slice of life" approach, depicting pets dealing with common problems such as coping with boredom, visiting the vet, and interacting with other pets in the neighborhood. As the comic progresses more characters are introduced and a more continuous story forms. The overarching story is more fantastical in nature than the singular arcs. It revolves around two celestial beings, an anthropomorphic griffin named Pete and a dragon named Spirit Dragon, and the competition between the two called “the cosmic game” (loosely based on tabletop RPGs and real-time strategy games).

Setting
The primary setting of Housepets! is Babylon Gardens, a suburban neighborhood somewhere within the United States (The exact location it is not specified, although Griffin states that the Sandwich house was based upon a former residence of his in North Carolina). In the Housepets! universe, most animals are sentient. Mammals with paws are fully anthropomorphized, able to speak and walk upright; mammals with hooves (and all other animals) are non-morphic, but retain the capacity for speech. Pets live twice their normal lifespan. Animals also enjoy certain rights (for example, a police dog can arrest humans, complete with a fictional legal precedent cited), but wild animals not kept as pets have no legal status. Most pets are regarded much like surrogate children, referring to their owners as "Mom" and "Dad" as well as adopting their surnames, and may be kept by humans who opt not to have children of their own.

Translation
Translation projects are highly active for Portugese, French, Italian, German, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Other translation projects, including Japanese, Spanish, Hebrew, Swedish, Dutch, Danish and Arabic, are in the works. In addition, some novelty translations, including lolspeak, Olde English, Musical, Advertising, and "Real" (all animal lines replaced with animal sound onomatopoeias) have been undertaken. There is also an unofficial-but-sanctioned project, the Refur Project, to color the original black-and-white comics that were drawn prior to Christmas 2008.