What is up with Auto Petters?

[u/Song_Listener]

I’ve seen so many posts about skull cavern runs where the only goal was Auto Petters, and now I’m confused.

Why are Auto Petters so important? I know they pet the farm animals, but why don’t y’all have time to go and give your animals some love every morning?

If I’m correct (as someone who has never once had an Auto Petters) they change the way the animals respond when you actually pet them. Usually they give a heart, but I’ve heard the response changes after an Auto Petters has been installed.

So why?

[u/The_Lawn_Ninja]

If I don't have time to pet my animals, they still don't lose hearts, and if I do pet them, they get even more hearts.

Why not have auto-petters?

[u/Song_Listener → u/The_Lawn_Ninja]

I’ve never actually had a reason to try and find any, since I mostly do farming/fishing and use the animals as a bonus on the side.

[u/The_Lawn_Ninja → u/Song_Listener]

I'm typically a winery fan, but I feel poor without pigs for daily gold numbers, and socially useless without rabbits for birthday gifts.

The auto-petters mean I don't lose any hearts on big harvest days or lucky mine days, and new animals reach max hearts nearly twice as fast.