They could be crafted or bought, but what if you could buy pets which could be placed like items in your home? These pets could not be equipped.
a flittering bat a hopping toad a butterfly a cow a beetle
Possibly items could have pets attached to them like:
a frog on a lilly pad with a fly catching, flicking tongue a bird that flys around and lands on its bird house a fish that squirts water out of it's pool a blinking owl which sits on the branch of a tree
What else could there be? Add single pets and item/pet combos.