How to heal pets in Minecraft

When it comes to your adorable Minecraft pets, you want to keep them around as long as possible. More pets have slowly been added to the game over time. However, you may not always want to feed each animal type the same thing. Thankfully, it’s not difficult to get the proper meats or other food types that you need to keep those friends healthy and strong.

We’ll go over all currently available pets in Minecraft, and what you need to give to keep them going strong. The last thing any player wants to do is lose their animal (or ghost) friends due to carelessness.

We’re focusing on what food items you can give these pets. Unless there are no other options, you can always use splash potions on your pets.

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How to heal all pets in Minecraft

1) Cats

An adorable cat (Image via Mojang Studios)

Cats are exceptional pets in both real life and Minecraft. In Mojang Studios’ voxel-based game, they can scare off Creepers, making them an ideal friend to have along on any adventure.

However, you still need to keep them healthy. Feed your pet cat in Minecraft, and give it some Raw Cod or Raw Salmon to keep it happy and healthy. This is the same food you used to tame them, so keep extra in hand.

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2) Wolves/Dogs

From wolf to dog (Image via Mojang Studios)

When you tame a wolf in the wilds of Minecraft, they are turned into loyal pet dogs. They are faithful companions that attack your enemies, so you without a doubt want to keep these friends safe.

To properly heal your pet dogs in Minecraft, offer them any non-fish meat. As long as it’s meat and isn’t fish, you’re good to go with the dogs of this block-based building game.

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3) Donkeys

Donkeys are useful pets for sure (Image via Mojang Studios)

Donkeys are both a mount and a way to carry your belongings as you explore Minecraft. After you’ve tamed one with a little wheat, you can attach a chest to it to increase your inventory space. That makes them valuable on their own.

However, if you want to heal a donkey, there are more options than just wheat. Along with that, sugar, apples, golden apples, golden carrots, and hay bales are all options to heal your pet donkey.

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4) Horses

Swift and reliable, horses are great (Image via Mojang Studios)

A fan-favorite for its speed, horses in Minecraft are great friends. You can't carry extra inventory on it, but simply having a fast way to get from Point A to Point B cannot be underestimated.

You always want the right food when healing your tamed animals in Minecraft. When it comes to horses, you have fewer options than donkeys. You’ll want to go with wheat or hay bales.

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5) Llamas/Trader Llamas

Whether normal or trading llamas, they're useful to have around (Image via Mojang Studios)

While not incredibly useful as a mount in Minecraft, these pets are sure adorable, anyway. Plus, you can attach a chest to them, similar to what you’d do on a donkey. A mount that you cannot control is not ideal while exploring though.

As it turns out, they are pretty picky eaters. If you want to heal Llamas in Minecraft, you need to feed them hay bales or wheat. It might be your only choice, but they aren’t hard to find.

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6) Mules

You have to breed mules to keep them as pets (Image via Mojang Studios)

Mules have to be bred, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be loyal pets and friends too. Thankfully, they eat very similar foods compared to your horses and donkeys. To heal them, feed sugar, wheat, and apples.

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7) Skeleton Horses

Undead, but still somehow cute (Image via Mojang Studios)

While it might be a little difficult to tame a skeleton horse. These pets look fabulous and are tamed the same way a normal horse is - with wheat. However, you must also first defeat the skeleton riders that show up, while sparing the horse itself.

Sadly, you cannot feed the undead horse. If you want to heal these friends, try Instant Damage. A splash potion or a lingering potion of harming will work. You can also use an Arrow of Harming to cure this undead horse.

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8) Axolotls

Axolotls can do it on their own (Image via Mojang Studios)

Not only are Axlotls adorable, but if you manage to tame one, it can heal you. They also help you fight underwater. They’re helpful, cute friends, without a doubt. While it might be a task to tame one, it’s worth it.

However, these Minecraft animals do not appear to have a traditional way of healing. Axolotls will heal themselves and regenerate if they’re low on health. The way to heal this friend is to just wait it out.

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9) Allays

Like the axolotl, this ghost can heal on its own (Image via Mojang Studios)

Skeleton Horses aren’t the only undead friend you can unlock in this game. If you befriend an Allay, it will follow you faithfully as well. You cannot feed these ghosts anything, unfortunately.

While that’s a shame, these do have natural regeneration as of the Java/Bedrock editions of the game. That way, with a little time, they’ll be ready to go again.

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If your pets aren’t on this list, then the best/only way to heal them is with a splash healing potion. It’s a universal way to heal your pets. Unfortunately, some animals, such as foxes and parrots, do not have a type of food that heals them.