Slightly off topic. I was playing with a pet shop the other day. The cats and dogs which are in the display, case are they real characters with associated character files?
Yes, the animals in the display case have character files. The same animal continues to be in the display case basically forever, unless you destroy the display case, which returns it to the free display animal pool. It is not precisely known what happens to animals on display at unowned community lots, and whether these animals are correctly cycled.
I'm under the impression they aren't. And what happens to the pets bought by townies. Are they in their inventory? (How weird is that). Does it generate a character file? Even maxis couldn't be that dumb right?
Animals bought by townies are not really animals at all, and have no effect. Selling animals to townies is harmless, as the display case will simply pop up the same animal when you restock it. Townies do not actually buy animals, they buy fake tokens of animals which are erased after the pay for them, much like when they buy clothes without being shown any.