aha, there we go, talked to a mod and got an explanation that phbb forums are notoriously difficult on any mention of anything that may hint of piracy, including downloading abandonware.
but, guide up again! on the remaining nexus of petz fandom! http://petzforum.proboards.com/thread/66307/overview-windows-petz-play-nicely
just you know with step zero of "acquiring petz 5" replaced by me doing the linguistic equivalent of looking straight at the camera and giving a big ol' wink #petztalk
@wigglytuffitout huh, is that the later version of the "Catz: Your Computer Petz" CD i still have?
@Yarideki it sure is!
if this is a familiar sight, here's more confirmation for you.
i had to take out the source for where i downloaded it to repost on that forum - but here i can tell you that my antivirus seemed happy with oldgamesdownload.com/dogz-5/ and i continue to have no problems with it lol
@wigglytuffitout oh gosh, I remember them from way back when. I could probably still install my old CD on one of my windows xp laptops but I had a bit of fun just playing around with the cats.