When maximum affection has been reached once for a pet, they will gain the ability to evolve, which is a cosmetic change that affects the color palette of the pet and adds a sparkling animation effect on the pet's profile. Legendary pets gain additional tweaks to their design.
Warning
This page contains spoilers for the Dappervolk story, pets, and/or lore.
When a pet is ready to evolve - that is, when the player has reached maximum affection with it - the hearts on their profile will turn into a rainbow gradient. Evolution can be turned on and off at any time by clicking on the sparkle icon next to the pet's name on their profile. There is no limit to how often you can evolve or de-volve your pet.
The pet's rarity determines the affection cap for maximum affection:
The majority of Quaint pets can be obtained through normal gameplay while visiting towns. These are tied to a specific NPC and often contain some visual reference to their design or character. The hatching items are typically available through NPC chance machines directly or from chance machine bonus prize pool claims.
Seasonal pets are obtainable for certain periods of time before temporarily retiring. Though the hatching items or components for these pets are available seasonally, they can be hatched at any time during the year.
These pet hatching items were typically available for a limited amount of time before retiring and can no longer be obtained through means other than trading; however, the items can still be hatched.