While it looks like some of these have carriers, some do not. Parents/caregivers, etc. - how do you deal with the drama and trauma of a favored animal accidentally left somewhere?

I haven't tried any of the online stuff but my son has a webkinz owl and two of the gray cats (like the one in the cat/dog pack) and I think they're cute and made well.

My kids have a bunch of these. They've had a great time with the animals as well as the online website. Each animal is supposed to come with a code to be used at the website to play games. I will admit to having played Webkinz games. ;) And I agree, these are well made toys that have held up well over time.

These are really great prices on these. These would make an excellent gift for your child, for Toys for Tots or a great gift to have on hand if you have a child who is invited to frequent birthday parties (I'll often buy a few toys when I see them on sale and have them on hand so when my kids come home with another party invitation, we have a gift ready to go that I got at a good price instead of rushing out last minute).

As to lost toys, there are 3 solutions. Either try to forget about it all together with, buy something else to ease the pain or try to find an identical one & swap it.

If more current pets had been offered, I probably would have bought EVERY SINGLE ONE. The ones being offered are great for first time Webkinz players, but for us "veterans", we already have all of these and are more interested in the latest pets, and the signature line.