UO Second Age

Is there a reason why animals when tamed start out below starved? Is there a point to this, does it affect mob behavior in the wild?(hit chance heal rate when not tamed) Is there a way to set it above that by default (like to hungry)? Does the starved hunger state affect the pet when tamed?(is loyalty lost faster? hp regeneration slowed, damage decreased, hit chance decreased?) Etc?

No effect on the pet's combat performance.

Most pets seem to begin at "Content" once tamed. You're supposed to have to feed them once you tame them to complete the tame. In practice, you could theoretically succeed at like 20 commands in a row and get it all the way up to Wonderfully happy without feeding... but the odds of that are probably worse than 1 in 10,000. So get used to taming and then feeding once you complete the tame (if you want to keep and command the pet).

The "happy" state of pets is actually unrelated to their hunger level. All pets when tamed will likely be starving. The "happy" level only impacts their chance at agreeing to or declining a command.

Their hunger will effect the rate at which their loyalty decays. Hunger plays no part in the crestures behavior when it'd not tamed, all untamed creatures are starving, that's why the dragons try to eat you