City’s perfect pet chain turns out a miniature zoo
Whether you’re contemplating getting yourself a pet, or already own one, you can’t get by without a proper pet shop. If you’re looking for a dog or cat, or something similar in size, the best place to look for it is at Ptashyniy Rynok (Bird Market), but if you’re after something small like aquarium fish, a rat, a rabbit or a reptile, you need a shop that offers a wide selection. And once you picked out the perfect companion or companions, you will need supplies for feeding and taking care of them. So what’s the best shop that combines a convenient location with all your pet needs? Let’s find out.
Vse Dlia Zhyvotnyh (Everything for Animals) is located on Chervonoarmiyska Street. The store offers a range of premium pet foods such as Hill’s, Royal Canin, Purina, Pro Plan, Iams, Eukanuba, 1st Choice, Nutra Nuggets, Nutra Gold, Bayer, Trixie, Beaphar, 8in1 and Vitakraft to keep your cats and dogs fed properly, and monthly spot treatments and tablets or pastes for fleas and worms to keep your pet healthy. Mouse houses, rat cages, rabbit hutches, toys, treats, collars, leads and harnesses are also available at the shop. You’ll also find books and breeding information. However, most of the workers at the shop are not very experienced in the pet sphere, and many of them are also pretty rude and stuck up.
At Krayina Zoo, everything is cramped together – birds are practically sitting on top of bunnies, and some pets run away once in a while, creating a big mess in the store. They aren’t taken care of in the best way, but they do have a vast selection of toys and food. They do not let people purchase a bunny or bird without purchasing a cage or at least offering a cage (they just want to make sure that the bunny or bird has an adequate home). The store’s poor little chinchillas are subjected to people bothering them all day long. They usually have males and females mixed together meaning you may come home and find that you’re in for more than just the one chinchilla.
Zoosvit, located on the left bank, is a supermarket and veterinary center at the same time. It is very convenient and has a fairly large variety of pet products, including pet apparel, collars, leads and harnesses, toys, pet carriers, beds, fish and aquarium accessories and pet accessories. Overall, the staff is not too knowledgeable, seeing as most employees are just teenagers, but if you’re lucky, you will get that one worker that really does knows what’s best for your pet.
Pryroda (Nature) is one of the oldest and best-known pet shops in Kyiv, situated on Khmelnytskoho Street near Teatralna metro. Whenever I found myself downtown with my parents as a child, I always went to stare at various little pets, rabbits, rats and tortoises living there. The shop hasn’t changed much since then. It’s divided into several departments for cats, dogs, birds and fish products. However, if you’re looking for popular pet supply brands, then forget it, because Pryroda’s selection is not very wide. Among their pet products you’ll find dry and canned cat and dog food brands like Kittycat, Darling, Friskise, Pedigree and Royal Canin. They also have cages for birds and rodents, transportation containers, boxes, collars, leashes and various shampoos, combs, animal toilets so on. They sell only a few parrots and small animals such as rats, mice, guinea pigs and rabbits.
The chain LapUsik features the largest selection of unique supplies for dogs, cats, small animals, birds, reptiles and fish. Among their four pet shops, the one that truly differs from the others and amazes is the shop near Obolon metro. It might be the biggest pet shop in Kyiv. You’ll find a huge range of pet supplies, pet medication, and pet products for your companion such as animal care products, dog and cat baskets, brushes, pet food containers, animal bedding, diverse toys and many more. LapUsik also sells the biggest assortment of dog and cat foods. They carry Nutro, Royal Canin, Muenster, and Science Diet, among others. Their freshwater aquarium is not only phenomenal in size but also in assortment. Their selection of community, semi-aggressive, and aggressive fish is hard to beat. The saltwater aquarium has everything from common yellow tangs to percula clowns. There is also a large bird and small animal section.
The chain carries all the supplies you could ever need or imagine.
From handfed canaries to jersey wooley bunnies, they have it all. Last but not least is their reptile section; chameleons, geckos, anoles, snakes, monitors, turtles, scorpions, tarantulas and more, plus all the supplies you have been looking for.
LapUsik (12G Heroyiv Stalinhradu, 464-6867; 42 Ivana Kudri, 285-3469; 22 Lunacharskoho, 517-6073; 1A Khoryva, 428-8445)
