Where to buy pets

• Shanghai Naughty Family Pet Company at No 2293 Hongqiao Road Tel: 6268-7400

Probably Shanghai's oldest pet shop, it is located on Hongqiao Road near Chenjiaqiao, and has a distinctive blue, pointed roof.

Dogs are sold in the store in the price range of 2,000 yuan ($240) to 50,000 yuan ($6,000). "All of them are purebred," said an assistant there.

You have a wide choice among the dozens of dogs including Toy Poodles, Japanese Spitz, Chihuahua, Schnauzer, Shihtzu and pekinese.

The store also offers services of dyeing, nail trimming and ear picking.

• Shanghai Pet Market at No 5 Caodongsan Road, near Caoxi Park in Xuhui District Tel:6482-0158

Not such a large market and only dogs, cats and birds on offer.

But here you can find some pets at lower prices, hundreds of yuan - rather than thousands - can buy you a pet.

• Some large flower-and-bird markets on Jiangyin Road, Qinzhou Road and Cao'an Road at No 2207 Wuning Road also sell pets such as dogs, cats, birds, fish and tortoises.

The best advice in choosing is to trust your own eyes - some shop keepers may try to cheat you by pushing inferior or sickly animals on you saying they are precious or special pure breeds.

You can also haggle over price here.

Where to buy pet food

Experts insist you should feed pets with specialized foods, because these foods are made according to scientific recipes whose rich nutrition can benefit pets.

• Whiskas (for cats) and Pedigree (for dogs) are the most popular pet foods in Shanghai. You can find them in City Supermarket, Hualian Supermarket outlets, Lianhua Supermarket outlets, Carrefour, Metro and some large department stores such as Shanghai Friendship Shopping Centre (No 6 Zunyi Road South), Jusco (No 218 Tianmu Road West) and Shanghai Oriental Shopping Centre in Xujiahui.

• IAMS from the US claim to provide world-class quality foods of balanced nutrition with over 20 secret recipes. Some have high prices, but if you splash out a bit, you will probably find your pets particularly like the taste of IAMS.

You can find IAMS in most pet shops such as Shanghai Pet Market, Naughty Family mentioned above. Vets mentioned below also provide IAMS and IAMS has a store at No 276 Wenmiao Road.

• Royal Canin from France has the largest range of foods in the world including Rcci Size, Rcfi and Canistar-Felistar which provides foods in relation to pets' size, age, digestive sensitivity and lifestyle as well as catering for certain specific pets such as neutered cats.

Royal Canin can be found in Naughty Family Pet Store, Jianping Pet Clinic and Cao'an Road Flower and Bird Market.

If you want to give your pet a more varied diet, you can feed her/him on vegetables or lean meat occasionally, but remember the less cooking oil the better. A small intake of fruit is also good for your furry friends.

Where to buy articles for daily use for pets

Just feeding them food is not enough for the little guys, they also like toys, coats, bags, beds, combs and even decorations.

You can find a wide choice of great daily-use articles in Shanghai Naughty Family Pets Company mentioned above such as sweaters, butterfly bows, shoes, different types of combs, dog collars and cotton kennels.

Shanghai Oriental Shopping Centre and Shanghai Friendship Shopping Centre has a special counter for pets, but the selection is small and the prices are higher.

Flower and bird markets mentioned above will provide you with good bargains. Prices there are much lower than those in large shopping centres. Shop keepers told me a big cotton bed ranges from 60 ($7.24) to 80 yuan ($9.66) while in shopping centres, they are priced at least around 130 yuan ($15.70). And in these markets, you can haggle.

Pet clinics

Services in most clinics include cleaning, beautifying, operations and treatment.

• Animal Clinic of Shanghai Agriculture Scientific Institution, No 2451 Xietu Road Tel:6438-3161, 6438-8237

• Shuangyi Pet Clinic, No 22 Chifeng Road Tel:6598-3829

• Shenpu Animal Clinic, No 2207 Wuning Road Tel:6265-4301 ext 3062 or 3063

• Pet Store, No 270 Chongqing Road North Tel:6358-9720

• Shanghai Naughty Family Pet Company, No 2293 Hongqiao Road Tel:6268-9507

• Ai Lv Pet Clinic, No 173 Zizong Road Tel:6385-5905

• Peng Feng Animal Clinic, No 18 Caodongsan Road

• Baoyi Pet Clinic, No 104 Songlin Road

• Kimbly Pets Clinic, No 198 Caoxi Road Tel:6486-2101