As students move back to Ames, they bring a lot of the essentials for living on their own along with them. Furniture, dishes and other necessities are important to making their houses or apartments feel like home. Students may want to bring pets along with these necessities. Luckily, there are several pet stores in Ames that offer a wide variety of animals to choose from.

Dyvig’s Pet Shoppe offers several kinds of pets, selling everything from dogs to mice. It is located in downtown Ames on 412 Burnett Ave. Dyvig’s is crawling with creatures just waiting to be brought back to your home. The store offers furry pets like dogs, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters and mice. It also has a wide variety of fish, as well as pythons, turtles and small lizards. In addition, it carries accessories for different pets including food, cages and toys for dogs and cats.

The Ark is another place in the Ames area that offers different kinds of pets. The Ark is located on 118 Hayward Ave. near Campustown. This little pet store is unique in that it offers a wide variety of fresh and saltwater fish. Although fish are its specialty, The Ark also has smaller animals, reptiles and amphibians. As well as finding animals for sale, the Ark’s owner also offers grooming to all breeds.

Ames Animal Shelter, located on 325 Billy Sunday Road, offers a pet adoption service. By going to the City of Ames’ site for that purpose, you can look through a list of cats and dogs available for adoption. Once you’ve found a pet you’d like to adopt, you can apply to do so. You can fill out adoption papers once your application is reviewed. If you’re still on the fence about getting a pet, just go out to the animal shelter to walk and play with the dogs and cats available. Spending some time with the animals might help you decide whether you want to become a pet owner.

Although there are many good places in the Ames area to find pets, you should check your property management company’s pet policy before getting one. There is usually a small fee that such companies assess pet owners for each month, but this is a small price to pay for a little companionship. Once you’ve done some research, the perfect animal for you is sure to be waiting at one of Ames’ pet stores or animal shelters.