You think it's easy being someone's pet? Sure, you get a home and free food and lots of love, but it all comes at a price: the never-ending cuteness. It's hard work. You spend so much time practicing cute facial expressions, cute ways to cock your head and roll around on the floor, and cute strategies for getting out of performing degrading "tricks." Sometimes all you really want to do is kick back with a nice can of wet food (not kibble), loll on your side, let the drool flow freely and not give a damn about being cute. Amy and Luis Pizano, who own Pets in the City in Soulard, have a remarkably deep understanding of the trials of pethood. For one thing, there's nary a pet sweater to be found in the entire store. Instead, Pets in the City is full of things to make animals feel good — ranging from the practical, such as delicious organic food and snacks, to the more ephemeral, such as massage oil. The Pizanos and their remarkably friendly staff know their stock and can make solid recommendations about everything from treats to anti-dander spray. Cuteness may be your most potent survival strategy, but if your humans really, really loved you and understood that you're a person, too, with needs, they'd shop for you at Pets in the City. Next time they leave you home alone, you're going to work on a heartbreaking facial expression to convey that very demand.