The pet industry is booming in China. Thecountry's pet market reached 295.3 billion yuan in 2020, up 33.5 percent from221.2 billion yuan in 2019. The number is set to hit nearly 600 billion yuan by2023, according to a new report by market consultancy iiMedia Research Group.

Pets such as cats and dogs can help reducefeelings of loneliness and provide companionship for their owners, especiallyempty-nesters and single people. The report said 37.1 percent of surveyrespondents regard pets as their friends, and over 40 percent regard pets astheir family members.

According to the report, nearly 70 percentof the surveyed Chinese consumers have pets now or kept pets before, and 10.8percent of the consumers are planning to get pets.

The consultancy found 66.6 percent of petowners will take pets to get regular checkups. And people's increasinglygrowing need for pet care is set to create a huge domestic medical market forpets worth 267 billion yuan.

"Having pets means responsibility andcaring," said Jerry Jiang, a 31-year-old owner of cats who's based inBeijing. Jiang spends over 500 yuan per month on his two cats, buying them importedfood and various toys.

"I'm planning to get more cats in thenear future," Jiang said. "Cats are content doing their own stuffwithout me around and they can take care of themselves most of the time. It'snot hard to keep more cute cats at home."

In fact, after years of development. LiXue, founder and CEO of Loving Care, has found that a growing number of peoplemore willing to raise cats than dogs, especially in southern cities such asHangzhou and Shanghai.

Seeing the emerging trend in consumerpreference for cats, Loving Care has set up separate waiting, treatment andhospital stay areas for pet cats and dogs patients. Li hopes doing so will helpreduce stress in cats.

Li believes the key to her hospital'ssuccess lies in offering high-quality healthcare services as well as hiring andcultivating more talents.

In 2019, Loving Care spent tens of millionsof yuan to build a pet medical center in Beijing. Covering an area of about3,000 square meters, the pet medical center owns 15 treatment units and 23major departments. It has been built into a comprehensive pet hospitalintegrating medical treatment, scientific research, teaching, preventive careand rehabilitation.

"We've spent years on building ourinternal training system," Li said. "In the next three to five years,we will mainly focus on offering high-quality specialty petcare services. Wewould like to offer other pet hospitals professional solutions in terms oftraining, supply chain and diagnosis to help increase hospital qualityimprovement."

Looking ahead, Li said as pets age, theycan develop threatening illnesses and their medical needs will likely becomegreater in the future. "After years of development, we've accumulatedvaluable experience and sufficient vet talents, allowing Loving Care to betterprepare for the aging of pets. We will continue to open more clinics andhospitals to meet the rising needs to care for aging pets."

Zhang Yi, chief analyst of iiMediaResearch, said China's pet economy is still at a very early stage ofdevelopment.

"The rapid development of the peteconomy is fueled by China's rising consumption upgrade," Zhang said."Seeing pets as part of the family, pet owners are willing to spend moreon them. Doing so will boost a wide range of pet-related businesses.

Zhang sees hope in the future developmentof China's pet economy. He said today's pet-related products and servicescannot fully meet pet owners' growing expectations.

As an example, he said pet clinics andhospitals should expand their current offerings to provide regular treatment aswell as pet care and health counseling services. More efforts should also bemade to improve pets' medical standards.

"We've seen huge growth potential inthe pet economy," Zhang noted. "With people's increasing livingstandards and rising expectations for pet-related products and services, newbusiness opportunities will emerge in the near future."

Partnershipdevises new product to solve market problems

Keeping pets has become more popular inChinese cities in recent years, with nearly 100 million cats and dogs owned byfamilies in urban areas. Owners are also now more willing to take their animalsfor veterinary treatment when they experience health problems.

Sixty-six percent of pets have receivedmedical care at least once, according to the 2020 China Pet Medical IndustryWhite Paper, which said the market scale of pet medical care reached 40 billionyuan ($6.2 billion) last year and is expected to exceed 130 billion yuan in2025.

Awareness among the younger owners fortheir pets to receive medication when needed is gradually rising. For example,some pet owners have their pet vaccinated and use parasite expellers on themregularly.

But it will still take some time tocultivate awareness that pets need help in leading quality lives. The medicalmarket for pets needs standardization in care, services and charges.

Vets said the number of pet clinics hasrisen significantly in recent years. It is estimated that 10 to 20 suchestablishments open in Shanghai every month.

Modern facilities, such as computedtomography scanners, magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and hemodialysismachines can now be seen at pet clinics, offering more-precise diagnosis andbetter treatment.

Increasedawareness

Some industry observers said increasedsales of pet medicine pale in comparison to those for pet food.

Lu Qin, head of companion animals businessat Boehringer Ingelheim China, said, "Parasite expellers should be used onpets every month, but our sales records show that owners only buy such productstwo or three times on average a year.

"However, we believe that increasedpet healthcare coverage will continue, as health requirements come right afterthe need for food. Also, when people, especially the younger generation, paymore attention to their own health, they will develop a stronger awareness ofthe need to look after their pets," Lu said.

In April, a report released by the SuningInstitute of Finance showed that more than 40 percent of pet owners in Chinaare younger than 35.

Animals health experts said some diseasesin pets may begin well before owners realize their animals are ill. Physicalcheckups, which many owners view as unnecessary, are the right approach todetecting diseases at an early stage.

The experts said most dogs enter middle agewhen they are about 6, and their risk of heart disease rises from this point.

Lu said: "Treatment usually becomesdifficult after animals develop clinical symptoms of heart disease. Annualphysical checkups can help detect health problems early, and appropriatemedication can then be used."

The experts said there is a high incidenceof chronic kidney disease among cats, which is experienced by more than 80percent of such animals age 15 or older.

Lu said the number of pet cats in China hasrisen sharply, and the reasons for this may include young people's livingconditions and tight work schedules in big cities.

"This is also one of the main reasonsage-related diseases among dogs have become a more urgent problem than thoseamong cats," he said.

Drugsshortage

Chen Xinyu, a Shanghai resident who haskept five dogs over the past 10 years or so, said the lack of drugs to treatpets is one of the main problems for many owners.

One of her dogs, a golden retriever, diedof skin cancer two years ago, age 10.

"The vet said it was not a rare typeof cancer. In some countries, there are a variety of medication options, butthere were none in the domestic market," said Chen, who is in her 40s.

"Also, painkillers are essential inmany cases, such as post-surgery treatment and easing pain for pets withcancer, but it is hard to find such drugs in China."

Chen said some vets from Australia andEuropean countries who work in the pet clinics she uses secretly bring in drugsfrom overseas to treat animals.

A vet who has worked in Shanghai for 10years and wanted to be named only as Amos said that in China there is nolegitimate approved domestic or foreign drugs to treat at least half the commondiseases among pets.

"Therefore, it's common practice forvets to use drugs for humans on animals when necessary. This is against thelaw, but if we don't do this, it becomes almost impossible to medically treatpets," he said.

Vets said that two decades ago, whenabandoning the use of drugs for humans on animals was included in legislation,it mainly referred to using them for poultry and livestock, as this mayeventually lead to humans becoming resistant to some medicines.

The vets said there is limited availabilityof drugs for domestic pets, and some drugs produced by overseas manufacturersare expensive. This explains why some owners prefer drugs for humans being usedon their pets, as they feel that these are not only less expensive, but safer.

Industry insiders said drug developmenttakes time, and the domestic market is at the incubation stage.

Vets said they expected a series ofstandards and regulations to be introduced to protect pet clinics and petowners.

Wu said the cost of appendectomy surgeryfor a pet in a city may vary considerably based on the medical devices andother facilities that are available, rather than any standardized marketcharge.

"What's worse, if a pet dies afterreceiving certain medical treatment, the owners very often come to the clinicand ask for compensation," he said.

"In hospitals for humans, there arearbitration organizations to deal with such disputes and verify if doctors andnurses are to be held responsible, but it seems hard for we vets to defend ourselves,"he said.

Generouspet owners

Pet owners just like to express their lovefor their furry family members. Pet hotels and pet birthday cakes are just acouple of examples. The latest trend is the pet photography business to capturemoments of furry friends in action.

Jessica Zhang is among the growing numberof pet photographers in China. During the past few years, Zhang has takenphotos of hundreds of pet dogs and cats in Beijing.

"Previously, most of my clients onlyasked me to photograph their pets on big days such as birthdays andanniversaries," Zhang said.

"Today, pet owners see it as a regularway to openly express their love for the family's four-legged members. Theywill schedule a pet photoshoot anytime they prefer to do so."

Zhang offers both in-home and outdoor petphotoshoot services, sometimes charging over 1,000 yuan ($155) to nearly 2,000yuan per session.

"Fueled by the booming pet market inChina, I've got more clients than a few years ago," Zhang said. Most arefemales born in the 1990s. I've taken photos of more than 30 pet cats forChristmas last year."

A 2020 white paper from pet industryanalytical company Pethadoop showed over 100 million pet dogs and cats lived inChina's urban areas in 2020, up 1.7 percent from the previous year. The petmarket for dogs and cats was also worth 206.5 billion yuan in 2020.

According to the report, more than 70 percentof pet dog and cat owners were born in the 1980s and 1990s.

Tracy Yang, a 29-year-old pet cat parentbased in Beijing, is interested in displaying professional photos of her cat.During the past two years, she's spent nearly 2,000 yuan on photos of her withthe cat from Elefoto, a fledgling photography studio in Beijing.

"My cat is part of the family,"Yang said. "By capturing daily moments on film, I've amassed keepsakes tocherish forever."

Yang is just one of an increasing number ofyoung and affluent pet owners willing to pay a premium for high-quality imagesof their furry friends.

Such demand has spurred new businessopportunities for many young portrait photography startups such as Elefoto andNaive Blue.

"The demand for pet photography is increasing,"said Chong Xiaojie, founder of Elefoto. "Unlike older generations, manyyoung pet owners have higher standards for general quality of life. They arewilling to spend money on pets and treat them as family members or closefriends."

Elefoto now offers pet photo services aswell as family portraits with pets. Prices vary from 499 yuan to 2,994 yuan.

To receive professional photos, consumersfirst need to book a reservation online. Once they arrive at the studio,professional stylists will apply makeup for pet owners, and staff members willhelp both pet owners and pets to choose their styles and clothes.

Looking ahead, Chong believes there's stilla lot of potential to expand in the pet photography sector. He said Elefotowill continuously improve its offerings to meet pet owners' specific needs.

"Pet portrait photography is a new,niche market in China," Chong said.

"With the expansion of the pet economyand the rising number of pet owners, the new sector will continue to experiencerapid growth in the future."