Spring Festival is ruff on owners when pet hotels are booked out
Print Edition
This Spring Festival holiday has seen hundreds of millions of Chinese return to their hometowns for family gatherings.
But a lot of animal lovers have found it especially hard to find temporary homes for their pets this year.
Many found nearby pet hotels were either booked out or too expensive.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really difficult to find a home for my cats this year,鈥 said Xia Junyi, an owner of two cats in Hefei, capital of eastern China鈥檚 Anhui Province.
鈥淭he nearby pet hotels were fully booked, and I had to settle for one very far from home.鈥
She added that pet hotel charges also ticked up during the holiday, some of which increased by half.
Lu Xue, an owner of a small pet hotel in Hefei, said her hotel, which can accommodate up to 35 pets, was booked out weeks before the Spring Festival despite the rise in boarding prices.
鈥淭he charge for a pet per day has increased from 40 yuan (US$6) to 60 yuan, and we charge extra for larger pets,鈥 she said. 鈥淓ven so, my hotel was packed.鈥
Pet owners can make video calls to Lu to ensure their furry friends are taken good care of.
The booming business of China鈥檚 pet hotels is indicative of the country鈥檚 burgeoning pet industry.
According to a report published by goumin.com, an online pet forum, the number of Chinese pet owners was 73.6 million last year.
They are raising a total of 91.5 million dogs and cats, the majority of the pets. The country鈥檚 dog and cat owners spent more than 5,000 yuan per pet in 2018, an increase of 15 percent from the previous year, the report said.
Luxury pet hotels and pet resorts have sprouted up in Chinese cities, especially first-tier cities.
These high-end pet hotels feature better facilities including air conditioners, air purifiers and around-the-clock surveillance cameras as well as various types of entertainment for pets such as movies and massages.
After failing to find pet shops or friends to take care of his cat before the Spring Festival, Wang Bo, who works for a company in eastern Zhejiang Province, turned to cat-sitters for help.
He found a cat-sitter on 58.com, a Craigslist-style classifieds website.
The cat-sitter, who charged 80 yuan for a day鈥檚 job, would feed and clean his cat and send a video of the cat to him once a day.
鈥淚鈥檒l be away for half a month,鈥 said Wang, who called himself a 鈥渕aonu,鈥 or 鈥渃at slave.鈥
鈥淭he pet hotels near my home were booked out, so this is my only choice.
鈥淏ut this may not be the safest choice,鈥 he added. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 sign any written contract or ask to check his health certificate. In some sense, the health of my cat all depends on the cat-sitter鈥檚 sense of responsibility.鈥
Chen Hongguang, a law professor from Anhui University, said: 鈥淚n order to avoid risks, pet owners should sign a contract with pet-sitters beforehand.鈥
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