A man pushes a baby stroller carrying his dog. (Photo : Getty Images)
There are now more job titles in China's pet care industry such as pet nutritionists, pet fashion designers, and pet memorial specialists to meet the needs of the country's increasing number of pet owners.
The total consumption in the pet industry on the Chinese mainland reached 97.8 billion yuan ($14 billion) in 2015 and is likely to surpass 200 billion yuan by 2020.
Among the jobs that have increasing manpower needs is pet nutritionist, which barely existed in China back then. They provide better-balanced, healthy food for pets. Some of the meals they provide even have particular health benefits, such as preventing skin disease or promoting weight loss in animals.
There is also a huge demand for services of pet fashion designers as the pet fashion industry in China is growing really fast. Among them is Zhang, who opened a pet fashion studio last year that gained a reputation for her unique designs and now produces and sells around 50 pieces of hand-tailored clothes each day.
Her business started when she designed clothes for her pet schnauzer since she could not find items that could fit the masculinity of her dog breed. All the dog clothes available were the cute and adorable variety. Soon, people would start asking her where she got clothes for her dog.
Now, Zhang needs to hire more pet tailors this year.
The increasing popularity of pet spa and massage has also boosted the number of people working at pet spas.
Du Ming, the manager of the Mr. Bear pet service store who has been working in the industry for 11 years, noted that people now treat pets like humans and no longer just focus on their basic needs.
They offer services for various health purposes, such as skin and fur protection, anti-aging therapies, and inflammation and infection prevention. The store also plays music and offers a swimming pool for pets to relax. Some traditional acupuncture theories are applied in the massage to dredge "energy channels," relieve joint pain and boost health.
There is also an increasing number of pet memorial specialists to give pets a memorable ceremony when it's time to say goodbye.
Li Chao, the founder of Joypets, a startup that provides pet funeral services, once had a husky who lived with him for six years until it died in 2015. It was then that Li realized the importance of having a high-quality funeral service since he could not give his Husky the perfect farewell due to a lack of quality pet funeral arrangement services in the market. He later quit his job and started to work in the pet memorial industry.
He noted that there is a huge demand in the market, but the industry's development is lagging. Most pet owners don't know how to arrange funerals and deal with their pets' bodies after death.
Joypets offers services like funeral planning, cremation, making of souvenirs and pet preservation. His customers come from all walks of life, including Chinese celebrities, and most of them want to be present during the entire process.
