From high-end beauty to animal antidepressants, pet care has reached a new height in the past few years.
Recently, a BBC video called Crazy rich Asian pets revealed this phenomenon. The subtitle of this video is called "The rise of China's pampered dogs".
(Source: BBC video screenshot) According to the survey in the video, in some cities in China, pet grooming and recuperation include hydrotherapy and even acupuncture. Pet owners may spend $10000 on these projects.
In Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, with the gradual increase of disposable income of pet owners, their pets have also benefited - people can buy more or even luxury gifts for their dogs or cats.
Not only that, they even opened pet hotels with swimming pools and cinemas. A bath for pets, except for its size, looks like the same configuration as some online celebrity hotels.
Recently, the BBC published a person named Runze Yu. The main content of the video is to investigate why Chinese consumers spend a lot of money on pet beauty.
This young man, called Young, has eight stores in Beijing dedicated to pet services.
Such stores are very common in residential areas in Beijing. They can provide services such as pet bathing, beauty, swimming, etc., and also sell pet rations, snacks, nutriments, medicines and other pet surroundings.
According to Young, five years ago, pet owners around his area took their pets to the store for washing and care every two to three weeks.
But now, he found that the owners would bring their pets out for washing almost every week or four or five days, and the SPA would recuperate the skin once a month.
But these scenes were almost invisible five years ago.
According to Young's estimation, customers who come to his store spend at least 5000 to 6000 yuan on their pets every month.
"It's the same with people, including food, clothing, housing, snacks, nutrition and all daily necessities. Owners will basically choose the goods that best match their pet varieties."
A chart of pet consumption growth over the years shows that from 2012 to 2017, the "pet economy" has stepped up, increasing by more than $100 in five years.
In Shanghai, such "pet economy" is also prevailing in another form.
Dr. Jin is engaged in physical therapy and rehabilitation in the department of pet neurology in a pet hospital in Shanghai. In the pet hospital where he works, he receives about 20 cases a day, and 27 cases at most. This hospital is a specialized hospital for pet neurology. The pets coming to see the doctor are all diseases related to neurology.
But acupuncture has only become popular in recent years.
Dr. Jin said, "We used to focus on western medicine, but China is the birthplace of traditional Chinese medicine, so many people believe in traditional Chinese medicine. For many neurological diseases, western medicine is almost ineffective. For example, paralysis, lumbar disc herniation, western medicine is almost useless, so we can only rely on traditional Chinese acupuncture."
But many pets need several courses of treatment, which may include dozens of treatments, as well as thousands of dollars...
TIME also published an article written by its writer in Beijing, titled The booming trend of pet acupuncture in China highlights China's growing love for animals.
However, TIME uses this sentence as the beginning of the article: The world's most populous country has a regrettable record of animal cruelty.
Every August, during the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, thousands of dogs are killed and eaten with sticks.
According to animal welfare activists, about 10 million dogs are eaten every year in China, most of which are stolen pets or stolen stray dogs.
At the same time, Chinese families are becoming more and more fond of pets and have taken this love to the extreme - more and more people spend a lot of money on pets, including pet beauty, spa, and even the cremation ceremony carefully prepared after the death of pets.
(Image source network, copyright belongs to the author) But that's not all.
According to TIME, at the Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Neurology Animal Health Center, people usually spend about 400 dollars to buy 10 acupuncture treatments for pets to treat a series of diseases.
The clinic also offers traditional cupping and herbal treatments, which in many cases are used on people.
Jin is the doctor here. "Acupuncture for pets is almost the same as that for humans. Both major and potential diseases must be found out according to the phenomenon."
A man's 9-year-old poodle was knocked down by a car and took to the clinic. After a series of treatments, he said, "I think the treatment is effective, because now my dog can stand up with a little help, and I think it is very likely that he will recover."
Another foreign netizen on Twitter also said that he also thinks acupuncture is useful for the health of pets.
According to incomplete statistics, China has more than 150 million pets, the most common of which is dogs. Celebrities like Fan Bingbing, who have tens of millions of fans, often post photos of themselves and their pets on social media.
In addition, China industry News reported that the output value of China's pet industry in 2017 was 20 billion US dollars, which is expected to grow at an annual rate of about 20% in the coming years.
A survey conducted by MarketingtoChina.com, a Chinese social networking site, showed that nearly three quarters of pet owners in China are between 20 and 35 years old.
"Maybe because most families (in China) have only one child, more and more people remain single, and the population is aging, they are willing to spend a lot of energy and money on pets," said Dr. Jin.
So, is pet acupuncture a consumption gimmick or is it really effective?
Jeffrey Levy is a pet acupuncturist in New York. Next to him is Sunny, a 127 pound Dane, who is currently undergoing acupuncture treatment.
According to Sunny's owner, her adrenal gland is smaller than that of a Chihuahua, which leads to her nervous system imbalance. After playing for a few minutes, she becomes tired and needs to fall to the ground to rest.
Levy said that acupuncture has existed for centuries. Although its popularity has gradually soared in the past few decades, even celebrities like Robert Downey Jr. believe in acupuncture.
Levy's work is mainly to provide acupuncture and relief treatment for animals at home, and most of them are door-to-door treatment, because pets will be more cooperative in familiar situations.
"Drugs can make pets vomit or fall asleep, so the effect of acupuncture is ideal."
It takes about 20 minutes for acupuncture to be performed once. Although some people may have doubts about this treatment method, Levy is also proving its usefulness through "patients".
"The most valuable comment I've heard is: Doctor, my pet feels much better."
When people see these behaviors, it may be difficult to understand them at the first time.
Many people may ask: Why treat pets like people?
There are many answers to this question, but one of them must be: They may not regard pets as human beings, but cherish the only companion that can accompany them all the time.
In places where no other company can be found.
(Statement: This article only represents the author's view, not Sina.com's position.)
