Beyond pet food

 

Putting this into a world perspective, 29.9% of the total global population owns dogs, and 21.8% owns cats. China is thus fast approaching these ownership rates – a considerable market that industry innovators must not ignore.

Let’s take this still further. Since many pets are kept in mega-cities (cities with a population of over ten million people in a high density environment), the daily living products these pets need represent a huge opportunity for suppliers.

Tailored to small, luxury pets

In Beijing, strict laws prevent large dogs. Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture, the authority in charge of husbandry and veterinary affairs, announced in 2003 that ‘in key management areas, vicious dogs as well as dogs of maturity height over 35 centimetres are not allowed.’ Specific breeds such as Mastiffs, Great Danes, even Greyhounds, would not be permitted. This means that products suited to smaller breeds must be the ones to bring to market.

Exclusivity seems to be the way forward for pet owners. A growing middle class in China means that more leisure time and money for luxuries applies to the breeds of cat and dog. Whereas in countries such as Japan, the U.S. and some parts of Europe, an increase in retired and elderly populations has had a similar effect, in each case suppliers can tailor their market appropriately.

Better breeding

Puppy mills, or puppy farms, are still a way of providing the market with available dogs for purchase. Scientific research has clearly shown that puppies sold from puppy mill to pet store do not experience the essential socialisation within the crucial ages of 8-11 weeks, meaning expansion of veterinary and behavioural services as a means to support problems. A perfect opportunity for breeders to show that they provide only quality, assessed puppies specifically bred and raised for the family environment.

Products for pet welfare

Product innovation is at the core of such growth. Indoor cats, and dogs kept in apartments, mean that ideas for their amusement abound. Cat ‘trees’ are well established to keep an indoor cat fit and well, allowing climbing, scratching posts and hiding places. Cat exercisers are essential – take for example the ‘cat wheel’; rather like that afforded to a hamster or gerbil, but larger scale for the cat to run to their heart’s content. Dog treadmills are another exercise provider, and not forgetting the growth in popularity of water exercise, a hydrotherapy jet bath has been seen downsized for more suitable use in a domestic setting.

Animal welfare guidelines are clear that animals must have the right to express their normal behaviours. In an apartment where they cannot leave, products are needed to provide stimulation. Pet puzzles in many shapes and sizes, asking the animal to pat their paw around a small maze for a toy that rolls and sometimes vibrates to attract attention allows natural hunting and foraging behaviour. ‘Slow feeders’ are a mini maze of plastic channels, spirals and sometimes simple pillars, making the pet dig and lick their food into a space where they can eat it.

Pets also need litter trays, either because they are never permitted outdoors or because it is just too far to take a young puppy who needs to toilet. Now that litter trays are part of the furniture, they are being designed to look exactly that; new on the scene are bathroom cabinets with a small trapdoor to allow the pet to climb in and relieve itself hygienically.

As we can see, there is a huge opportunity for cutting-edge products to enter this new market; it is far more exciting than pet food.