Beijing, Feb. 9 (Shao Meng) According to the Ministry of Transport, during this year's 40-day Spring Festival, about 9 billion people traveled, visited relatives and leisure. At the same time of "travel fever", many people are facing the problem of how to properly place "left-behind" pets.
**The interview found that during this Spring Festival holiday, in addition to sending pets to foster care, more and more people choose to invite professionals to feed, clean and play with them, and the emerging profession of pet nurse has also become popular. Before the start of the long holiday, many pet nurses were already full.
There are pet nurses who earn more than 1,000 a day for more than 20 a day
Disinfect the whole body, wear gloves and foot covers, feed and add water, clean and clean, observe the state of pets, and play with them. Early in the morning, Ms. Chi, a pet nurse in Tongzhou, Beijing, started her day's work.
As early as two months ago, Ms. Chi received orders to make appointments for door-to-door feeding during the Spring Festival, and at the end of January, due to the large number of orders, she had to seal the order. "There are more than 150 orders in terms of number of times, and it is 20 orders a day for several days. According to the average of 80 times of holidays, she will earn more than 10,000 yuan this Spring Festival.
In fact, it's quite hard, sometimes 20 orders a day, I have to get up at 3 o'clock in the morning, and I may have to work until nearly 12 o'clock in the evening, mainly because of physical strength and time. She introduced that there is a time cycle for door-to-door feeding, and holidays are the peak period, and the demand for the Spring Festival is the strongest.
Ms. Chi has more than 10 years of experience in raising cats and is also very fond of small animals. During the Spring Festival last year, she accidentally learned about "door-to-door feeding", and because of the early holiday, she had free time, so she chose to post on social platforms to receive orders. Later, she passed the interview and assessment and settled in a pet service platform and became a pet nurse.
After more than a year in the industry, she has found that pet owners have a growing demand for pet care services. "Many people regard the 'furry children' as their own family members, worried that there will be unexpected problems on the days when they are not there, and hope that someone will accompany them more. ”
**It is understood that in addition to relying on the **pet service platform, there are also many individuals who use the holiday to publish door-to-door feeding information on social networks, according to the distance, pet type, service type, etc., mostly between 30 yuan and 100 yuan.
There is also chaos behind the rise
The booming pet economy has given rise to new professions such as pet nurses. According to data from industry institutions, in 2022, the scale of China's pet economy industry will reach 493.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 252%, and the market size is expected to reach 811.4 billion yuan in 2025.
As a new profession under the new business format, due to the existence of force majeure factors, uneven practitioners, and the lack of more detailed specifications in the industry, the "pet" service has also had some disputes while it is popular.
Lin Ye, a post-95s girl in Chengdu, Sichuan, said that she was bitten on the leg by her employer's dog when she first started to feed her, and she never dared to try again. Ms. Chi, who is an experienced woman, has also encountered cases where she has been scratched due to her pet's stress response.
Pet owners also have concerns. Many people have shared their experience of buying door-to-door feeding services on the Internet: some service providers have a sense of responsibility, lack of experience or do not feed according to the agreement, resulting in pets getting sick and lost.
Xia Hailong, a lawyer at Shanghai Shenlun Law Firm, told consumers that it is difficult to determine the integrity and performance ability of these emerging service providers, and if they fail to perform in time after payment, it may endanger the health of pets. There are also operational difficulties for strangers to enter the home alone, and the property security and personal privacy of consumers may face unknowable risks.
In Ms. Chi's view, the threshold for individual orders on social networks is low, and security is difficult to guarantee, and standardized third-party platforms will play a certain role in restraining them. "Compared with 'wild orders', the trust between the two parties through the platform will be higher. My platform requires that you must have experience in raising pets, and before you take up your post, you must train, assess, pay a deposit, upload your ID card, review the credit score of the payment software, and ask the pet owner whether there is a camera at home and whether the pet has infectious diseases. ”
Healthy development needs to be meticulously regulated
How to avoid disputes when choosing home feeding services? Xia Hailong reminded that if consumers have smart door locks, monitoring and other equipment at home, they can flexibly use these devices to ensure that services are in place and avoid disputes.
In order to protect the rights and interests of both parties, pet nurses and pet owners usually sign a written service agreement in advance, Xia Hailong said that similar agreements are valid, consumers should pay attention to verify the other party's service ability and integrity, and agree clearly on the performance time, method, liability for breach of contract and other details.
An industry insider pointed out that there is no more detailed industry standards and supervision for pet nurses, which also requires practitioners to strengthen industry self-discipline.
The explosion of pet care services has made many people eager to try, but Ms. Chi reminded that this line of work is not as simple as "paid cats". Some pets may have a stress reaction when they see strangers, and there will be special circumstances, if they have no pet experience, just out of freshness, it is easy to have problems.
I plan it as a career for the long term. Door-to-door feeding of pets is a thing that makes me feel ** and relaxed, and it can also help many parents of 'furry children', I think it's pretty good. Ms. Chi said, "Some people may feel that pet nurses make a lot of money, but in fact, they have to pay a lot of time cost, physical strength and energy, if you want to engage in this profession for a long time, a sense of responsibility and love from the heart are very important." ”
She hopes that the pet nursery industry can become more and more standardized, help more pet owners to alleviate their concerns, and pet owners can improve their safety awareness and let the industry develop benignly.
Editor in charge: Wang Yiqun.