The Shenyang Pet Market (hereinafter referred to as the Shenyang Pet Market) is bustling with activity. As one of the largest pet markets in Northeast China, this kind of scene occurs every weekend. However, things are different recently. Just a few months ago, the market mainly sold dogs, but now, more than half of the area is occupied by cats. It's no exaggeration to say that this market has almost become a dedicated market for cats.
Industry insiders told reporters that, apart from Northeast China, pet cat dealers and cat lovers from all over the country flock here, either to buy, sell, or simply out of affection. For them, it's like a grand feast. Thus, let's begin to trace the trajectory of the pet cat's meteoric rise.
At 6:30 a.m., although there were still few pedestrians and vehicles on the road, the Shenyang Pet Market had already opened its doors to customers. The entrance fee was 1 yuan per person, and if you needed to bring a pet, there was an additional charge of 5 yuan per pet. Wang Ping (pseudonym) was the ticket collector, and he had been working there for almost 10 years.
Wang Ping told reporters that the pet market has been booming for the past 10 years, but initially, it was dogs that were popular, while now there are more people buying and selling cats. "I heard from those 'traders' that now traffickers from all over the country come to Shenyang to catch cats, and our market is now the largest pet cat trading market in the three northeastern provinces."
As the reporter entered the gate, he found that the pet market area was roughly estimated to be at least 4,000 square meters. There were shops on the east and west sides, and four stone platforms on the south side with awnings on top, which were used by sellers to display their pets and cages. This area was the liveliest place in the entire market, and more and more people were gathering there.
Near a stone platform by the entrance, a group of people were haggling over prices around a woman. A reporter approached and saw that the cages indeed contained cats. The cats the woman was selling were the well-known Garfield breed. The cheapest cat was priced at 2500 yuan, with one female cat priced at 4000 yuan. However, after some intense bargaining, the interested buyers couldn't reach an agreement with the woman, citing "too expensive" as the reason.
Among the people interested in buying a cat was a man surnamed Zhao, who said he was from Anshan and had been in the pet business for eight years. Mr. Zhao said that cats used to be overlooked in the pet market and their prices were relatively low. About four years ago, he started helping people find cats. "My clients were all from other provinces, mostly from the south and Beijing. At that time, cats accounted for only about one-tenth of the pet market." But now, "pet cats are no longer a minor player in the market. Now people from all over the country come to Shenyang to catch cats." Mr. Zhao pointed to the side, "Look, that person came from Beijing, and that one came from Shandong, and there are even people from Jilin."
At 7:00 AM, just half an hour after the pet market opened, it was already bustling with activity. By 9:00 AM, the huge pet market was almost completely filled with people and pets. At this time, the on-site transactions were extremely brisk. Even a seemingly ordinary kitten could fetch over a thousand yuan, and pets costing tens of thousands of yuan were commonplace.
"Most of us source pets for pet stores, kennels, and catteries. We find whatever they need in the market. If we're talking about who's the first to know about market changes, we're one of the earlier ones," said Mr. Zhao. He explained that over 60% of the people buying pets at the market in the morning are "brokers" like him. By observing what pets they buy, he can tell which breeds are popular in the market. For example, Garfield cats, British Shorthairs, and shorthaired cats are popular, and once a trend is established, it doesn't usually change much in the short term.
How did the pet cat market become so popular? Mr. Zhao recalled that it only started in the last year or two. Because cats are naturally lazy, they don't require regular walks like dogs, nor do they bark incessantly at strangers or noises, disturbing the neighbors. Therefore, cats' characteristics cater to urban white-collar workers who love pets but lack the time to groom them. At the same time, where there is demand, there is speculation. Speculators entered the market to breed pet cats, further driving up demand. Seeing the booming pet cat market, more and more people wanted to make money. These individuals, in the early stages of breeding, had a huge demand for breeding cats and female cats, even exceeding that of end consumers, which became a driving force behind the explosive growth of the pet cat market.
"There is a huge demand for pet cats across the country, especially in some first-tier cities in the south. This demand has been going on for three or four years and is now spreading to second- and third-tier cities. The pet cat market is still expanding, which is why the sales volume of pet cats in the Shenyang pet market is so high right now," said Mr. Zhao.
According to Mr. Zhao, there are currently hundreds of businesses and individuals engaged in pet cat breeding in Shenyang alone. Many high-quality pet cats cost tens of thousands of yuan, and these cats cannot be seen in pet markets; they generally enter the market through other means. Even so, the Shenyang pet market remains one of the most important distribution centers for pet cats nationwide.
Li Kefeng, a native of Changchun, has been running a pet shop there for over 10 years. Starting last year, he began to shift the focus of his pet shop's business towards cats.
Li Kefeng started his pet business with dogs, and now he has nearly 20 dogs of various breeds, covering almost all the well-known small dog breeds. In Shuangyang, he has a pet breeding center covering 5 acres. Since last year, the breeding center has been receiving "new guests"—a group of affectionate and adorable cats.
Li Kefeng said that he had also run a pet cat business in his early years, but at that time he did not breed cats; he was a distributor who sold cats quickly. However, starting from the beginning of last year, the pet cat market suddenly became active, and the cats that sold out quickly were American Shorthairs, British Shorthairs, Ragdolls, Siamese, Garfields, etc. Most of them were expensive, with foreign purebred cats costing several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan, which made him see a business opportunity.
Subsequently, he removed all the cats that were originally intended for sale from the store and gradually acquired a batch of breeding cats and female cats, deciding to dedicate some of his energy to breeding pet cats. However, last summer, because he and his wife decided to have a child, they had to get rid of some of their pets, so most of the breeding cats and female cats they had purchased were put on the market. Unexpectedly, this move led him to discover that, just a few months later, the performance of pet cats on the market had reached a new level.
Li Kefeng, a native of Changchun, has been running a pet shop there for over 10 years. Starting last year, he began to shift the focus of his pet shop's business towards cats.
Li Kefeng started his pet business with dogs, and now he has nearly 20 dogs of various breeds, covering almost all the well-known small dog breeds. In Shuangyang, he has a pet breeding center covering 5 acres. Since last year, the breeding center has been receiving "new guests"—a group of affectionate and adorable cats.
Li Kefeng said that he had also run a pet cat business in his early years, but at that time he did not breed cats; he was a distributor who sold cats quickly. However, starting from the beginning of last year, the pet cat market suddenly became active, and the cats that sold out quickly were American Shorthairs, British Shorthairs, Ragdolls, Siamese, Garfields, etc. Most of them were expensive, with foreign purebred cats costing several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan, which made him see a business opportunity.
Subsequently, he removed all the cats that were originally intended for sale from the store and gradually acquired a batch of breeding cats and female cats, deciding to dedicate some of his energy to breeding pet cats. However, last summer, because he and his wife decided to have a child, they had to get rid of some of their pets, so most of the breeding cats and female cats they had purchased were put on the market. Unexpectedly, this move led him to discover that, just a few months later, the performance of pet cats on the market had reached a new level.
