With the Spring Festival approaching, many pet owners planning to travel or return home are going to put their pets in pet shops during the holiday, creating a booming pet boarding market in Kunming, Yunnan province.

(Photos: VCG)

"We're going home by plane. It's too much trouble to take it. Even if I take it back, no one will have time to look after it, ” said Mrs Guo, who has been looking for a pet shop to look after her dog since the middle of January.

Many people found it hard to get a cage in pet shops for their pets, and the price has also risen by 20 percent.

With people’s demand for pet care services increasing, many pet shops have to offering high-end boarding services. Pets not only live in a bigger cage, drink yogurt and eat fruits after meals, but also exercise on the pet treadmill for 100 yuan per day.

In addition to cats and dogs, pet shops also receive some “unusual pets,” such as chinchillas, rabbits, lizards, minks and small-sized birds to keep up with the situation to survive, according to a pet shop owner.

Workers at pet shops can make a lot of money from this hot market, as the money they earn during the seven-day holiday often equals one month’s salary.

With the development of the Internet, apart from pet shops, pet clinics, pet service institutes and other traditional boarding places, the O2O family pet boarding is thriving in recent years. Pet owners can look for families providing pet-boarding services through apps, which is cheaper and attractive to low-income workers and students.

(Compiled by Hu Xiaoyu)