As the lunar New Year of the Dog approaches, Jin Jing is busy preparing a trip from Beijing back to her Chongqing hometown. But she is desperate to find a kennel to board her puppy while scrambling for a train ticket.

Beijing's pet hospitals are open to animal guests while their human friends are absent. One week ahead of the Spring Festival, which falls on January 29, the capital city's big-name pet care centers and hospitals are fully booked.

Hospitals' daily charges are usually 30 yuan (US$3.80) for a cat and 40 yuan (US$5) for a dog. Charges for kittens and puppies are higher because they need extra care.

In addition, most of the hospitals or centers don't provide pet food and charge an extra for a warm bath.

"I have to pay, otherwise I will have to pack Mianmian (her puppy) with the luggage and send her on an uncomfortable train trip that takes all day," Jin said.

Despite the expense, China's pet care business is as busy as the railways.

"Every day we receive calls from people trying to find a place for their pets to stay during the festival," said a veterinarian surnamed Li in Beijing's Jiale Pet Hospital, one of the city's oldest.

The hospital now runs a dozen "exclusive apartments" for dogs and cats, comprising a bedroom and a small play space.

Li said hospitals make four times more profit during national holidays than usual.

But huge pet care expenses during holidays are just the tip of the iceberg of China's growing "pet economy."

According to statistics, Beijing is home to over 1 million dogs. If an average owner spends 200 yuan a month a pet, the market is worth as much as 24 million yuan a year.

Other major, well-off cities are experiencing the same "pet craze." In Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Wuhan, pet sales and services are booming businesses. They include medicine, hair/fur dressing, accessories, clothing, training, and food.

Experts predict annual sale of pet food and necessities might top 6 billion yuan (US$750 million) in 2008, and the market potential for the "pet economy" in China could reach 15 billion yuan in coming years.

However, compared with the well-established European Union and US markets, China's market is still small.

The sale of pets and pet-related products in the United States reached US$34 billion in 2004, about 45 times more than the Chinese mainland market.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2006)