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According to the South China Morning PostShanghai-based pet-care professional Huan Cong, 35, has spent nine years running a specialized service that visits customers’ homes to care for cats while their owners are away.

During this year’s holiday period, which ran from Feb. 16 to 22, Huan and four employees remained in Shanghai to look after pets whose owners had left the city to visit family or travel. Over more than 20 days surrounding the festival, the team completed roughly 2,000 home-visit orders, with Huan himself handling about half of them. On his busiest day, he completed 55 visits.

More than 80% of the bookings came from clients returning to their hometowns for the holiday, while about 10% were from people going on vacation. Many customers, Huan said, have used the service for several consecutive years.

Each appointment lasts about 10 to 15 minutes and typically includes cleaning litter boxes, refilling food and water, checking the cat’s health, inspecting windows and electrical appliances, and taking out the trash. Additional services such as administering medication or trimming a cat’s nails are also provided free of charge if the requests are reasonable.

Huan charges between 60 and 80 yuan per visit in Shanghai’s Jiading District, around 100 yuan in other parts of the city, and up to 200 yuan for long-distance visits or households with multiple cats. Despite growing demand, he said he has not raised his prices in nine years.

The demanding schedule left little time for rest. During the peak period, Huan said he left home at about 3 a.m. and worked until 10 or 11 p.m., sleeping only three to four hours each night.

China’s rapidly growing pet population has helped drive demand for such services. A January 2024 report by China Daily showed that as of 2021, more than 58 million pet cats and 54.29 million pet dogs were living in urban areas across the country. Data from British market research firm Euromonitor International also indicated that China has more pet cats and dogs than any other country.

Huan said his team served 270 households during last year’s holiday, compared with about 320 households this year, an increase of 18%. By the end of the season, he expects overall demand to grow by around 25%.

The story has sparked lively discussion on mainland Chinese social media.

One user wrote that their wife had hired a similar home-visit cat-sitting service, saying the sitter kept a video feed running while feeding the cat and cleaning the litter box, giving the family “great peace of mind” while they traveled.

Another commenter noted that the work involves more than simply feeding pets.

“When dealing with sensitive or timid cats, sitters also have to take on risks to the pet’s health and the safety of the household’s property,” the user wrote. “Earning money during the holiday season like this is truly hard-earned.”