BEIJING — China has many genuine pet lovers who care well for their dogs, but also many owners who don’t. The dog trade is virtually unsupervised and selling sick animals to unsuspecting customers is common. Animal shelters are full. The pet scene is tough. Buying a dog, which I write about in my latest Letter from China, can be a risky business.
“Some breeders just want to make money. Some are real animal lovers,” said Xing Xiaosi, an editor and marketer at goumin.com, a Web site for dog lovers in China that offers an interactive education and information platform.
“But in general, the situation isn’t that positive or optimistic,” she said.
A week after we bought our boxer puppy, Xiao Tongzhi, or Little Comrade, he fell ill.
Knowing the horror stories, I took him to the vet, feeling queasy.
Here’s how Ms. Xing described an all-too common scenario: “Many dogs are not well treated in kennels and if the owners feel the dog looks sick, they may give it an injection to stimulate it, and make it more active. It usually lasts for about a week. They hope to sell the dog within a week to make their money, but the dog may die very soon after the week. If the buyer takes it to an animal hospital for treatment it may live. But if he doesn’t want to spend the money, it won’t.”
The serious — possibly deadly — illnesses include puppy distemper, canine parvovirus and canine coronavirus, usually contracted in dirty and crowded conditions at kennels.
Was Little Comrade a “one-week puppy,” as they are called?
Thankfully, the vet said he had only caught a cold. He tested negative for parvovirus and distemper, though he had been exposed to coronavirus, she said. Beijing’s cold had turned even harsher the weekend we bought him in early December, with temperatures dropping below freezing.
Still, the vet didn’t take any chances, administering anti-distemper serum and large amounts of antibiotics. The bottom line was — all puppies are vulnerable to serious disease because of the conditions they are often kept in before sale.
Overall, animal rights awareness here is low, said Ms. Xing.
“Many people are not responsible towards their pets,” she said. “They buy them as if they were toys. Then, once they have them back home, they feel they are difficult to care for because they urinate and defecate and they feel that’s dirty.”
“Some people throw their pets away when the family gets a baby,” she added. “When they’re abandoned some people do try to look for a new home. But many just throw them into the streets.”
As a result, animal shelters in Beijing and other cities are full.
“People’s consciousness about keeping pets needs to be raised,” Ms. Xing said. “They need to feel responsible for their lives.”
