This year’s Chanchao Taipei Pets Show once again displayed the latest snacks, services and trinkets that owners can buy to spoil their pets, but many visitors were more attuned to ways to help their older companions live out their days comfortably.
Andy Wang (王維平), the CEO of a pet care clinic has exhibited at the show since 2021, said his booth was attracting significantly larger crowds this year because of growing awareness of the special challenges of caring for senior dogs and cats.
“The number of people approaching us is much higher, and they have a clearer understanding of their pets’ needs,” Wang said yesterday, on the show’s second-to-last day.
Photo: CNA
Wang said the clinic has been promoting pet healthcare at the annual show because the growing number of pet owners in Taiwan meant that more people are facing situations in which their furry companions require specialized care.
Among them are pets suffering from cognitive dysfunction or sight loss or that need help with feeding and urine extraction, he said.
Demand for those services would likely be significant, given that roughly one out of every four or five households in Taiwan owns a pet, Taiwan Animal Protection Monitor Network secretary-general Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗 勳) said.
Wang has used the show in part to raise awareness of lesser-known options for pet owners, such as the availability of palliative care, which focuses on enhancing comfort and improving the quality of life of pets during the final phase of their lives.
His booth also offered free Q&A sessions during which veterinarians provided recommendations based on the inquiries of pet owners.
Wang said the most common question his booth received was generally related to owners seeking health food products for disabled pets that were unable to go to a veterinarian because of their poor health.
The Q&A service mirrored the basic healthcare consulting services the clinic provides for owners whose pets are in the advanced stages of disease, even if it means serving up solutions that might not be strictly science-based, he said.
“We understand that 70 percent of the Taiwanese public have faith in folk religions. Therefore, we provide rituals that offer spiritual comfort, such as lighting up worship candles (光明燈) for their pets,” he said.
The pet expo, which ends today at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, features more than 1,000 booths showcasing the latest pet-product innovations.
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