In Suzhou City, Anhui Province, cat and dog shelters of various shapes are being shipped from storage areas to various parts of the world. In the pet grooming room on the local street, "furry children" enjoy washing and trimming; In the "Pet Friendly Hall", a temporary pet placement area is set up, equipped with pet cages, water dispensers, etc. These scenes outline a new picture of the city's pet economy development. Currently, the pet consumption market in China is growing rapidly. According to the "2025 White Paper on China's Pet Industry (Consumption Report)", by 2024, the number of urban pets (dogs and cats) in China will exceed 120 million, and the size of the consumer market will exceed 300 billion yuan (RMB). Suzhou City is actively seizing the new track of pet economy. The development of the pet industry in Suzhou has three major 'trump cards': agricultural resources, cultural characteristics, and location advantages, "said Liu Bofu, Deputy Mayor of Suzhou City. At present, Suzhou City has gathered more than 80 pet diagnosis and treatment institutions, as well as over 200 pet service, food, and supplies sales institutions. At the same time, there are about 500000 pet dogs, cats, and ornamental birds in the city, and nearly 100 million ornamental fish. Entering Anhui Defeng Hongyi Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., the neatly packaged finished products in the storage area are about to be exported to countries or regions such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Hong Kong, China. Entering the industry was purely accidental. ”The chairman of the company, Fu Guofu, recalled that the enterprise was originally a small workshop with only 30 people, but now it has developed into a "pet industry star" with a daily output of over 30000 pieces and an annual output value of hundreds of millions of yuan. In the Modern National Agricultural Industrial Park of Yongqiao District, Suzhou City, Anhui Xianchun Biotechnology Co., Ltd.'s intelligent production line is operating at full capacity to produce pet food. The company has achieved comprehensive automation and intelligence of the production process in the field of pet baking food. ”Li Long, the production director of Anhui Xianchun Biotechnology Co., Ltd., said that the company's products have passed multiple quality management system certifications. At the same time, the company has obtained the registration certificate for outbound processing, and has established a complete system covering research and development, production, and quality control, laying the foundation for its products to enter the national and even international markets. The Suzhou Flower, Bird, Fish, Insect and Pet Market, built in 2009, has grown into the first comprehensive pet trading and distribution center in East China, covering an area of 300 acres and with an average daily passenger flow of over 10000 people, after 16 years of intensive cultivation. According to Xu Hui, President of Suzhou Pet Economy Chamber of Commerce and General Manager of Suzhou Flower, Bird, Fish and Insect Pet Market Co., Ltd., common pets such as cats and dogs, as well as various obscure exotic pets, gather here every Friday and Saturday. Merchants from all over China come to trade, and in addition to fixed shops, there are also spontaneously formed extended "street markets" along the roadside. Yongqiao District, Suzhou City is known as the hometown of Chinese circus. In 2006, Yongqiao Circus was listed as a representative project of national intangible cultural heritage, and its animal domestication and performance skills formed a unique system. In recent years, Suzhou has applied animal training techniques to pet training and developed unique services such as "puppy arithmetic" and "collective skipping rope". The Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Pet Industry in Suzhou City, released in September 2025, proposes that by 2027, the market size of the pet industry in the city will exceed 5 billion yuan, and the transaction volume of the flower, bird, fish, insect and pet market will exceed 1 billion yuan. (New Society)