China's in-home pet feeding orders surge during National Day holiday

China saw a marked rise in orders for in-home pet feeding services during this year's week-long National Day holiday that started on Thursday, as many people left their animals unattended while traveling or visiting relatives and friends.

Ms. Qu, a Beijing resident, planned a short trip for the latter half of the holiday, but with four cats left home alone and pet boarding proving inconvenient, she chose an in-home feeding service. Before setting off, she asked a domestic helper to come over and spend some time interacting with the cats.

"Cats are especially prone to stress, and stress can lead to a range of illnesses. I had to go away for the National Day holiday, so I asked the domestic helper to come over first to see whether the cats could get used to her. The cost is actually just dozens of yuan per hour," Qu said. According to domestic helper Wang Jiuhua, she has taken on a greater number of orders for in-home pet feeding services during this year's National Day holiday.

"I've been fully booked from the 1st to the 8th during the National Day holiday, with pet feeding orders almost every day. In-home feeding covers common small pets like cats, dogs, turtles, birds and rabbits, feeding, keeping them company, and taking them for walks. I can earn about 100 to 200 yuan more a day," Wang said.

Data from domestic service platforms shows that during the National Day holiday, in in-home pet service orders rose by more than 300 percent, outpacing all other categories of domestic service orders.

Some domestic service companies are also providing training to improve skills in in-home pet care to better meet market demand.

"I've learned pet care skills, including in-home feeding and dog walking. During the National Day holiday, I probably had more than a dozen pet orders booked, close to 20," said Zheng Hongjuan, another domestic helper.

"In particular, demand for in-home pet services is growing explosively, so training resources will also be tilted toward these new categories," said Yang Denghui, deputy general manager of a domestic service company.

China's in-home pet feeding orders surge during National Day holiday

Interest subsidy policies for personal consumer loans have been rolled out across China to boost consumer spending during the seven-day National Day holiday.

The push is backed by a 100-billion-yuan (about 14.92 billion U.S. dollars) fiscal-financial coordination fund to drive domestic demand.

In southwest China's Sichuan Province, loan subsidies combined with promotional campaigns at major home furnishing markets drew large crowds. Consumers can enjoy an annualized interest discount of 1 percentage point.

"I was attracted by the loan interest subsidy. It saves me 3,000 yuan a year in interest. It's really cost-effective," said a consumer surnamed Xiang.

Sichuan has adopted an advance-payment-plus-settlement model instead of year-end lump-sum reimbursement, enabling timely processing and quick payout for eligible loans.

"Consumers can apply online directly. Once approved, funds are disbursed immediately. No separate subsidy application is needed -- the discount is deducted automatically from interest payments, with zero service fees," said Liu Junfeng, head of a Bank of China branch in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

As of now, Sichuan financial institutions have issued over 399 billion yuan in personal consumer loans eligible for subsidies, benefiting 3.41 million consumers.

"We will guide financial institutions to increase consumer credit supply and build personalized, differentiated service systems tailored to diverse consumption scenarios," said Jiang Yi, deputy head of the Sichuan Bureau of the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

China celebrated the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on Thursday, with the annual "Golden Week" holiday through Oct. 7.

Interest subsidies on consumer loans fuel National Day holiday spending in China