Pets in Japan: luxury items?

[Otenba]

2 days ago, I've returned from another trip to Japan, which was this time entirely dedicated to 卍LINE's parties. So, I've been to various cities and no matter how hurried I was, I could never resist peering into those horrible pet shops where they sell way too young pups and kittens. The average kitten I saw for sale was 5 weeks old, which is about 1 month too early.

This had me wonder how much the average Japanese pet keeper is truly concerned about their pet. I've seen very few Akitas and most were kept like a piece of decoration: chained, or even in a cage, apparantly only bought as an accessory. Also, I've seen lots of useless blingbling and jackets for small dogs, but very few useful things, even basic collars for large dogs or a functional transport cage.

I also have to wonder how you travel with a large dog without a car of your own?

Another thing that struck me in the pet shops was the pricing. In 2003, I saw a French Lop rabbit, a giant rabbit breed, in a pet shop in Kyoto for - I am not kidding - 70,000 yen, more than 400 euros. These things cost 20 to 50 euros in Europe, even champion descendents cost rarely more than 70. It's just rabbits, and very unpractical at that (they grow very large and getting kicked by them ain't funny).
This time, in Osaka, it almost knocked me to another world to see a normal, cross- or non-bred kitten, those streetcats you pay nothing for at all anywhere else in the world, for 195,000 yen, 44 euros short of what I paid for my pedigreed, champion-descending Akita b'itch. I swear, it was an ordinary, not very healthy looking, black schildpad tortie kitten of no breed at all. The kind you pick up in the street, with 100 fleas bonus.
Why??

This really has me wonder whether I'd be able to get rich by randomly "breeding" French lops and street cats in Japan.
So what's the pet situation over there like?

 

[n_y_japlander]

It is far more than just breeding and selling them.
The very expensive cost for pets here are because of multiple reasons added together.
Each breeder has to pay a great amount for the "license" (Japan is license crazy... but that is a different thread) then all the animals have have shots for multipliable diseases (the shots on alone are very expensive). Then there is the sales cost to the store.
After the animal gets to the store, the store it's self ads a cost per gram to the animal for food, water, cleaning the cages & excreta, this cost is added to the accumulative cost with a hefty mark up for profit.

The stores are cheap when compared to the pettigre breeders!

The bling is just because many people think their pet would look cute in it! You are right... most of it has no true purpose other than money!

 

[Otenba]

So if I got you right, the 2000-dollar stree kitten is only so expensive because of the expenses to the shop and the license keeper? But a crossbred cat is usually the result of coincidal litters which shouldn't require license, and a 4 week old cat can't cost much... I mean, pets are sold in shops here, as well but an ordinary kitten would never cost more than 50 and the shop would still not make financial losses.

 

[Elizabeth]

So if I got you right, the 2000-dollar stree kitten is only so expensive because of the expenses to the shop and the license keeper? But a crossbred cat is usually the result of coincidal litters which shouldn't require license, and a 4 week old cat can't cost much... I mean, pets are sold in shops here, as well but an ordinary kitten would never cost more than 50 and the shop would still not make financial losses.

I don't know a lot about breeders or pet stores in Japan but I do think more Japanese than Americans buy pets because they are cute or fashionable
and later throw it away when their lifestyle changes or it becomes a financial burden.

Another factor may be the the lack of competition. Specifically, the low rate of adoption in Japanese animal shelters which is important to consider given the distaste for euthanasia among Japanese.

But unimaginable horrors of the illegal pet trade are nothing particular to Japan. Pet stores in this country that are vigilant for their animals against puppy mills or backyard breeders are also definately the exception. The normal situation is expensive, no papers, often harboring infections or disease, unvaccinated or fixed....If you purchase your pet at a pet store or from a breeder, you are likely to spend anywhere between several hundred and several thousand dollars.

Dogs or cats from a shelter are almost always much healthier, and the adoption price is lower than anything you'd pay for in a pet store (several hundered v. $75-100). You also get a short health insurance policy, free shots, and a reduced price/rebate for having them immediately spayed/neutered. So going through a rescue shelter covers many things you would have to pay for yourself in most cases after buying a dog or cat from the pet store.

Plus, what price for unconditional love with all the satisfaction of giving a new start in life to a frightened, confused desperate animal who has no idea how they lost their family or who has never experienced a loving home at all.

There are even American stores, such as where I first fell in love with my cats, that partner with local animal shelter to showcase the animals with good potential to be adoptable and can be rescued from the shelter. Again, I'm very doubtful the Japanese enjoy a similar system. Those stores that team up with a rescue organization also don't see any profit, any fees go to compensate the shelter for taking care of animals, so it's OK.

 

[Chipi]

I'm very happy to see this topic here. I've been feeling bad about the Japanese pet shops ever since I saw them the first time over 4 years ago.
For me it feels like people really do buy pets just too easily there - the cute little puppies and kittens are showcased in the shop windows like any kind of fashion accessories in a fashion boutique. Couples go and buy pets on a date, just passing by the shops, ex tempore! The animals are, like mentioned, really too young, and some stores where I've visited, they really don't have the basic necessities what they would need, to be mentally healthy. No toys, no other puppies/kittens to play with (each one of them are in their own little cubicle), not even a rag or something with their mom's scent on it to make them feel more at ease. Drinking water should be available at all times (not just on particular feeding times) and that is not the case in these shops...
It broke my heart to catch the attention of a small, tiny, black pug puppy last February,obviously happy of the attention he got, and leave him in his cubicle to squeal and literally neurotically scratch and bite the wood&glass walls..
Violations against animal rights happen in every country, and there sure are worse places than Japan, but that doesn't mean that the topic should left undiscussed..
I would actually love to know more about Japanese organisations working for animal rights? Has anyone brought up the pet store issues etc. up in Japan?
This may sound really harsh, but this just is something i feel quite passionately about. I'm worried about this and would just _love_ to hear examples of the opposite, i.e. happy stories and other opinions. And I do know that when the little puppies and kittens (and other animals) get to their new homes, they are being cared and loved for. It's the early stages of their lives that I'm mostly worried about...

 

[Emoni]

Always hated walking by the pet shops as well... I'm not animal rights activists but the shops looked awful. Then again, I don't have much to say for the shops in the US usually either.

Something about jamming people and animals into a confined space... I feel sorry for both. Then again, that is Japan. At the same time though, I sometimes wonder if Japan shouldn't even have zoos. Even at places like Ueno Zoo, I see large animals in cages so small they can't even turn. I wouldn't want to be in a cage like that... at least be able to turn or walk in a circle.

 

[Numark]

Almost every pet store i've been in in Japan has to some extent a collection of animals either illegal to own as pets in the U.S. or very unusual- Owls, Hawks, large Tortises, Small primates like capuchins, Squirrels... it's very weird.