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It's too boring for dogs to stay in air-conditioned rooms in summer, and it's hot to go out for walks. Going upstream and playing in the water is a win-win choice. This summer, relying on the hot trend of "its economy", traveling with pets has become a new growth point in the current tourism market. Playing games such as pet friendly water games are gradually gaining favor among pet owning families, and leisure activities such as summer rafting and river tracing are heating up. The presence of pets as "water toys" is becoming increasingly prominent. Many businesses have keenly sensed business opportunities and have launched pet specific water play equipment, such as pet stream shoes, life jackets, swimming rings, water frisbees, and other products that continue to be popular. On August 12th, reporters conducted visits and investigations to multiple pet supply stores and online stores in Changsha.

[Market]

Pet water play equipment is selling well, and water protection equipment is selling like hotcakes

On August 12, the reporter learned from a visit that many pet stores intensively displayed summer pet outdoor products such as cooling, sunscreen, and insect repellent, and some also introduced new items related to outdoor pet wading, such as insect repellent collars, cooling spray, and many feces removal officials are leading "hairy children" to carefully select.

In a pet supplies store in Changsha, customers are purchasing equipment related to river tracing.

On online e-commerce platforms, the category of "pet river tracing equipment" is more diverse, covering river tracing shoes, swimming rings, floating beds, floating frisbees, and more. Among them, tens of thousands of "sports car shaped" pet floating beds have been sold in some stores.

"It's too hot. I want to take my dog to play with water to cool down, but my family is corgi. My legs are short and afraid of water. The swimming circle solves this problem." Ms. Chen, a citizen who has bought a pet swimming circle, shared.

A citizen in Changsha purchased an upstream swimming ring for their dog.

The best-selling products are not only water equipment, but also water protection equipment. Licking Pet (Xinhe Big Market Store) staff showed reporters a recently popular cartoon life jacket for pets, which features a protective design on the back. It provides safety protection for pets through a combination of safety buckles, Velcro, and adjustable straps.

Recently, the sales of pet life jackets have been considerable, with people coming to buy them every day, "a staff member of a pet department store located on Yinpenling Street told reporters." The white patterned life jackets in the store have been sold out, and other colors have been added recently

On online e-commerce platforms, pet life jackets range in price from tens to hundreds of yuan, with various styles and designs including mermaid, little devil, angel wings, and more.

[Reminder]

There are risks for pets to swim upstream, and safety precautions should be taken

On social media platforms, the attention and discussion about pet friendly camping are on the rise. Many citizens have shared their experiences of taking their beloved pets to the vicinity of Changsha for river camping, and some netizens have posted for help, asking about the equipment needed for river camping.

In July this year, Yu Zishao (a pseudonym), a citizen, took her dogs to a stream near Liuyang Shaping to play. She put on life jackets for both dogs. "corgi, Fadou and other short legged dogs must be equipped with professional life jackets because of their poor balance and high drowning risk."

Outdoor water is often not clean and can easily breed bacteria. There may also be unknown objects such as insects and wire that can harm pets, "said a staff member at a pet store in Wanda Plaza." If pets are not cleaned in a timely manner after playing in water, they are prone to skin diseases. Therefore, after pets play in water outdoors, they must be wiped dry with a towel and immediately dried with a hair dryer.

Ms. Chen, a citizen, sighed that going upstream with her pet is not an easy task. "Not only do you need to prepare swimming rings and upstream shoes for play, but you also need to prepare insect repellent, disposable wipes, and emergency medicine in advance

[Viewpoint]

Carrying pets and enjoying water has become a new hot spot in the pet consumption market

According to the 2025 White Paper on China's Pet Industry (Consumption Report), in recent years, with the continuous growth of pet numbers, the scale of pet consumption has gradually expanded. In 2024, urban dog and cat consumption reached 300.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%. Industry insiders have analyzed that summer pet friendly trips have become a new consumption hotspot, and the hot sales of related travel equipment have once again injected momentum into the growth of the pet consumption market.

Industry insiders point out that in the hot summer, taking pets upstream can not only help them cool down and relieve heat, but also meet their needs to get close to nature and release their instincts. Therefore, the demand for pet upstream equipment in the market will continue to exist, and the popularity of this pet sub market will see a seasonal increase.

In the future, for the pet segmentation market, providing customized services from size, color to pattern design to meet the personalized needs of pet owners will be an important growth point. Industry insiders believe that "for example, designing swimming rings that better fit the body structure of small and large dogs based on their different body types, or printing pet names, cute patterns, etc. on equipment".