In part two of her series on how Hong Kong treats its household pets and what that tells us about its people, Joyce Yip wonders if some owners see their furry friends as substitutes for children.

Last May, Alice Leung took her bichon, Bubu, to a dog-exclusive event at the Hermès flagship store in Macao, where she is a frequent customer. Much to her delight, the luxury boutique has carpeted a sizeable section of its floor with artificial turf and installed a colorful obstacle course for pet dogs brought in by patrons. A professional dog trainer watches over the four-legged guests at play, while doting pet owners dutifully record every detail of the good times had by all, to be circulated on social media.

Leung has spent more than HK$20,000 ($2,560) on a Hermès harness and leash for Bubu.  On most days she personally prepares fresh meals for her pet. Bubu has a dedicated room, though most of the time she could be found in her owners’ living room or on their bed. Since adopting her, Leung and her husband have slashed their overseas vacations by half, replacing weekend getaways with quality time spent in the company of Bubu. And when they do travel, a lot of their time is spent buying expensive pet paraphernalia for their favorite mutt, not minding the extra costs incurred on account of the additional check-in luggage.

Leung adopted Bubu in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since getting her, “my husband and I have been spending more time at home together as a family rather than hanging out with friends separately,” says the proud owner.

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Brandon Tomkinson and his wife also refer to their canine companions — a toy poodle and a mongrel, also adopted during the pandemic — as family. The couple is not planning to have any children.

“My wife and I both grew up with dogs, hence not having them in our lives was not an option,” Tomkinson says. Going on walks with one’s pets serves as an antidote to the stress of living in Hong Kong’s typically small apartments, he adds.

The couple takes the dogs on hikes, or to the beach. Tomkinson proudly states that his 7-pound (3.2-kilogram) poodle has no trouble keeping pace with him on 20-kilometer hiking trips. “Yes, it’s time-consuming, but it’s our way of spending family and couple time together,” he says.

Household pets get the royal treatment at some of Hong Kong’s new pet-friendly shopping malls. (courtesy of Katharine Wong@cust.karlie.shibainu)

Global uptick

Both Leung and Tomkinson are a part of a global uptick in pet ownership in the past decade — a trend fuelled by the social-distancing regulations brought on by the pandemic, when the need for companionship was at an all-time high.

The number of household pets in Hong Kong homes jumped from 1.14 million in 2018 to 1.19 million in 2022, according to a Euromonitor study published last year. Curiously, Hong Kong’s fertility rate dropped from 1.07 to 0.8, i.e. the number of newborns a year was reduced from 53,000 to 32,600 over the same period of time.

If there was a connection between these two developments, it would suggest that pets might be replacing children for a number of people in Hong Kong.

Similar instances of pets increasingly being treated on a par with human families can be found elsewhere in the world. In 2017, SunTrust Banks — now Truist Bank — reported that one-third of the American millennials surveyed said that creating more room for their pets was the third-most important reason, after getting married and having children, for them to want to invest in a property. The survey also found that 42 percent of the same demographic, who were yet to buy a home, said their dog, or the plan to get one, would be a key factor influencing their decision to hop onto the property ladder.

Alice Leung and her husband often take their pet bichon to dedicated facilities carpeted with artificial turf for a round of games. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Family matters

Dr Paul Wong, a clinical psychologist and co-author of a 2019 study titled “Companion Animal Ownership and Human Well-Being in a Metropolis — The Case of Hong Kong”, says choosing pet ownership over parenthood is a prominent trend across developed countries, the reasons being rising costs of living and delayed marriages.

According to the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, the median age of first marriages increased by a year between 2018 and 2022. The figures now stand at 32.2 years for men and 30.7 for women. This has a direct effect on birth rates, considering not every couple becomes pregnant immediately after getting married, and women begin to experience a gradual decline in fertility once they turn 32.

“Delayed marriages have an impact on the success rate of being able to bear children. So while couples wait to conceive, they will likely have a pet or two. And I suspect some of them might, eventually, give up on the idea of having children at all,” Wong says. He adds that pet-owning couples also include those who remain childless by choice.

Brandon Tomkinson enjoys Hong Kong’s great outdoors with his two dogs, a mongrel and a toy poodle. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

But how many Hong Kong couples who go to great lengths to pamper their pets actually think of them as substitutes for children?

A 2021 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, titled “Can Pets Replace Children? The Interaction Effect of Pet Attachment and Subjective Socioeconomic Status on Fertility Intention”, argues that though the attachment between humans and pets is expressed through behavioral patterns not unlike that between parents and small children, whether or not couples choose to procreate often has more to do with their socioeconomic status than their love of household pets.

Leung and her husband, both engaged in well-paid managerial roles, would like to have children at some point. They believe Bubu will make a good companion for their child when it arrives, helping inspire empathy for animals in general.

“The reality is that you won’t have more than one or two kids per household, so a pet will keep them company,” she says.

Tomkinson, too, doesn’t see his pets as child surrogates.

“The dogs are a big part of our lives, and they mean the world to me; but they can’t inherit a family legacy and nor could we bestow any financial gains on them when we leave,” he says. “Going by the situation friends with children find themselves in, I’d say I’m a lot less stressed financially with just dogs.”

Clinical psychologist Paul Wong says more couples are choosing pet ownership over parenthood as a result of the rising cost of living and delayed marriages. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

High maintenance

Pet maintenance may not work out that much cheaper compared with bringing up a human child, if the owners, like Leung, are into heavy-duty pampering of their beloved pooch. The Airside branch of the hairdressing chain Il Colpo offers dog-grooming services that could cost as much as HK$5,800 a session. For the same price, the salon offers a cut, highlights and hair treatment to its human clients.

In 2019, Rosewood Hong Kong launched a pet staycation program that has since been discontinued. Their menu for dogs featured braised Australian beef, farm-raised pork confit, four-rice risotto and semolina dry pasta — items that sound good enough for human connoisseurs of fine dining.

Owners wheeling their pets around in strollers is a common sight in Hong Kong, though such a practice is partly owed to the so-called pet-friendly shopping malls that prohibit dogs from walking on their floors.

Interestingly, however, a 2023 paper titled “Traveling with Pets: Designing Hospitality Services for Pet Owners/Parents and Hotel Guests”, published by the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, found that the tendency to pamper one’s pets is often a result of marketing campaigns. It argues that the projection of human attributes on four-legged animals usually begins under the influence of a third party. When pet owners fall for a new product or service that hits the market, it’s only a matter of time before a trend is set.

Wong says excessive pampering of pets might in fact be counterproductive.

“It’s understandable that childless couples see pets, especially small breeds that look vulnerable and require protection, as objects to shower affection on. But at the end of the day, they remain animals. They need to be left to their own ways and not pampered like this,” says the psychologist. “They simply do not care where you take them for afternoon tea. They’d rather be running around on a trail or enjoying the comforts of their own space, surrounded by familiar smells.”

Canine experts, too, caution against excessive pampering of pet dogs in foster homes as it could lead to behavioral issues, seriously hampering a fostered animal’s chances of finding a home.

Jen Chan, founder of nonprofit animal rescue organization Paws United Charity, says it is not hard to imagine first-time dog owners or fosterers dressing up the animals in their care in fancy collars. Most often, such behavior could be traced back to the fosterers’ childhood experiences of being coddled by their parents.

“But dogs don’t care for or need any of that; they need exercise and a sense of security. If you push them around in a trolley or carry them, they will always seek your attention and may even develop separation anxiety,” Chan points out.

Camille Chan says overanxious owners, looking for quick diagnoses of their ailing pets, often cause a lot of stress to the veterinarians who believe in doing a professional job. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Killing with kindness

Camille Chan, research officer at the University of Hong Kong’s Department of Social Work and Social Administration and co-author of the 2023 paper “Hong Kong Veterinarians’ Encounters With Client-Related Stress — a Qualitative Study”, says overindulgent owners often end up having unrealistic expectations of their pets. For instance, when a pet falls ill, worried owners are often looking for an instant remedy. And many veterinary clinics pander to such desires by conducting procedures on the ailing animal at top speed and providing the owners with slapdash results within a few hours of conducting the tests.

The vets who want to do a more professional job end up losing clients as a result.

“Because animals cannot talk, they are often quite ill by the time they start showing the symptoms and are brought over to vets’ clinics,” Chan remarks, adding that owners tend to get impatient and “very demanding” when they don’t get an immediate diagnosis of the ailment. “This is a major stressor for veterinarians.”

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Man’s relationship with domesticated animals continues to evolve. As more people veer away from the conventional definition of a family, pets present the possibility of having a different kind of companionship. As is the case in many other relatively affluent, cosmopolitan cities, the pet lovers of Hong Kong are trying to work out models of responsible pet ownership. While social media channels serve as sites of flaunting luxury pet accessories, they also call out instances of inappropriate and potentially harmful behavior toward pets.

The information is out there. It’s up to the owners to choose whether they treat their pets as more of accessories to show off on social media or demonstrate genuine concern for their well-being.