Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Sun Xiaomeng left in her car. Zhang Zian kept his promise and started cleaning.

  Compared to the pet store, cleaning the clinic wasn’t bad at all, mainly because there weren’t too many customers. There was some dust and pet hair in the waiting room. The consulting room and surgery room were even more tidy. She might have cleaned the clinic last night after closing, so he only needed to disinfect the place.

  Sun Xiaomeng was the only person running the small clinic; hence, there was not too much equipment. She mostly conducted sterilization and trauma fracture surgeries. A pet’s clinic is very expensive. Some were even more expensive than hospitals.

  A sterilization surgery for a person might cost 200 Yuan, but the same surgery for a dog cost at least 400!

  Conclusion: Damn singles were not being treated as well as pet dogs. That’s sad!

  The equipment in a normal hospital was all paid for by the government. However, the equipment in a pet clinic was paid for by the clinic owner.

  That’s why it cost so much to visit a vet.

  An X-Ray machine for pets costs at least 50 thousand Yuan. The life span is about 3-5 years. All sorts of maintenance fees add up. Counting other equipment such as color Doppler ultrasound, one could not get back his/her investment if he/she does not charge a high price.

  There are also overheads like rent, utility, wages and other expenses. Having a pet clinic is not easy. The vet has to make a living and also make their exudation worthwhile. If the profit is too low, they would be better off working for a large pet hospital.

  Some people think that the vet is expensive because there is insurance to cover the cost for humans, but animals don’t have insurance.

  Now it is popular to “adopt a pet instead of purchasing”. This was a great idea; however, when the pet gets sick, how many people would in fact spend the money and take them to the vet? Some people might, but most people won’t. This is to stop losing more money.

  On the other hand, if someone spent 10 thousand Yuan on a Persian cat, it is very likely the owner would spend a few thousand Yuan to take care of their pet. This is also a way to stop losing more money.

  The conclusion is that an ideal situation is always difficult to achieve.

  Two doors were connected to the surgery room. One was the locker room and the other was connected to a short hallway which led to an observation room and a ward.

  Zhang Zian opened the door of the observation room. There were two small beds inside the room with white sheets. An electrocardiogram monitor and an oxygen machine were sitting by the beds. Both beds were empty and some breathing masks were laying on the beds.

  After a quick glance by the door of the observation room, Zhang Zian then opened the room to the ward.

  There was one row of metal cages in two levels and four cages in each level, totaling eight cages. A small extraction fan was running on the roof and it was making a regular humming noise.

  There were three pets in the ward, one young Golden Retriever, one adult Chinese cat and one adult Poodle.

  As he opened the door, all three pets stood up. The Poodle even barked at him.

  He walked in the ward. On the shelf, there sat some cat food and dog food. Also, there was a water dispenser and a half-full bottle.

  Zhang Zian approached the cages. Both the golden retriever and the Poodle came towards him. Apparently, they were all hungry. The Chinese cat took a quick look at him and then laid back down.

  The golden retriever and the poodle didn’t have scars. Some hair on the left front leg of the Chinese cat was cut off. New hair had not completely come out yet so the healing scar could easily be seen.

  From his perspective, all three animals were quite healthy. They might be a bit weak, but staying in the cage all day might’ve caused that. He could tell that the Chinese cat’s surgery was at least 2 weeks ago from the newly grown hair. They could’ve left the clinic by now.

  Then the question was, why are these pets still here?

  Sun Xiaomeng had too much cat food and dog food? Of course not.

  What is it then?

  …


  As Zhang Zian was exploring the Victoria’s secret…no, it was the pet clinic’s secret, Sun Xiaomeng went back to Pet’s Home breeding base.

  Her father complained about the business in the breeding base being slow but she really could do nothing about it. She was a vet, not a marketing expert.

  A few years ago, business at the breeding base was looking great; therefore, her father decided to take out a loan for expansion. It didn’t take long for all kinds of cat houses and dog houses to become popular. Comprehensive breeding bases were facing severe competitions. There were two reasons breeding bases could not get ahead of the competition First, the costs were too high. Expansions and seeking of integrity in breeds were all contributions to the high operation costs. Second, cat houses and dog houses had their own gimmicks. Some even claimed that their pets could be traced back five generations!

  Five generations?! That was exaggerating!

  From a vet’s perspective, the purer the breed is, the weaker they get. However, mixed breeds are always much healthier. The weaknesses of purebred pets usually do not show until they get old. All kinds of cardiovascular and neutral system problems are the biggest threats to their health.

  The British people seemed the most delicate in pets’ breeds. She once read a report that 50% of the purebred dogs in the UK were related to each other. In other words, your dog might be related to your neighbor’s dog. It was crazy to even think about it.

  A BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed discussed this problem in depth.

  It was an open secret in the industry that in a middle-sized city, most of the purebred dogs or cats from the dog houses and cat houses were very likely to be related.

  Due to all the above reasons, to get down the possibility of hereditary diseases, she recommended to bring in breeding cats, dogs and rabbits from another area. It increased the cost dramatically, but the pets were much healthier. Sometimes, their appearances were not good either. Most customers didn’t understand it and they all wanted good looking pets under the overwhelming marketing campaign from CFA and FCI.

  Tricks could always bring customers yet honesty most of the time didn’t work.

  Now she regretted it. The operational costs were high because of her insistence to provide healthy pets to their customers.

  As she was being emotional, a few strangers came out from the rabbit barn with some cages. She recognized the rabbits in the cages. They were the new breeds being promoted by the base.

  “Wait! Who are you guys? Why do you move our rabbits?” She thought they were thieves so she tried to scream hoping to stop them.

  “That’s fine. I am selling them. We will not keep rabbits in the future,” Sun Yinian came out following the guys.

  “What?” she was shocked.