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It is an interesting thing to see how the urban economy continuously reinvents itself in a city like London. Goods – food, fashion, furniture and trivia – become popular and then are forgotten before you can name the places in their supply chains. Services are even more speedy to move from one trend to another, and the newest fashion in both the world of goods and the world of services is the pets of the city’s denizens; the non-human population of London. Our pets have always been dear to us. Of course. It is said of mankind in general and the English in particular that dogs constitute our best friends outside the species to which we belong; cats come a close second. And urban dwellers are no exception to this – if anything, the heaving, speeding, buzzing city life actually strengthens our need to keep in touch with ‘the natural world out there’, and pets are a great way of doing this. We can get away from the utter anthropocentricism of the cities in which we live through our pets: they remind us that there is a world out there that has no interest in money, schedules or café con latte. And so we love our pets almost as dearly as we love ourselves (or rather, perhaps, as dearly as we love each other). London’s cats, dogs, fish, mice, rabbits, birds and more exotic creatures (a price comparison website you may have heard of recently created an advertising campaign based on a fictitious meerkat; shortly afterwards thousands of Londoners found out to their chagrin that while cute, the creatures have an exceptionally odorous-smelling pee, and very weak bladders) are receiving the attentions of both the goods and services markets. The goods sector is having a field day producing foods, toys, medicines, even clothing for pets. Supermarkets now often have entire aisles dedicated to a raft of gourmet foods for dogs, cats and birds (for some reason fish do not get as much attention) that would make our great great grandparents salivate: it is famously commented that the French penchant for snails and frogs’ legs, and our own nation’s liking of black pudding and small fowl, are the culinary fingerprints of bygone times of serious hunger. Now we are gaily asked to choose between fish, rabbit, chicken, beef or lamb (or any number of combinations) with which to wine and dine our dear pussies and mutts. Services have done no worse. Vets are now a business in which serious money can be made – and whilst there is assuredly some money spent that needn’t be, you only have to look at a less affluent city like Istanbul (from where I recently returned from a wonderful culinary week’s holiday) to see that our pets, by comparison, are very healthy, happy creatures on the whole. There are hairdressers for the feline and the canine, too, as are there a plethora of new companies offering dig walking and pet sitting. In short, when it comes to services for pets, if you name it, your pet can bet that you’ll be able to find it in London. Let's not mention the cleaning industry that develops thanks to the pet love of many people today. Most cleaning companies offer pet stain removal and carpet cleaning services in London specially designed for pet owners. Which is just as well, because after all, we have to spend our money on something, don’t we?
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pets, dogs, cats, pet care, pet sitting, pet care services,
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