customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Yating Yang

The recent exposure of a pet shop adoption racket has sparked controversy and a backlash on mainland social media.
Due to the large cost of buying a pure-breed cat, many feline enthusiasts have been lured into so-called “free cat adoption” schemes.
It sounds like the perfect solution, allowing adopters to experience the joy of pet ownership and helping animals find homes, without a large single outlay.
However, the schemes are a money-making opportunity for unscrupulous businesspeople who offer “pet instalment” plans.
One such shop in Guangzhou, in the southeastern province of Guangdong, that claims to offer “free adoptions”, has a tag attached to each animal showing an amount of money that must be spent in the store as a condition of taking the pet.

Adopters must agree to spend a certain amount of money each month on pet products from the shop’s online store before taking the animal home.
For instance, adopting a Blue Cat from the store comes with a 500-yuan (US$70) monthly price tag, spread over two years, totalling 12,000 yuan (US$1,700) – much more expensive than simply buying a cat elsewhere.
“This is mainly to prevent people from mistreating or abandoning the cat after taking it home,” a member of staff at the pet store said when asked to justify the two-year “instalment plan” to News Weekly.
In addition, many pet products sold from its online shop are priced above market rates.
A bag of specific 2kg imported cat food costs about 60 yuan more than from Taobao, the e-commerce platform operated by Alibaba Group, which owns the South China Morning Post.
Adopters are also made to sign agreements stipulating that they cannot terminate the contract if the pet dies or is lost within a two-year period.
This means they could end up paying out for an animal they do not have.
One customer adopted a Maine Coon cat, and was locked into an automatic monthly payment of 800 yuan for 24 months, despite the cat’s accidental death only a few months later, reported Guangdong Radio and Television station on January 31.

The health of the cats is also a cause for concern, with many customers reporting that the pets they took home had diseases.
“They’re using free adoption as a guise to trick people into paying for cat food and litter for two years, which ends up being more expensive. The cats and dogs are unhealthy. It’s all a scam,’ one customer said on Dianping, a prominent China platform for reviews.
The schemes have been widely criticised on mainland social media.
“Free? Would such a large operation really offer that for free? It’s just another sales tactic, not charity,” one person said.
“It is not animal adoption at all. Real adoption would just require sending a video or photo to show the cats and dogs are doing well after the adoption,” said another.


China official infamous for keeping 58 staff members as lovers, amassing illegal funds, jailed

China dad transforms home into toy castle to distract daughter from electronic devices

China dog owner pays woman US$12,600 after she has miscarriage because animal startled her

China delivery rider collapses, dies on bike after working 18-hour days, leaves family in hardship

Trending in China

‘Free’ China cat adoption scams which tie people into long-term pet-product spending plans under attack

Some pet shops in China have come under attack for offering customers “free” pure-breed adoptions which tie them into costly, long-term pet-product spending plans and end up costing more than buying the animal outright. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock

Purebred cats are expensive to buy, but pet shops can end up charging even more by locking customers into “free” adoption plans which make them buy pet products for years. Photo: New Weekly

The so-called “free” adoption offers have been widely criticised by people on mainland social media. Photo: Baidu

‘Books without words’: parents of China boy, 6, sell up, buy camper van to take son on nationwide learning tour

A couple in China have sold up, bought a camper van, and taken their six-year-old son on a self-styled educational nationwide tour. Photo: SCMP composite/Bilibili

The educational tour has taken the family to an array of places in China, including a desert area of the country, where the boy and his mother enjoyed an alfresco meal. Photo: Bilibili

The boy and his mother stroll around a historic site, where his parents tell him educational stories. Photo: Bilibili

China farm girl, 15, from landlocked rural area becomes country’s first surfer to reach Olympics

A 15-year-old girl from a landlocked part of rural China, who first saw the sea when she was nine years old, has become the nation’s first surfer to qualify for the Olympics. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/The Paper

Yang Siqi says it was not poverty that spurred her on to Olympic fame, but the simple fact that she loves sports. Photo: China Olympic Committee

Yang competes at the World Surfing Games in Arecibo, Puerto Rico in February. Photo: Reuters 

‘Most beautiful golden flowers’: China auntie quartet shave heads, donate skin to save badly burned niece, 6, nephew, 4

To save the lives of their young nephew and niece who were badly burned in a house fire, four aunts in China along with the kids’ mother shaved their heads and underwent skin graft procedures. Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin

The aunts were so determined to save the lives of the children they love that they all shaved their heads and underwent skin graft procedures. Photo: Douyin

Mainland social media observers have labelled the life-saving aunts “wonder women”. Photo: Douyin

Renowned Taiwan musician uses AI to create digital version of only daughter who died at 22 to sing happy birthday to grieving mother

A famous Taiwan singer has recreated his late daughter who died of cancer using artificial intelligence technology so that she could sing a birthday song to her grieving mother. Photo: SCMP composite/Weibo/Facebook

Musician Tino Bao said creating the digital version of his late daughter helped him, and his wife, while they were grieving their loss. Photo: Weibo

Tino Bao used photos and recordings of his daughter, Bao Rong, to recreate her in digital form. Photo: Weibo

Clunky new US$3,300 ‘clear sticky tape bracelet’ from fashion house Balenciaga mercilessly mocked on China social media

A US$3,300 “clear sticky tape bracelet” made by fashion brand Balenciaga and launched in Paris, is being ridiculed on mainland social media. Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin/Instagram

Social media observers in China have wasted no time in making their own mocking versions of the chunky bracelet. Photo: Douyin

The Balenciaga tape bracelet was launched during Paris Fashion Week this year. Photo: Instagram/@vibe887

News

People & Culture

Pure-breed cats offered for free, shops lock people into spending ‘deal’
Adopters must buy litter, food every month, even if pet dies or is lost


A number of pet shops in China have been taken to task for tricking customers into spending on costly products under the guise of offering no-fee animal adoption.


Animal rights in China

Animals

‘Free’ China cat adoption scams which tie people into long-term pet-product spending plans under attack

Pure-breed cats offered for free, shops lock people into spending ‘deal’ Adopters must buy litter, food every month, even if pet dies or is lost

Pure-breed cats offered for free, shops lock people into spending ‘deal’

Adopters must buy litter, food every month, even if pet dies or is lost