宠物的日子越过越滋润，这对商家是好消息

“它知道我在盯着它看呢。”一名年轻女子指着她面前众多狗狗中的一只，大声惊呼。

这话没错。那只吉娃娃和另外十几只毛茸茸的小狗待在一个房间。别的狗都在玩耍打闹，一只4磅重（约1.8公斤）的博美犬最为活跃，向几只块头有它两倍大的狗身上猛扑，然后迅速逃命。那只吉娃娃却安静地坐在一边，透过玻璃窗注视着它的主人，即使狂躁的博美犬从身前跑过时，它也目不转睛。

“我得走了，这样它就可以玩得开心些。”她朝吉娃娃的方向挥挥手，离开了纽约宠物狗水疗宾馆。当时是上午10点半，看来这又是一个闷热潮湿的夏日。

我们不清楚这只吉娃娃是否开心——它看上去很顺从，有点流口水。主人离开后，它开始和其他狗交流，嗅了嗅几只狗的屁股，也得到了对方的回应。虽然外出工作时，主人完全可以把这只娇小的吉娃娃留在公寓里，但每周她还是会送它去一次水疗宾馆，跟其他狗一起享受“社交”生活。吉娃娃之类的狗在水疗宾馆玩4个小时的优惠价是31美元，全天收费43美元。

“He sees me watching him,” a young woman says, motioning to one of the many dogs in front of her.

She’s right. The Chihuahua is in a room with a couple dozen furry companions. But while the others play and fight — a puffy four-pound Pomeranian is causing most of the drama, pouncing on dogs twice its size and then running for its life — the Chihuahua sits, watching his owner through the glass. He doesn’t break eye contact, even as the manic Pomeranian hurdles past.

“I need to leave, so he can enjoy himself,” she says, waving in his direction before exiting the New York Dog Spa and Hotel into what is, at 10:30 a.m., already shaping up to be a muggy summer day.

While it’s unclear whether the Chihuahua is enjoying himself — he looks resigned and a little drooly — he interacts with the other dogs once his owner is gone, sniffing a few rear ends and getting sniffed in return. Although small enough to be left in the apartment while she’s at work, he’s dropped off here once a week, so he can “socialize” with other dogs. For a dog his size, the privilege costs $31 for up to 4 hours, and $43 for the entire day.

纽约宠物狗水疗宾馆的服务和设施看上去都是为人类孩子设计的，比如花生酱熏肉、芝士通心粉和苹果派风味的餐食，以及诸如“游戏约会”这类集体活动。在该宾馆市场营销经理达娜·范帕梅伦看来，这没什么不正常的。谈到宾馆的寄宿服务，她说：“这就跟看孩子一样。”

的确，这里是纽约，向来以高端昂贵的便利设施闻名。跟旧金山、洛杉矶等大都市一样，纽约高端宠物服务市场的体量异常庞大。然而，和许多在沿海地区兴起后，向内地蔓延的潮流一样，这类服务目前还没有发展到席卷全美的程度。

美国人目前的宠物消费水平之高前所未有。美国宠物商品协会（APPA）预计，今年宠物行业的产值将达到630亿美元，较2010年增长25%以上。在这一段时期，宠物主人的人口占比相对稳定，6年来仅略增3%。今天，约有65%的美国家庭养宠物。这意味着，宠物主人的平均消费增长速度远远超过了宠物数量的增速。

“宠物的平均消费，绝对让你大吃一惊。”北卡罗来纳州西卡罗来纳大学心理学教授哈罗德·赫尔佐格如是说。他所指的消费，是指从美甲、面部护理、健身记录、不含麦麸的零食、宠物日托到自动饮水机等一大批奢侈类产品和服务。

市场研究公司Packaged Facts分析师乔治·普罗同意赫尔佐格的看法。普罗说：“你自己和孩子享受了什么，你的宠物就有可能享受什么。”这意味着，主人会通过给狗、猫、荷兰猪等宠物买东西表现自己的个性，不管它是《星球大战》周边产品、主题T恤，还是精美的万圣节服装。

在食品行业，这种心理催生了一批既刺激人味蕾又缓解健康担忧的宠物食品。高端宠物食品市场去年销售收入达230亿美元，亦步亦趋地紧跟人类食品的健康潮流。随便逛一家高端宠物食品店，你都会发现货架上摆满非转基因食品、有机食品、无谷物食品、粗粮、原始人饮食法提倡的食物，可以满足任何一种饮食流派的选择。现在市面上的狗粮也有了蟹肉卷、绿色蔬菜汁和披萨饼皮等多种口味。

普罗说： “一听到这些产品的名字，你就觉得好吃。” 主流广告和传媒业反映，并强化了这种像营销人类食品一样销售狗食的趋势。（《纽约时报》最近就发表了一篇题为《狗也是人》的专栏文章。）

“我把它看成一位上了年纪的女士，特别希望她回归以前的社交生活，”一位男士这么谈自己十岁的宠物狗。这一幕出自宠物研究护理机构普瑞纳旗下高端狗类营养产品Pro Plan Bright Mind的一则广告。据普瑞纳公司官方网站介绍，这是一款配方狗粮，富含“独家调配的营养成分，有助于脑部发育，七岁以上宠物狗食用后警惕性更高、思维更敏锐。”在Pro Plan Bright Mind的广告中，那位男士还流着泪说，让他的“女士”改用这款产品后，“她想学东西了。”

简单地说就是，人们把狗、猫、有时还包括仓鼠、小鸟、海龟等等宠物视同己出。《财富》杂志与市场调研公司Morning Consult最近联合组织的一项调查显示，76%的受访者将宠物视为“挚爱的家庭成员”，只有19%的受访者认为，宠物“得到百般呵护，但还是被当成动物。”

赫尔佐格教授说：“我和一些同行聊过，我们都注意到这一点。”他认为，原因应该归结为人口趋势变化：一是独居的美国人增多，2014年，单身人士家庭占比由1970年的17%升至28%；二是以80后和90后为主的千禧一代对结婚生子持观望态度；与此同时，退休人士寿命更长，生活方式更健康。这些趋势催生了一个有钱有闲的庞大人群。他们需要释放情感，于是就把宠物当成自己的孩子。

范帕梅伦在纽约宠物狗水疗宾馆的经历，就是一个鲜活例证。如同许多新晋父母一样，这家宾馆的不少常客都着了迷似地在社交媒体上记录自家宠物狗的日常生活。半数以上入住该宾馆的狗都在图片分享网站Instagram上有专属账号（市场调研机构英敏特数据显示，美国每十只宠物就有一只拥有社交媒体账号。）。

范帕梅伦说：“一些宠物狗账号甚至比我的粉丝多得多。”开这些账号可能只是为了自我满足，但也正是因为宠物在网上有迹可查，范帕梅伦的工作变轻松了。宠物主人要求更新照片时，她只需要在狗的账号里操作即可。她说，很大一部分客户“还没有孩子，或者只有一个孩子，所以狗是他们生活中非常重要的组成部分。”

主人们对宠物满满的爱，让这个行业极具抗压性。APPA总裁兼首席执行官鲍勃·韦泰雷追踪宠物消费几十年。2007年至2009年金融危机最深重的时期，宠物行业的销售收入还增长了10%以上。韦泰雷指出：“人们会缩短假期，会减少外出就餐的次数，会在其他很多方面省钱，却从不会亏待宠物。”

That many of the New York Dog Spa and Hotel’s services and amenities, including PB & Bacon, Mac & Cheese and Apple Pie-flavored treats and group “play date” sessions, appear to be designed for human children is not lost on marketing manager Dana VanPamelen. “It’s like childcare,” she says of the company’s boarding services.

Yes, this is New York City, known for its over-the-top, expensive amenities. Along with urban centers such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, New York is an outlier in the sheer volume of its upscale pet services. But as with many trends that start on the coasts and bleed inward, it’s also an exaggerated manifestation of a national shift.

Americans are spending more money on their pets than ever before. This year the pet industry is projected to take in $63 billion, up more than 25% from 2010 according to the American Pet Product Association (APPA). Meanwhile, the percentage of pet owners remained relatively stable, rising just 3% in that same period — today, approximately 65% of U.S. households own pets — which means average spending far outstrips the growth of the pet population.

“If you look at the amount of money per capita we spend on pets, it’s absolutely stunning. Most of the [industry’s] growth has been on the high-end,” says Harold Herzog, a professor of psychology at Western Carolina University in North Carolina, citing an explosion of luxury products and services, everything from manicures, to facials, to fitness trackers, to gluten-free snacks, to pet day care, to automatic water dispensers.

“Whatever you might want to give for yourself and your children, you might want to do for your pets as well,” agrees George Puro, an analyst for the market research firm Packaged Facts. This translates into pet owners expressing their personality via merchandise for their dog, cat, guinea pig etc., be it Stars Wars gear, themed t-shirts, or elaborate Halloween costumes.

In the food category, it’s created an explosion of products marketed to attract human tastebuds and assuage human health concerns. The premium pet food market, which took in $23 billion last year, has tracked human health trends — visit any high-end pet food store, and you’ll find an array of non-GMO, organic, grain-free, raw, paleo, fill-in-the-food-fad-of-your-choice-here products. Dog treats now come in flavors from lobster roll, to green juice, to pizza crust.

“They’re giving [these products] names that sound yummy to your own ears,” says Puro.

This tendency to market dog products as if they were for people is reflected and reinforced by mainstream advertising and media (a recent New York Times opinion column was titled “Dogs Are People, Too.”)

“I’d like to see more of the old Lady. I’d like to see her go back to her more, you know, social side,” a man says about his 10-year-old dog in a commercial for Purina Pro Plan Bright Mind, a dry formula that contains a “proprietary blend of brain-supporting nutrients that have been shown to promote alertness and mental sharpness in dogs 7+,” according to the company’s website. After switching Lady to a diet of Purina Pro Plan Bright Mind, “she wants to learn things,” the man continues, tearing up.

In short, we’re treating our dogs, cats —and in some cases, hamsters, birds, turtles and a variety of other pets—as if they were our children. According to a recent Fortune-Morning Consult Poll, 76% of owners classify their pets as “beloved members of the family,” compared to the 19% who responded that they’re “well cared for, but still considered animals.”

“I’ve talked with other people in my field, and we’ve all noticed it,” says Herzog. He believes it comes down to demographic shifts. More Americans live alone — the percentage of single households rose to 28% in 2014 from 17% in 1970 — and millennials are waiting to get married and have children. Meanwhile, retired people are living longer, healthier lives. These multiple trends culminate in a sizeable percentage of the population that has the money, time, and emotional space to treat a pet as if it were a child.

VanPamelen’s experience at the New York Dog Spa and Hotel supports this. Just like new parents, many of the Hotel’s regulars are obsessed with documenting their dogs’ daily lives on social media: More than 50% of incoming dogs arrive with their own Instagram accounts. (Nationwide, one in 10 pets has its own social media account, according to the market research agency Mintel.)

“Some of them have way more followers than me,” she says. They may be an ego check, but an online presence makes her job easier. When owners ask for photo updates, VanPamelen simply tags the dog’s account. A large percentage of clients “don’t have a kid yet — or maybe they have one kid — so a dog is a big part of their life,” she says.

Owners’ love for their pets has made the industry a resilient one. As president and CEO of the APPA, Bob Vetere has been tracking pet spending for decades. From 2007 to 2009, the heart of the financial crisis, the business of pets grew more than 10%. “People cut back on vacations, they cut back on the number of times they go out to eat, they cut back on a lot of other things — but they’re not going to get rid of their pet,” he says.

以上这些都是业内人士的看法。下面我们看一个鲜活的例子。26岁的玛丽·阿特沃特-凯尔曼住在纽约市。她在一家非营利组织担任公关助理，回到家还要照顾两只小狗。每天晚上她都给小狗做晚饭，通常是蒸蔬菜、新鲜的精瘦肉和藜麦。凯尔曼说，英基今年3岁，精力旺盛，闹个不停，而12岁的伊莫基则像个“脾气暴躁的老人。”按这两只哈巴狗的年龄算，她的评价没错。如果一只狗到了伊莫基的年纪，它算得上一位坏脾气的老人家了。

照顾小狗绝非易事。凯尔曼一年半以前收养了伊莫基，那时它已经罹患癌症。为了负担昂贵的治疗费用，她向父母贷了一笔款，许多生活习惯也不得不随之改变。有些变化很小，比如少些做美甲，但减少和朋友聚餐之类影响还是挺大的。

尽管吃了不少苦头，她既不后悔收养狗，也不后悔花钱给狗治病。她说：“如果没有伊莫基陪在身边，我都不知道这日子该怎么过。”（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审校: 夏林

That’s the analyst take. And then there is the anecdotal evidence. Mary Atwater-Kellman, 26, lives in New York City. In addition to her full-time job at as a communications associate at a non-profit, she is a caretaker of two, small dependents. Every night, she comes home to make them dinner, typically steamed vegetables, fresh lean meat and quinoa. At 3, Inky is a rambunctious ball of energy. Emoji, age 12, is like “a cranky old man,” says Atwater-Kellman. Which is fitting; in dog years, the relevant measurement as both Inky and Emoji are pugs, he’s earned the right to be a grumpy senior.

It hasn’t been an easy ride. Atwater-Kellman adopted Emoji a year and a half ago; since then, he has been diagnosed with cancer. To cover the expensive treatment she took a loan from her parents, which resulted in a number of lifestyle changes. Some of them are small — she’s reduced her visits to the nail salon — but others, such as cutting back on dinner with friends, have a larger impact.

Despite these adjustments, she doesn’t regret the adoption or paying for the treatment. “I can’t imagine life without Emoji.”