JINAN, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- In a pet product industry incubation base in Caoxian County, Heze City, east China's Shandong Province, a lazy cat is dozing in a wooden pet house. When it wakes up, it tastes salmon-flavored cat treats and canned milk soup, then is taken for a health checkup, pet grooming, and styling.

From pet housing to pet food, from clothing design to health care, the entire lifestyle of a pet can be realized here, supported by a complete industrial chain.

In recent years, Caoxian has turbocharged its pet economy blueprint into a full-throttle sprint toward becoming a global pet-product powerhouse.

At present, there are 459 pet-related businesses in the county, spanning four major fields: pet home furnishings, food, clothing, and services. In the first seven months this year, the total value of the local pet economy reached 1.77 billion yuan (about 246 million U.S. dollars), up 11.8 percent year on year.

From cat trees and feeding racks to interactive toys and pet picture frames, Caoxian has established a complete industrial chain covering more than 1,000 products, sold in more than 20 countries and regions, including Europe and Southeast Asia.

In the exhibition hall of Caoxian Penghui Crafts Co., Ltd., a unique wooden "villa" for pet cats easily catches visitors' attention. This three-story pet house, over a meter high, can not only provide a place for cats to rest but also meet their needs for play and cleanliness.

"We design pet furniture products according to the different needs of overseas markets. For example, European and American countries prefer vintage styles and large furniture, while clients in Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) favor simple and small furniture," said Zhong Penghui, the company's general manager. The company's annual output in 2024 reached 12 million yuan.

In an 8,600-square-meter warehouse of Heze Kaifanle Pet Food Technology Co., Ltd., forklifts shuttle thousands of cargo cabinets, accurately locating goods according to orders. Workers are busy packing and loading goods onto trucks.

Wang Guanghui, the factory manager, said that their daily cargo throughput is about 500 tonnes. With the help of an independently developed warehousing management system, one-stop services such as cargo loading, sorting, packaging, logistics, and delivery have been realized, and efficiency has improved by about 70 percent.

In 2024, the company's output value exceeded 200 million yuan. Since last year, the company has begun developing overseas markets, planning to enter the ROK, Japan and other markets in 2026.

The pet population in China's urban area alone had reached 120 million in 2024, according to the 2025 China Pet Industry White Paper.

China's pet market is now in a period of rapid growth and is projected to reach 811.4 billion yuan by 2025, according to an annual pet industry report by KPMG China.

Amid the surging demand, Caoxian has deftly woven its well-oiled traditional textile and timber industries into a bustling pet-product powerhouse, spinning out a comprehensive supply chain that spans pet food, accessories, apparel and more.

"We have built a small- and medium-sized enterprise incubation park centered on the pet economy and formed a characteristic product cluster with wooden pet furniture as the main focus," said Zhang Longfei, director of the county's e-commerce service center.

"Our companies can obtain all materials within the park, which greatly reduces production costs and improves efficiency," Zhang said. ■