Over the past three years, veterinarian Zhang Xinxin has treated over 5,000 exotic pets, a vast increase from years prior when he would mainly treat cats and dogs.

Such exotic pets include rabbits, turtles, snakes, parrots, lizards, hamsters and chinchillas.

According to the 2025 China Pet Industry White Paper recently released by industry platform PetData, owners of fish accounted for 13.4 percent of all pet owners nationwide last year, an increase of 0.6 percentage points year-on-year, while owners of reptiles accounted for 11.3 percent, rising 2.9 percentage points.

The number of people with pet rodents and birds accounted for 7.8 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively, increasing by 0.7 percentage points each.

The growing exotic pet market has driven demand for vets with special skills, including 27-year-old Zhang, who works at Aiwei Pet Clinic in Changchun, Jilin province.

Zhang became a vet at the clinic after graduating from Jilin Agricultural University in 2019,

At the beginning, his patients were mostly cats and dogs, he said. "However, at the end of 2019 a mother brought her daughter to our clinic. The little girl was crying because her pet rabbit was sick.

"Although the rabbit wasn't expensive to buy, they were willing to spend hundreds of yuan on its treatment," Zhang said.

The rabbit's breathing was weak, and after examination he diagnosed it with gastrointestinal disease.

"Unfortunately, the pet's condition was too severe for us to save its life," he said.

"I will never forget the sad expression on the little girl's face. It turns out that not only cats and dogs can be family companions."

After that, Zhang began to study the treatment of exotic pets.