How Hong Kong People’s Attitudes Toward Pets Have Changed Over the Years
Hong Kong people’s attitudes toward pets have shifted dramatically over the decades. Today, pets are more commonly seen as companions and family members deserving welfare and responsible care—yet the change is not a simple story of “better awareness equals better outcomes.” Insights from Marco Ma, Peter Lin, Bob Kwong, and Dr. Jane Gray reflect not only progress in welfare and adoption, but also new pressures brought by modern lifestyles and online information.
Marco Ma
In the past, many owners viewed pets primarily through a functional lens rather than as companions. As Marco Ma explains, people often approached adoption and purchasing with practical expectations, such as looking for a “guard dog” or a cat “that can catch rats.” This functional approach also shaped how animals were housed and cared for. Dogs were commonly kept outdoors in gardens, while indoor living for cats typically did not include basic protections such as cat-proof nets. Over the years, these standards have improved as animal laws strengthened, public education expanded, and more people gained practical knowledge about what responsible pet ownership looks like.
Social change has also affected why people adopt pets. Marco notes that lifestyle shifts—such as fewer childbirths and more people working from home—have increased the desire for companionship, making pets more integrated into daily life. In parallel, the growth of private shelters, animal volunteers, and more organised adoption pathways has strengthened public responsibility. Adoption increasingly involves screening and approval processes, meaning that bringing a pet home is treated less like an impulse and more like a commitment. At the same time, Marco warns that more knowledge can create risks if people rely too heavily on what they see online, sometimes trusting internet advice over the guidance of veterinary and animal care professionals.
Peter Lin
Peter Lin, who helps oversee welfare operations, also sees a clear overall shift towards more responsible, welfare-minded pet ownership. He observes fewer cases of abandonment and surrender than in earlier years, while emphasising that the problem cannot be fully eliminated. In his view, the improvement comes from both greater public compassion and the growth of rescue and welfare networks. Welfare organisations have also had to adapt by providing more public education and policy updates, aiming to prevent surrenders where possible and align services with changing needs.
Peter connects some earlier surrender patterns to cultural habits. He recalls that many people surrendered animals around Chinese New Year, tied to a “spring cleaning” tradition intended to remove bad luck, illness, and negativity. Decades ago, fewer welfare organisations existed, so the SPCA often had to accept large numbers of surrenders, overwhelming centres. At the time, limited space sometimes meant euthanising healthy animals just to make room. Thankfully, this is no longer the case today with the SPCA taking great measures to step up education and humane animal birth control programmes, such as the Cat Colony Care Programme, Mongrel Desexing Programme, Community Dog Programme, and the Spay Neuter Assistance Programme.
Such programmes provide accessibility to desexing services in remote locations or to families with lower incomes, whilst controlling the number of stray animals in the area. By turning uncontrolled stray populations into manageable colonies, this approach reduces harm and improves overall welfare by dealing with the root cause.
Bob Kwong
Bob Kwong’s experience adds another dimension: the evolution of public support for rescue and enforcement. Bob recalls that in earlier decades, animal rescue could be viewed by some members of the public as inefficient or wasteful. That mindset reduced backing from broader emergency systems for animal rescue and cruelty investigations. Yet rescue work remained urgent, particularly during peak breeding seasons, when large numbers of stray newborn kittens and puppies appeared across Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. To protect these vulnerable animals from fatal harm—such as abandonment, cruelty, or attacks—the SPCA installed “Cat Boxes” on both sides of the harbour. These provided temporary safe shelter for stray kittens and cats rescued by the public. Bob describes how the boxes sometimes contained unexpected animals beyond cats, including dogs, chickens, and even a monkey, reinforcing how varied and serious the public’s rescue needs could be.
Bob also recalls the types of cruelty and illegal activity that were more common then, such as skinning live quail, and illegal hawking of unweaned puppies in streets and wet markets. SPCA inspectors responded to reports, by visiting the scene, and then involving the police to prosecute. Over time, the combination of education, investigation, and enforcement has helped build stronger public awareness and a more supportive attitude toward animal welfare.
Dr. Jane Gray
Dr. Jane Gray’s perspective focuses on how attitudes toward veterinary care have changed—both for the better and with new complications. She describes that in the early 1990s public awareness of professional animal care and welfare was extremely limited, and many owners treated dogs and cats more like livestock than family members. Feeding practices often relied on scraps and food waste, contributing to malnutrition and long-term health problems. Access to veterinary care was also very limited — injured or sick animals were commonly surrendered, euthanised to avoid prolonged costs, or treated by illegal vets or pet shops. In some cases, animals were left to recover on their own even after injuries such as traffic collisions.
Dr. Jane supports the shift toward recognising animal sentience and welfare, but she emphasises that pet “anthropomorphism”—treating pets as if they are human children—can sometimes go too far. In her view, responsible care means meeting animals’ real needs rather than forcing them into human roles. She gives examples such as providing enrichment (like a trip to a dog park), toys, treats, and appropriate scratching posts—things grounded in what animals actually require.
She also mentions the advancement of technology and the internet is a “double-edged sword”. She notes that in the early 90s there was more trust in vets and there was no “Dr. Google.” Today, misinformation can lead to over-expectation, demands for quick fixes, and, in some cases, pressure for over-treatment — often delaying decisions like euthanasia without fully considering the animal’s best interests. Even though veterinary services have expanded and improved dramatically—with more clinics, more specialists, faster diagnostics, in-house bloodwork, and digital imaging—more options can reduce trust and continuity. Some owners may “shop around” for a “better deal” or repeatedly switch between veterinary clinics if concerns are not resolved quickly, which can make follow-up harder, weaken communication (between veterinary staff and the owner) and actually delay treatment and increase suffering.
Costs and expectations also shape how people interpret treatment decisions. Modern veterinary medicine is more complex and expensive because of advanced equipment, labs, imaging, monitoring, and hospitalisation. Dr. Jane explains that if owners acquired a pet cheaply, they may be more resistant to paying for necessary care—especially when genetic or congenital issues arise from poor breeding or illegal sourcing, which is more prevalent these days. She has particularly seen this with cats: pedigree cats are becoming easier and cheaper to obtain, and some may come from highly questionable sources, leading to an increased incidence of congenital and infectious diseases that may involve high diagnostic and treatment costs. When owners face higher charges than expected, she notes that they may blame vets even when the root cause lies in the underlying condition the pet already carries.
Dr. Jane also highlights the social-media environment that adds pressure on veterinary professionals. Younger vets face public scrutiny, and it is a reality that some diseases do not always improve as quickly as owners hope. When outcomes are disappointing, some people may “complain and blame” rather than accept that medicine cannot always deliver the results they expected.
Overall, these accounts suggest that Hong Kong’s attitudes toward pets have become more compassionate and welfare-aware than in the past, with stronger rescue systems, better rehoming practices, and improved veterinary care and diagnostics. The progress is real—but it also shows why more needs to be done. In a world where misinformation, social-media pressure, and unclear expectations can still lead to stressful or misguided decisions, the next step is to strengthen duty of care: choosing reliable, accurate guidance, maintaining continuity of veterinary treatment, and making decisions grounded in the animal’s actual needs and best interests.
