Put on a disposable shoe cover, enter the password to unlock the entrance door, take out the key under the door cushion in front of one of the bedroom doors, open the door and enter the bedroom... After doing this series of work, Xiao Qiqi finally saw the kitten in the room tentatively sticking out its head from under the bed--that was exactly what he wanted to serve.
Immediately after, Xiao Qiqi began to prepare cat food, shovel cat litter, and take out a cat stick to play with the kitten, the whole process is about 20 minutes. Finally, he gave feedback to the cat owner, and he ended the work of feeding the cat at home this time.
In recent years, with the rapid development of the pet economy, new services such as door-to-door cat feeding have emerged. A large number of young people like XiaoQi provide a full set of services in the form of home feeding, cleaning feces, and accompanying play in the form of part-time work. More than 20 cat owners interviewed by the "Rule of Law Daily" reporter said that they have enjoyed the door-to-door cat feeding service through channels such as friend introductions and pet hospital recommendations, and will continue to choose this service next time if needed.
"The door-to-door cat feeding service has saved cat owners a lot of peace of mind and met objective needs, but there are also some risks and hidden dangers that cannot be ignored." Experts interviewed by reporters believe that as an emerging service, there is still room for further improvement in the door-to-door cat feeding service, which can be standardized and improved by setting industry standards, network platform specifications, and strengthening market supervision.
The pet economy is booming
Door-to-door cat feeding services are on the rise
In fact, home feeding services are becoming the choice of many cat owners.
Liu Yuan (pseudonym), who lives in Beijing's Dongcheng District, praised the door-to-door cat feeding service. On the first National Day holiday after adopting a pet cat, he originally planned to send the cat to foster care, but found that the triple list of cat vaccinations could not be found, and the foster care needed to provide these certificates. In desperation, he learned that the door-to-door cat feeding service procedures are relatively simple, only need to provide the home address, online contract to place an order, so decisively chose the door-to-door cat feeding service.
The first time he received the experience of door-to-door cat feeding service, he was very satisfied, he chose the door-to-door cat feeding service is introduced by a friend, he likes pets very much, after feeding, he will play with pets for a while.
After the door-to-door cat feeding service became more and more popular, many cat owners also began to provide door-to-door cat feeding services for others.
Xiao Qiqi's first contact with door-to-door cat feeding was before the Spring Festival in 2019, when he was preparing to leave Beijing to return to his hometown for the New Year, but there was a problem in front of him: when he went home, who would feed the two cats he raised? Originally, he considered fostering in a pet hospital, but the familiar pet hospital was closed for the New Year, and he was worried that after being sent to the pet hospital, the two cats would not be able to adapt to the new environment.
At the time of XiaoQi's trouble, a doctor at a pet hospital told him that he could provide door-to-door cat feeding services: about half an hour a day, help add cat food and drinking water, clean up cat litter, accompany the play, and leave on its own after the time. Because the other party was originally a pet doctor he was more familiar with, Xiao Qiqi chose the door-to-door cat feeding service with the attitude of trying it out, and left the spare key of the home to the other party.
During the New Year, the pet doctor will come to Xiaoqi's house at almost a fixed time every day, complete the service of feeding the cat, changing cat litter, accompanying play and so on according to the agreement, and will report to Xiaoqi when entering the door and leaving. Since then, Xiaoqi has repeatedly chosen the door-to-door cat feeding service and took the initiative to join the team that provides door-to-door cat feeding services on a part-time basis.
Xie Hongfei, a researcher at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that home feeding services have their own necessity and development space, especially during the holidays, because the pet owner is not at home and fails to take care of the pet, and is worried that the pet is sensitive to the environment and does not choose to foster other places, the door-to-door cat feeding service is thus generated, which is the result of the spontaneous operation of market value. "The service provider of door-to-door cat feeding should have relevant skills, such as understanding the basic situation of pets, familiar with various types of pet foods and corresponding feeding methods, and mastering the use of cat litter skills."
The service process is much the same
The lower threshold lacks standards
Yue yue, who used to work in Beijing, has been providing door-to-door cat feeding services for more than two years - she has 4 cats herself, which is recognized as a "small encyclopedia" for cats in the circle of friends. More than two months ago, she left Beijing to work in Qingdao, Shandong Province, and now she still provides door-to-door cat feeding services to several familiar netizens during breaks.
Yue Yue said that the main content of the door-to-door cat feeding service she provides includes feeding cats, changing cat litter, playing with cats, etc., but the specific content should be determined according to the needs of cat owners. "For example, some guests will ask for help to open the window for ventilation, and some guests will ask to play with cats with specific toys, which must be communicated in advance."
"Doing this line of work can not only earn more cat food money for my cats, but also 'pick up' other people's cats, which is a very happy thing." Yue Yue said that because of the door-to-door cat feeding service, she has come into contact with many loving cat owners and seen a lot of cute kittens.
"As far as I know, the current personnel who provide door-to-door cat feeding services are basically part-time." Yue Yue admitted that there are still many places that need to be regulated in the industry of door-to-door cat feeding, and the uneven quality of service providers is one of the important problems.
She said that she had met a very unprofessional door-to-door cat feeding staff, when she was just about to go out, and the person who went to the door to feed the cat had a face-to-face, and found that the other party was a man in his 50s, the method of holding the cat was very unprofessional, and she had never kept a cat at a glance. Only 10 minutes after entering the door, I completed the feeding of the cat perfunctorily, completely without the emotion of playing with the cat and taking care of the cat, "making me feel very uncomfortable."
Another time, after she returned home from a business trip, she saw that the cat feeder mistook the alcohol she bought for disinfection for water and poured it into the cat's drinking bowl, and she could no longer contact the other party afterwards.
"Fortunately, the alcohol smells pungent, and the cat doesn't drink it, but the cat doesn't drink water all day, and the person is really irresponsible." Moon said.
Li Mu (pseudonym) is a doctor at a pet hospital in Beijing's Changping District, and in his spare time, he also provides door-to-door cat feeding services for some customers. He told reporters that some of his pet doctor friends will privately provide door-to-door cat feeding services.
"Now there are many people who provide door-to-door cat feeding services in the name of pet hospitals or institutions, but in fact, they are the same as us, that is, to take 'private work'." As far as I know, regular pet hospitals do not provide door-to-door cat feeding services for customers alone. Li Mu said that because the door-to-door feeding of cats does not require special qualifications, there is no entry threshold, so it is currently in a mixed state, "there are people who really love cats and understand cats, and there are also those who just want to make some money", and even have bad intentions.
In this regard, Zhu Xiaojuan, deputy secretary-general of the Commercial Law Research Association of the China Law Society and associate professor of china University of Political Science and Law, believes that simple cat feeding services are not services with high technical content, and in principle, no qualifications are required, but from the perspective of protecting natural persons, relevant vaccinations should be required to prevent risks. However, with the expansion of the number of employees and the development of the industry, the entry threshold should be continuously improved.
Legal risks cannot be ignored
Service specifications need to be improved
So, is it safe for door-to-door cat feeders to enter the private sphere?
Ms. Zhao, who lives in Chaoyang District, Beijing, has a cat and usually chooses to feed the cat at home, but she always changes the password lock of the door before and after the service staff comes to the door, and will try to find someone she is familiar with. Sometimes, she also asks the other party to turn on the mobile phone and broadcast the process of feeding the cat in real time. "After all, there was no one in the house when they came to the door, and there were still belongings in the house, which was inevitably worrying." Ms. Zhao said.
Not only customers may have concerns, but also home cat feeding service personnel. Yue Yue told reporters that because she considered that the door-to-door feeding of cats needs to enter other people's homes, and to contact cats and other special belongings, she will sign a "Moon Moon Family Summoning Form" with customers in advance, which is a notification agreement to ensure that both parties reach an agreement after understanding the situation and then implement it to avoid subsequent disputes.
Li Mu once met a guest, after he completed the door-to-door cat feeding service, the guest refused to pay on the grounds that the service was not satisfied, and he could not do anything about it, "but after that, I will collect the deposit in advance."
"Door-to-door cat feeding services involve issues such as pet safety, private property security and personal information protection, and there are potential legal risks." In Xie Hongfei's view, door-to-door cat feeding service is a party entrusting others to provide professional services such as door-to-door feeding according to its own needs, and the two parties form a legal relationship of service contract. The nature of such a contract should be defined as a contract of contracting, and the provisions of the Civil Code on contracting shall apply.
Zhu Xiaojuan also believes that entrusting strangers to enter the house to provide cat feeding services has the risk of damage to the client's property, as well as other possible property or personal losses. From the perspective of protecting their respective rights and interests, their respective rights and obligations and responsibilities for breach of their obligations should be clarified by signing an agreement. In the event of property damage, pet injury, or dispute over payment of goods, the company shall be liable in accordance with the provisions of the contract, but in the case of property damage or pet injury, there is a competition between infringement and breach of contract, and the parties shall choose a way conducive to maximizing the protection of their own rights and interests.
Zhu Xiaojuan suggested that, first of all, starting from the formulation of industry access standards, strengthen industry self-discipline, improve the credit supervision mechanism, and make the services of the industry have a basis; second, formulate a model text of the cat feeding service contract, and clarify the rights and obligations, responsibility and relief mechanisms of the parties in advance; finally, when entrusting the cat feeding service provider to provide services, the client should also fulfill the necessary duty of care and seriously examine the character of the other party.
Source| Rule of Law Daily