One of our goals is to raise awareness on pet care: Pet Fed founder Akshay Gupta

Our pets, they give their whole lives to us and love us unconditionally, the idea is to give that love back by creating something entirely for the furry friends. After taking Delhi and Mumbai by storm, Pet Fed is all set to charm Bangalore with its fun and frolic.

Pet Fed originated in 2014 when 25-year-old Akshay Gupta, the founder, realised that there are festivals for every liking but there was none for people who love animals, which includes about 1.5 crores pet-owning households in India.

Speaking about it Gupta says, "Pets are like families and with increasing disposable income, more and more people are indulging in maintaining a better lifestyle for their pets. Looking at this, Pet Fed started with the sole aim of providing pet parents with new and exciting experiences with their pets and to bridge the awareness gap in pet care by bringing pet parents and services and products for pets from across India, on the same platform."

In conversation with this correspondent, Akshay Gupta shares more about Per Fed, animal care awareness, and future plans.

What is the USP of Pet Fed? What is the footfall generally like?

Pet Fed is the biggest pet festival in India which is visited by 20,000+ pet owners and 3000+ pets every year in each city. The carnival is spread across 3 acres of lush green area for pets to enjoy numerous activities like off leash zones, fashion shows, dog agility, cat zone, security and police dog displays, good dog citizen schemes, discover dogs and many other entertainment & knowledge based engagements.

Through this, Pet Fed successfully brings out the true essence of pet keeping. Each and every activity and workshop is delicately curated to help people strengthen the bond with their pets.

What kind of people usually come for the event? What kinds of pets are usually brought?

We get people from all walks of life, people who have had pets for their entire lives and people who love animals but can't keep a pet at home. The festival serves as a big fulfilment for such people as they can't be around pets throughout the day. We see people mostly getting dogs and cats, but we do get a handful of rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters as well.

Does Pet Fed highlight a need for more awareness when it comes to pet care? How?

One of our major goals is to raise awareness regarding pet care and bridging the awareness gap in pet care. A lot of people get pets home without realising the extensive time and care involved, one of our major goals is to help pet owners understand their pets better and give the best to them.

We have a specific arena called ‘Discover Dogs’ in association with Royal Canin, it's one of the major attractions at the festival. The arena has a dedicate booth for 11 different breeds and our professional consultants and fellow pet parents help understand the needs of different breeds to the pet owners, like how much exercise is needed, food habits, common health issues, temperament and more.

This has helped pet owners tremendously in other cities in understanding their pets and for new pet owners to figure out the breed best suited for their lifestyle.

Does Pet Fed promote, in any manner, animal adoption?

We are all about adoption. Not many people know this, but to encourage people who have adopted Indies (Desi Dogs), we keep their entry to Pet Fed completely free. We also associate with NGOs who particularly work towards adoption and provide them stalls free of cost and donate a certain amount from our side as well. In fact, Smt. Maneka Gandhi is one of our advocates and she always encourages pet owners to take their pets to Pet Fed, we have always partnered with her NGO to increase adoption at the fest.

What is the future plan for Pet Fed?

The plan is to take Pet Fed to as many cities as possible in the near future and give the pets across India a weekend dedicated to them. We'll also be looking at expanding to Sri Lanka very soon.

Pet Fed is being organised in these places:

Bangalore: 1st & 2nd December 2018 at Manpho Convention Centre (next to Manyata Tech Park)Delhi: 15th & 16th December 2018 at NSIC Ground, Okhla
Mumbai: 19th & 20th January 2019 at MMRDA grounds BKC