Vijaykanth’s sons, Vijay Prabhakaran and actor Shanmuga Pandian, have been spotted at many dog shows in the last few years. They have a separate site and kennels built for his 45+ dogs next to his home where he has internationally trained carers.
Pet owners are going to all lengths to get the best for their pets in terms of food, grooming, healthcare, budget not being a constraint.
Nina Reddy, prominent hotelier and socialite is known for her love for dogs. With 2 Shih-Tzu, 2 Pomeranian she has 2 staff members dedicated for her pets that have special state-of-the-art kennels built for them. She gives them home cooked food, and a professional show-groomer who comes in 5 days a week. “We are family of dog lovers”, she says affectionately. “We have housed all breeds over the last 40 years from all over the world. We never breed or neuter our dogs. Now we are not into exotic breeds and are more into native breeds.”
“It’s very important to have a good vet who will be available for the pets when needed. And unless you can take care of your dogs, please don’t have one”, Nina advises.
“Pets to me are part of the family. They can enhance your quality of life greatly and are often more perceptive than human beings,” says Yalini, who had to pull a few strings to get her dog flown across to Dubai after she moved there from Chennai.
A veterinary hospital in Santhome also has an ambulance assigned for pets. Pet friendly restaurants have popped up in the city where people can bring their pets when they go to dine. Doggy waiters serve up gourmet meals for the pets and also ensure there are plenty of garden hinges for them to wander off into.
A first-of-a-kind blood bank was started by the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) and has since seen a steep increase in pet owners and concerned citizens using this space to donate and to popularise blood-requirement requests via social media.
If you thought, pampered pooches are only surviving on dry food as prescribed by some vets, think again! Gourmet meals are being catered direct to the pet-tables after a thorough analysis of dietary likes and dislikes and their health condition. “We offer human-grade, fresh pet dog food made with real and natural ingredients and delivered direct to your doorsteps,” says Praveen of Oscar Daisy a popular gourmet meals service for celeb homes. “The recipes are nutritionally balanced and formulated by Veterinary Nutritionist. Our food doesn’t contain any by-products, preservatives, additives or rendered meats and ensures the right intake of calories as per the requirement of the pet.” A pet meal costs anywhere around `400-500 per day depending on the ingredient-mix.
Pet spas and grooming studios are also making their presence felt with quite a few opening doors in the city. Arunodaya Reddy owns a pet grooming spa, which also stocks all the essentials for pets along with a swimming pool, boarding and a cafe to indulge in with special treats that are served up in green-tea, strawberry, mutton mince, carrot crunch flavours.
“People are so busy with their careers that many feel the lost time with pets must be compensated by pampering them. Our spa is filled with so many lovely pet parents who check them in for massages to reflexology treatments. We also offer designer haircuts for dogs that are a hit on the socialite circuit.” Certain spas in the city also offer hydrotherapy, skin-cleansing scubs and lavender scented perfume baths for pets. Suresh Chandra who began a pet spa is film actor Ajith Kumar’s PR associate and set the trend going among star dogs.
Over the years, demand for exotic breeds has only increased and many pet suppliers are the world for discerning customers. Celebrity dog suppliers like Kamal Kandaswamy source and also breed their own puppies to supply to celebs like Murugadoss, Varalakshmi Sarathkumar, Atharva. Kamal is said to have sold a prized Pit Bull from American ‘Hulk’ lineage at a whopping sum of `11 lakhs to a Chennai home.
Kamal says, “Celebrities and industrialists now are preferring breeds that don’t shed much and are temperamentally calm. Those that prefer guard dogs prefer to import from international bloodlines. Our puppies cost anywhere between `50,000 to 3 lakhs depending on the breed. But we don’t do pet-shop quality. Our pups are all raised in good pet homes or at our kennel that is 3 acres large and is air-conditioned in parts.”
Chennai as a city is largely becoming a city that flaunts its pets with actors like Priya Anand often bringing their pets to events and Jiiva being spotted on the beach with his family and dogs. Demi Isaac, a name synonymous with pets in the city, says, “The culture of showing off their prized pets is growing in Chennai. Dogs are no longer for guarding or being a showpiece at home. People’s relationships with their pets are up for display now in public spaces. Most big hotels too now encourage pet owners to bring their pets along, except at the swimming pool area,” he says.
Celebrity dog groomer Arun Giri, who funded his school education by grooming pets in the homes of Atharva, Kamal Hassan, Jiiva and Ramya Krishnan, says, “I enjoy meeting celebrities. Most of them have contributed to my school education. Every week I visit a different celebrity home and groom their dogs. Now, I am in college and I still visit their homes. The pets have a relationship with me that is unbreakable.” Prashant from Delhi has supplied all sorts of breeds to noted doctors and big shot politicians in Chennai. “We get pets from China, Thailand, Russia, etc depending on the client demand and supply them all over India”, he says, with prices going up to over Rs 10 lakhs at times for some puppies.
