A day at work for Mark Wardle can include accompanying cats to Hollywood film sets or high-end magazine shoots. As an “animal talent booker and fur whisperer” (a title that makes me immediately regret my own career path) Wardle manages about 60 pets, many of them cats, at the pet influencer agency Urban Paws.
His is not a unique job. In the UK and beyond, pet influencer agencies – including one devoted to cats, Feline Stars – have begun to proliferate. The reason, Wardle notes, is simple: many of these animals now have “more reach and followers” than their human counterparts, with enough clout to land primetime TV spots. It is, after all, an industry riding the wave of a global pet economy projected to surpass $500bn by 2030.
