Founded by Jeyanthia Nadesen, it specialises in small mammals, primarily cats and rabbits – and also functions as a safe space for rescue animals awaiting adoption.
“The adoption service is my contribution to the animals’ wellbeing, to ensure there are fewer strays and abandoned animals,” Jay, as she is popularly known, told FMT Lifestyle.
“I want to show that you can have a petstore business and also do rescue and adoption. You don’t have to sell pets and profit from it entirely; the business helps the adoption process and vice-versa.
“If all pet shops were to take on this concept, there would be fewer animals in the streets or shelters,” she said.
J Jay Pet Station also offers a range of products including food, toys and cages – the mainstay of the business – as well as grooming, boarding, neutering and post-surgery daycare services.
At full capacity, it can accommodate 30 cats and 48 rabbits for boarding, and 15 and eight, respectively, for adoption.
Before delving into the pet industry, the Kelantan-born worked as an accountant. Discontent, she took a bold step by quitting and working with a local pet store, whereupon she discovered her true passion for animals.
With her family’s support, Jay opened J Jay Pet Station, which initially focused on cats, dogs and some rabbits.
She, however, quickly saw that she couldn’t keep up with the big pet stores. The overheads were very high, not to mention the costs of caring for the animals. She even lost the only staff she had.
“But I didn’t want to quit. My intention was to somehow make this happen. So I decided to focus on small animals, especially rabbits, which I had zero knowledge about,” she acknowledged. “I didn’t even know how to carry them or groom them.”
Jay thus educated herself through trial and error, trying things out with her own pet rabbit, and attending rabbit shows to meet breeders.
Still, it wasn’t necessarily smooth-sailing from there: some customers would return the animals they couldn’t look after, and the poor things would be in a bad state.
Otherwise, “people only looked for me for advice. I had very few customers. The business was running but I wouldn’t see any income. It became like a shelter”, Jay recalled.
Realising the need to revamp her business model, she implemented a mandatory neutering policy and began charging a small fee to encourage committed adopters.
J Jay Pet Station, she said, does not profit from the RM250 adoption fee, as it is used to cover the cost of neutering, grooming, deworming and defleaing.
“The fee ensures adopters are committed to taking care of the pet as they have invested money,” she explained. “It also gives them a ‘trial period’ to get a refund if they find they are unable to follow through on caring for the animal.”
Up until 2019, the enterprise continued to face ups and downs. In fact, it would have closed down had Jay not teamed up with a partner and strategically used social media to sustain it through donations during the pandemic.
After restrictions eased, Jay continued to build the business into what it is today: a pet store that is also committed to rescuing helpless animals and giving them loving forever homes.
Now, 14 years after its inception, J Jay Pet Station is doing well with eight full-time workers who cater to a devoted clientele. Is an expansion on the cards, then?
Maybe, said Jay. “We will still be here. The plan is to have specific spaces for the cats and rabbits, respectively, and create a better environment for the animals.”
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J Jay Pet Station
6-1, Jalan PJU 5/15,
Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Business hours:
- 10am-8pm (Tues-Fri)
- 10am-6pm (Mon, weekends & public holidays
Contact: 017-654 6977