Cafes in China hire cats and dogs as 'snack earners' in growing trend

In a unique and growing trend in China, pets like cats and dogs are being sent to cafes to “work” part-time, allowing their owners to save on costs and keep their pets engaged.

One such pet is OK, a 2-year-old Samoyed, whose owner, 27-year-old PhD student Jane Xue, sent her to a dog cafe in Fuzhou for her first “job” in mid-September.

“I feel it’s just like parents sending their kids off to school,” Xue told CNN, explaining that it was a win-win as OK could play with other dogs instead of being home alone.

Pet cafes are booming in China, where customers pay to interact with cats and dogs, creating a new revenue stream for businesses.

Owners post recruitment ads for pets on Xiaohongshu, China’s version of Instagram, with some pets earning food as payment.

Though the trend is fun and quirky, it’s reflective of China’s pet boom. According to Goldman Sachs, China is expected to have more pets than toddlers by the end of this year.

Some, like Xin Xin, a 33-year-old Beijing resident, have not had luck finding “work” for their pets. She posted a CV for her cat, Zhang Bu’er, hoping to land him a job at a cafe but has yet to succeed.

“I thought (cat cafe) owners would reach out to me – now it looks like I need to take the initiative,” Xin said.

Since the first cat cafe opened in Guangzhou in 2011, the number of such establishments has surged by 200% annually, with more than 4,000 cat cafe-related companies in China as of 2023.