In China, pets 'go to work' in special cafes: details of the popular trend.

In China, pets can be sent to animal cafes while their owners are at work or busy with other matters. This allows them to save money on pet maintenance, claim the Chinese.

Jane Xue first sent her Samoyed dog, whom she named OK, to work in mid-September at a dog cafe in Fuzhou.

According to OK's owner, she wanted her pet to 'live a different life,' as she and her boyfriend usually go somewhere on weekends. 'Sending OK to a cafe is a win for everyone. She can play with other dogs and not feel so lonely,' Xue added.

Animal cafes are a common business in China. Visitors interact with the animals that roam inside the establishment. To enter a dog or cat cafe, one usually needs to pay from $4 to $8.5 per person, or simply make an order.

Besides the fact that such cafes provide pets with other animals and people who give them attention, Xue mentioned that it significantly helps them save money. According to her, if they leave OK at home, they turn on the air conditioner for the entire day, which is costly.

The trend of using pets as workers is gaining popularity

This trend is gaining popularity in China. It is called Zhengmaotiaoqian, which translates from Chinese as 'earning money for snacks.'

The meaning of the phrase is that these pets actually work—full-Time or part-time—and then return home. While this trend can seem cute, according to Goldman Sachs, by the end of this year, there will be more pets than children in Chinese households.

In recent months, cafe owners have been posting resumes to recruit pets to work in their establishments. Under one such post on the Chinese social network Xiaohongshu, someone asked about the pets' salaries.

'Many say they want to send their cats to work in our cat cafe. If so, let me show our cafe's salary because we just paid it to some of our employees,' replied the owner, posting a with cat Datou, who received five cans of cat food for his 'job.'

Xue mentioned that she accidentally saw several announcements about dogs in cafes on social networks and decided to 'employ' OK. She chose the Yezonghui cafe and wrote to the owner. Then began the preparation for an interview, where they checked how well she got along with the other four dogs.

Problems faced by owners who want to send their pets to work

However, not everyone is as lucky as Xue and OK. Xin, a 33-year-old teacher from an international primary school in Beijing, has two cats and a Shiba Inu. She posted the 'resume' of cat Zhang Buer on a social network back on September 8, but so far, no cat cafe owner has responded.

Xin mentioned that Zhang Buer sleeps during the day and 'practices parkour' at night, disturbing her and her husband's sleep. What's more annoying for the teacher is that the cat lies in front of her laptop while she's working.

'He just lazes around watching me hurry. (My husband and I) want him to be a working cat, to experience routine and earn his own food,' she added. According to Xin, she spends $71 monthly to feed her two cats.

The popularity of animal cafes in China

The first cat cafe in China was opened in Guangzhou in 2011. Since then, the number of animal cafes has increased by 200% annually. As of 2023, China had 4,000 companies related to animal cafes.

Incidentally, last year hundreds of dogs in the USA were affected by a strange respiratory virus that remains unknown to doctors.