In China, pets are earning their keep with part-time jobs

The pet café market is booming in China. Image: Shutterstock

Having a pet has its costs. Between food and veterinary expenses, the bill can quickly add up. In China, some pet parents are offsetting these costs by finding jobs for their four-legged companions in pet cafés.

"Seeking dog/cat on a part-time basis." Such is the nature of the recruitment ads that have been doing the rounds on the social platform Xiaohongshu for the past few months. Several cat and dog café managers have posted on the popular Chinese app that they are looking to hire domestic canines and felines to keep their customers company. Remuneration varies from one establishment to another, although it often amounts to a few cans of food. "We’re looking for healthy, good-tempered cats. We offer a snack per day, and a 30% discount for pet owner’s friends!" one cat café owner posted on Xiaohongshu, reports CNN.

This tempting proposition reflects the extent to which the pet café market is booming in China. The concept, which originated in Taiwan in the late 1990s, is particularly popular in the country. And that's perhaps not surprising, considering that 21.6% of Chinese households own a pet, according to a study published in 2024 in the journal Preventive Veterinary Medicine. Chinese people who don't have pets find solace in cafés where they can enjoy the company of dogs, cats, alpacas, raccoons and even snakes. Such is the popularity of these establishments that the number of pet cafés in the country is growing by 200% a year, according to figures quoted by the financial media outlet CBNData. 

Animals are becoming increasingly humanized

Demand is so great that café owners are constantly on the lookout for new pets to come and entertain their clientele. But they won't hire just any dog or cat: they're looking for good-natured animals who enjoy the company of humans and each other. That's why they conduct “job interviews” with the canines and felines they're considering hiring. A two-year-old Samoyed named OK succeeded in one such interview to land a job at Yezonghu, a dog café in Fuzhou, southeast China. “The café owner watched OK for about an hour to see if she interacted well with customers and got along with the other four dogs [in the establishment],” Jane Xue, the dog's owner, told CNN.

Jane Xue came up with the idea of finding a part-time job for OK to keep her occupied when she and her partner are out at work, and to save money. As summers are particularly hot in Fuzhou, the couple have to leave the air conditioning on all day for OK, which puts a strain on their finances. Many pet parents are following Jane Xue's example and going in search of a job in a pet café for their furry companion—a trend the Chinese call “zhengmaotiaoqian,” which translates as “earning snack money.”