Pets in China are earning 'snack money' in cafes as their owners send them to work

This 2-year-old Samoyed, named OK, has a part-time 'job' working in a dog cafe. (Jane Xue via CNN Newsource)

Jane Xue sent her dog, a 2-year-old Samoyed named OK, off to her first day of work in mid-September. Her employer? A dog cafe in Fuzhou, in southeastern China.

"I feel it's just like parents sending their kids off to school," the 27-year-old PhD student told CNN as she dropped OK off for her new part-time job.

Xue wanted her dog to "experience a different life," as she and her partner are usually out on weekends.

"Sending OK to the cafe is a win-win. She gets to play with other dogs and won't feel so lonely," she said.

Pet cafes are a big business in China. Visitors get to interact with the animals that roam the shop, allowing the venue owners to charge more for the experience. Customers visiting China's cat and dog cafés usually pay an entrance fee, ranging from 30-60 yuan (US$4-8.5) per person, or simply need to order something like a cup of coffee.

In addition to being surrounded by playmates, Xue says OK's job in the cafe allows her and her partner to save money. If they leave her at home, they have to run the air-conditioning all day, which gets pricey.

"Summers in Fuzhou can be brutal," she added.

Xue's idea might sound unconventional, but it's a growing trend in China. Called "Zhengmaotiaoqian" in Chinese, it translates to "earn snack money."

The phrase stems from the idea that these pets are actually working – either part-time or full-time – at cat and dog cafes and then returning home to their families at night, just like humans.

Though the snack money trend may seem cute and fun, it's a sign of the times, too. China is expected to have more pets than toddlers by the end of this year, according to Goldman Sachs.

In recent months, cafe owners and pet owners alike have been posting recruitment ads and CVs on Xiaohongshu, China's answer to Instagram.

In one viral post titled "What is the salary for working in a cat cafe?" a cat café owner wrote: "Many people say they want to send their cats to work in our cat café, if that is the case, let me introduce the salary of our café, as we just paid some of our old employees!"

According to the tongue-in-cheek post, which has garnered hundreds of likes, a gray and white cat named Datou ("big head") ended up getting five cans of cat food "after taxes."

"Cat employees wanted!" wrote another cafe shop owner in a post on Xiaohongshu that got more than 100 likes and 600 comments.

"We're looking for healthy, good-tempered cats," the owner added. "We offer a snack per day, and a 30% discount for pet owner's friends!"

CNN reached out to some of the cafe owners for comment.

As for Xue, she says she stumbled upon some dog cafe posts on Xiaohongshu and thought it would be fun to send OK to work. She soon found one in Fuzhou called "Yezonghui" and messaged the owner. Next, it was time to groom OK in preparation for her job interview.

"The cafe owner watched OK for about an hour to see if she interacted well with customers and got along with the other four dogs," Xue told CNN.

The screening process clearly went well – the pretty white Samoyed was offered the "job."

"My OK is the star of the cafe!" she said.

'Clingy and good at purring'

Some are not as lucky as OK when it comes to the job hunt.

Xin Xin, a 33-year-old Chinese teacher at an international elementary school in Beijing, has two cats (one black-and-white and one orange), as well as a Shiba Inu dog.

She's been on the lookout for a job for her 2-year-old tuxedo cat, Zhang Bu'er, which means "not stupid" in Chinese.

Xin posted her cat's CV on Xiaohongshu on September 8, hoping to find him employment at a cat cafe, but hasn't had any luck yet.

"He is clingy and good at purring! A cat chosen by God to work at a cat cafe!" Xin wrote on Zhang Bu'er's resume, noting that they "only expect some cans of cat food or snacks as his salary."

"I thought (cat cafe) owners would reach out to me – now it looks like I need to take the initiative and send the (cat's) resume out," she lamented to CNN.

Xin says Zhang Bu'er spends her days sleeping and "parkours" at night, making a racket and disturbing her and her husband's sleep.

More annoyingly for Xin, Zhang Bu'er would always curl up on her laptop when she was working overtime.

"He just lounged around, watching me hustle away like a workhorse," she said, jokingly.

"(My husband and I) want him to be a working cat, to get a taste of the grind and earn his own food."

Xin said she spends about 500 yuan (US$71) per month feeding her two cats.

"I think (Zhang Bu'er) gets too bored during the day," she said. "A job would help him burn off some energy."

China's first cat cafe opened in the southern city of Guangzhou in 2011 and the number of similar establishments has grown by 200% per year in the country, according to CBNData, China's state-linked financial paper.

As of 2023, there were more than 4,000 cat cafe-related companies in the country.

CNN’s Joyce Jiang contributed reporting.