Pets in China Earn “Snack Money” in Cafes中國寵物在咖啡館掙“零食錢”

Jane Xue sent her dog， a 2-year-old Samoyed named OK， off to her first day of work in mid-September 2024. Her employer？ A dog cafe in Fuzhou， in southeastern China.

2024年9月中旬，簡·薛（音譯）把她的狗狗——兩歲的薩摩耶OK送去上它的第一天班。那么OK的雇主是誰呢？是中國東南部城市福州的一家狗咖。

“I feel it’s just like parents sending their kids off to school，” said the Ph.D. student as she dropped OK off for her new part-time job.

“我感覺這就像父母送孩子去上學一樣。”這位博士生把OK送到它的新兼職地點時說道。

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.

薛女士想要她的狗狗“體驗不一樣的生活”，因為她和伴侶周末通常會外出。薛女士說：“把OK送去狗咖是一件雙贏的事。它能和其他狗狗一起玩耍，不會感到孤單。”

Pet cafes are a big business in China. Visitors get to interact with the animals that roam1 the shop， allowing the venue2 owners to charge more for the experience. Customers visiting China’s cat and dog cafes usually pay an entrance fee， ranging from 30–60 yuan per person， or simply need to order something like a cup of coffee.

寵物咖啡館在中國是一門大生意。顧客可以與店內漫步的動物們進行互動，這樣一來店主就可以為這種體驗收取更高的費用。在中國，顧客光顧貓咖、狗咖，通常需要支付入場費，價格在每人30—60元不等，或者只需要點一杯咖啡之類的。

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.

薛女士表示，在咖啡館工作除了讓OK有伙伴陪在身邊，還能幫助她和伴侶省錢。如果把OK留在家里，就得整天開著空調，這是一筆不小的開銷。“福州的夏天酷熱難耐。”薛女士補充道。

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.

薛女士的想法聽起來可能不合常規，但在中國卻是一種日益增長的趨勢。中文稱之為“掙貓條錢”，翻譯成英文就是“掙零食錢”。這個說法源于一種想法，即寵物在貓咖或者狗咖實實在在地工作——無論是兼職還是全職——晚上回到家中，就像上班的人類一樣。

At the end of 2024， cafe owners and pet owners alike have been posting recruitment ads and CVs on Xiaohongshu， China’s answer3 to Instagram. In one viral post titled “What is the salary for working in a cat cafe？” a cat cafe owner wrote： “Many people say they want to send their cats to work in our cat cafe， if that is the case， let me introduce the salary of our cafe， as we just paid some of our old employees！”

2024年底，咖啡館老板和寵物主人分別在小紅書（中國的“照片墻”）上發布招聘廣告和應聘簡歷。在一篇題為“在貓咖工作的工資是多少？”的爆火帖子中，一位貓咖老板寫道：“很多人說想把自家貓咪送到我們店里工作，如果有意向，請允許我先介紹一下我們店里的工資水平，正好我們剛給幾位老員工發完工資！”

According to the tongue-in-cheek4 post， which garnered hundreds of likes， a gray and white cat named Datou （“big head”） ended up getting five cans of cat food “after taxes.”

這篇開玩笑的帖子獲得了數百個贊。據其所述，一只灰白相間、名叫“大頭”的貓最終拿到“稅后”五罐貓糧的工資。

“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 the pet owner’s friends！”

“招貓咪員工！”另一位咖啡館老板在小紅書上發帖寫道。這個帖子獲得了100多個贊和600多條評論。“我們正在尋找健康、脾氣好的貓咪。”這位老板補充道，“我們每天會給它提供零食，寵物主人的朋友們（到店游玩）可享受30%的折扣！”

As for Xue， she says she stumbled upon5 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，” said Xue.

薛女士說她是偶然在小紅書上看到了狗咖的帖子，覺得把OK送去工作會是件很有趣的事。她很快就在福州找到了一家名為“耶總會”的店，并發信息聯系了店主。接下來，她給OK梳洗打扮了一番，為它的工作面試做好準備。薛女士說：“咖啡館老板觀察了OK大約一個小時，看它能否和顧客友好互動，能否和其他四只狗狗融洽相處。”

The screening process clearly went well—the pretty white Samoyed was offered the “job.” “My OK is the star of the cafe！” she said.

篩選過程顯然很順利——這只漂亮的白色薩摩耶得到了這份“工作”。“我的OK是咖啡館里的明星！”薛女士說。

“Clingy6 and good at purring7”

“黏人又很會發出呼嚕聲”

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

在求職方面，有些寵物并不像OK這么幸運。

Xin Xin， a 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 was on the lookout for a job for her 2-year-old tuxedo8 cat， Zhang Bu’er， which means “not stupid” in Chinese.

辛馨（音譯）是北京一所國際小學的中文教師，她有兩只貓（一只黑白相間的，一只橘黃色的），還有一只柴犬。她曾為她兩歲大的奶牛貓“張不二”（“不二”在中文里是“不愚蠢”的意思）尋找工作。

Xin posted her cat’s CV on Xiaohongshu on September 8， 2024， hoping to find him employment at a cat cafe， but didn’t have any luck.

2024年9月8日，辛女士在小紅書上發布了她貓咪的簡歷，希望為它在一家貓咖找到工作，但是沒有得到任何反饋。

“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.”

“它黏人又很會發出呼嚕聲！是天選貓咖打工貓！”辛女士在張不二的簡歷中寫道，并指出“只需要幾罐貓糧或零食作為工資”。

“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.

“我原以為（貓咖）老板會主動聯系我——現在看來我需要主動出擊，把（貓咪的）簡歷發出去。”辛女士感慨道。

Xin said Zhang Bu’er spent his days sleeping and “parkours” at night， making a racket9 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 grind10 and earn his own food.”

她說張不二白天睡覺，晚上“跑酷”，弄出很大動靜，打擾她和丈夫睡覺。更讓她煩惱的是，每當她加班工作時，張不二總是蜷縮在她的筆記本電腦前。“它就懶洋洋地躺在旁邊，看著我像個苦力似的拼命干活。”辛女士開玩笑地說，“（我和我丈夫）想讓它成為一只打工貓，體驗一下辛苦勞作的滋味，自己掙貓糧。”

Xin said she spent about 500 yuan 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.”

辛女士說她每個月要花費大約500元喂養她的兩只貓。“我覺得（張不二）白天太無聊了。”她說，“工作可以幫助它消耗一部分精力。”

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 CBNData11. As of 2023， there were more than 4，000 cat cafe-related companies in the country.

根據第一財經商業數據中心的說法，2011年中國第一家貓咖在南方城市廣州開業，隨后類似的店鋪以每年200%的速度在中國增長。截至2023年，中國有超過4000家與貓咖相關的公司。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）