a hedgehog at CAVE, a animal themed cafe in Beijing. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

In fact, the trend of animal themed eateries only began in China very recently. Similar eateries in Japan have long been popular and feature even more exotic animals such as otters, owls, capybaras, ferrets and chinchillas. Although there are not many such cafes in China, customers seem no longer satisfied with cat cafes.

Dahuang's Home, a Shiba Inu themed cafe, is one of the most popular animal cafes in Beijing, with customers often having to make a reservation a day before so that they can spend 40 minutes with the dogs.

Zhao Songxue, the cafe's owner, said she thinks such cafes are popular because a lot of people, especially young adults, in big cities are under a lot of pressure from life and work these days and do not have time to look after pets, especially dogs which need to go outdoors often.