Mooncakes, a sweet staple for China’s annual Mid-Autumn Festival, are not just for people any more. Humans are pulling back, but dogs are digging in. So are cats.

Pet mooncakes are popping up across China, from major retailers such as Sam’s Club to online stores and small bakeries. And many are quickly selling out.

In the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu, a pack of pet mooncakes selling online for about 50 yuan (US$8) has racked up thousands of sales, news outlet thecover.cn reported.

In the northwestern city of Lanzhou, pet owners can choose from fresh or freeze-dried dog mooncakes, according to social media posts. Flavour options: duck with blueberry or salmon with egg yolk.

China’s social media and e-commerce platforms have also been flooded with s for dog and cat mooncakes in the days leading up to Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Friday.

Typically costing around 10 to 50 yuan for a four-pack, the pet-friendly treats are colourful, mini versions of traditional mooncakes with flavours such as chicken, duck or salmon.

He Yuqi, an English teacher based in Guangzhou, said he was surprised to see so many online stores offering pet mooncakes this year.

“So I decided to order some custom-made vegetarian mooncakes from a nearby bakery to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with my two dogs,” the 30-something said.

The trend reflects a boom in pet ownership in China over the past few years. The number of dogs and cats in the country’s urban areas reached 126 million in 2025, while owners’ spending on their pets hit 312.6 billion yuan (US$46.7 billion), according to a report by market data provider petdata.cn. By 2028, spending is projected to reach 405 billion yuan.

It also fits into a wider shift in consumer behaviour in China, as people stop splashing out on fancy traditional snacks and switch to alternative products that match their personal tastes and lifestyles.

Healthier versions of traditional mooncakes – which tend to be packed with sugar and oil – are becoming especially popular as consumers embrace wellness and businesses pull back from spending on luxury gift boxes.

Low-sugar mooncakes made with Chinese pearl barley seed and herbal tea were selling well this year, according to Peninsula Metropolis Daily, an outlet based in eastern China’s Shandong province. Other popular options include mooncakes with unusual fillings, such as stinky tofu and spicy , a pungent rice noodle typically made with river snails.

Meanwhile, sales of traditional mooncakes have plummeted at major retail outlets this holiday season, according to data from FMCG China, a retail data provider that tracks more than 3,000 offline stores.

Mooncake revenues at these outlets were down by more than 45 per cent between August 14 and September 13 compared with the same period last year, while gift-box sales were down by over 49 per cent, according to the company.

Sales of gift boxes priced over 1,000 yuan plummeted by 76 per cent, with most consumers now favouring options between 68 yuan and 200 yuan, FMCG China found.

According to iiMedia Research, China’s mooncake market hit a peak of 30.01 billion yuan in 2024, before shrinking 5.9 per cent last year.

Qiu Hui, an administration manager in Guangzhou, said her company had cut its mooncake budget for staff and clients this year, as businesses were becoming more cautious about discretionary spending amid an uncertain economic outlook.

In the past, companies were often judged based on the lavishness of their mooncake gift sets, with a pricey gift box taken as a sign that a firm was doing well, according to Qiu.

But that appears to be changing amid China’s wider “consumption downgrade”. The country’s overall retail sales rose by just 0.4 per cent year on year in August, as sluggish domestic demand continued to act as a drag on economic growth.