Cats were friends of Chinese since ancient times

Shilihe market in Beijing

The partnership with BLAF, Wang says, is a symbiotic one. BLAF has been working with various animal protection groups across China and has the experience and knowledge of the field. Purina has the money, resources and marketing abilities to promote better animal welfare.

The awareness push is currently aimed across five different cities in China - Shenzhen, Chengdu, Tianjin, Shanghai and Beijing.

Lu Ping, media manager with BLAF, says BLAF is launching a new online platform for animal adoption. The platform works in conjunction with the Purina website helpthem.purina.cn. So far the platform has more than 600 animals ready for adoption.

On Saturday, BLAF gave out stuffed dogs and cats with digital bar codes to adults and children with links to stray animal information as well as adoption details.

Feng Liao stopped by the Beijing event with her 2-year-old son. Feng says she's very happy to attend events that promote animal welfare.

"You see a lot of stray animals on the streets and I think it's society's problem to deal with this," says Feng. "These kind of events are great. Purina has a great brand and they can bring awareness to the issue."