"I was a little depressed for quite a while at that time," he said.

To improve his mood, the Jilin province native decided to contact animal bases, looking for opportunities to care for stray cats.

Yin had owned cats as pets since early childhood, so he was delighted in March 2016 when he heard that a stray cat basement near his campus was looking for volunteers. He contacted Wu Xinhua, who organizes activities at the Cat Shed, and was soon surrounded by furry friends.

As he needed to get to his lab at about 8:30 am every day, Yin got up early to make time to help clean the shed and feed the cats. He often spent entire weekends in the basement, quickly becoming known as the volunteer who paid the most visits.

Rarely interacting with people during the day, Yin felt fulfilled at the cat shelter, so he set up a social media account to attract more volunteers.

Over a period of about six months, his mood improved and he became extremely popular with the other volunteers.

In the following 18 months, he completed all the experiments required for his thesis and was offered a job. After graduation, he will become a researcher at an academy affiliated with the Central Iron and Steel Research Institute.

His favorite moment is when he dishes out food and a dozen strays gather round, with several rubbing against his feet. When he graduates, Yin plans to house three strays in his apartment.

'Cute response'

Many studies conducted in China and the United States show that more than half the people who crave the company of cats are searching for companionship.

According to a report released by the Tencent Research Institute in February last year, the number of "cat sniffers"-people who obsessively cuddle their felines-in China reached 50 million in 2017.

It added that as cats look a lot like babies, they can easily trigger a protective feeling in their owners; a phenomenon known as the "cute response".