Why would I want to make my pet feel fearful? (Picture: Daniel Warren-Cummings)
As I watch a video of the latest, horrific TikTok trend – a cat being picked up under their front legs and swung about a living room like a ragdoll – I feel frustrated and sad.
But what I don’t feel is surprised.
There’s an epidemic of cat suffering on social media. An epidemic that’s not only going unnoticed but is, in some ways, being rewarded by the social media companies themselves and one that is being indulged by those who profess to love our feline friends.
I’m not watching this poor, terrified cat to make myself angry. Rather I’m watching it as part of my job as an animal behaviourist, working for the charity Cats Protection.
Part of my role includes education, working with everyone from those in the veterinary profession to the general public.
I also give expert opinions on current events concerning cats and, with the explosion of social media, this role has become more challenging as we try to firefight all the bad cat welfare trends and messaging.
Just so we’re all clear; this means that part of my job is to advise people why it would be dangerous for these animals to be chased around a room, picked up and swung around for prolonged periods of time.
If you find it baffling that people actually need to be told that, welcome to my world.
From scaring cats with cucumbers, to giving them ‘dino-cuts’ and getting dizzy to Taylor Swift, my job is to try and advocate for felines in a series of increasingly bizarre contexts.
It leads me to wonder, if I didn’t work for Cats Protection and I saw this latest video, would I be compelled to walk into my living room, pick up my cat and swing her around the room? Am I judging these videos through the privilege of knowledge and experience?
Unfortunately, some people don’t have empathy for cats (Picture: Daniel Warren-Cummings)
It doesn’t take me long to answer, it’s pretty easy, in fact – no. I wouldn’t do it because why would I want to make my pet feel fearful? Why would I want to potentially injure her?
Social media appears to have a way of allowing people to engage with something that they wouldn’t tolerate in person. Do we have such a lack of empathy for the pets in our home that we don’t care? Or is it a lack of understanding about cats? Or perhaps both?
Trends are only the top-line problems for cats on social media, the bits that get people’s attention. However, there’s a daily cesspool of poor feline welfare that exists; laughing at cats fighting, cats being heavily restrained to perform on camera, cats that are dressed up in a way that inhibits their natural behaviour.
Social media is rife with this kind of content that will encourage users to think that this is acceptable.
Cats Protection’s annual report this year shows that more young people are getting cats, with those 34 and under making up 35% of UK cat owners. While at the same time, social media sites such as Tik Tok are increasingly being used by younger generations (with 19% of cat owners searching social media for advice).
We’re a world of so-called cat lovers but we don’t act that way (Daniel Warren-Cummings)
We face unfortunate timing of people taking on ownership for the first time, while being inundated with inappropriate ways to interact with these animals.
If owners want to educate themselves to better understand fearful body language in cats, or what’s good for their pets’ welfare, there are plenty of reputable sites to do this, via organisations such as Cats Protection or International Cat Care.
Unfortunately, some people don’t have empathy for cats or other sentient animals and this doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon, therefore sadly we can’t expect the creation of these videos to cease.
And, while I wasn’t surprised watching the spinning cat video, what did surprise me was the comments underneath it. Where I expected to see outrage and concern for the poor animal, I saw people cooing and even commenting on the cat’s fearful body language as if it were cute.
Herein lies the problem; we’re a world of so-called cat lovers but we don’t act that way. There appears to be a disconnect between being a cat lover and being someone who wants what is best for the animals themselves.
Some cat owners might ‘like’ videos of a cat walking on a lead, terrified on the underground, fighting, showing fear-based aggression and being swung around a room.
But someone who wants the best for our feline friends will not like those videos, will not subscribe to that channel or engage with those users.
We need more people to want what’s best for cats, we need more advocates. The great news is that you can still love cats, you can relish in their beauty and comfort and funny ways – through engaging with social media users who produce content that doesn’t harm them in any way.
We can’t control what content gets made but we can control whether we engage with it.
Disclaimer: social media users are encouraged to report harmful content to social media platforms for review and the social media platforms themselves to ensure content which shows animal abuse is removed and reported to the relevant authorities.
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While I wasn’t surprised watching the spinning cat video, what did surprise me was the comments underneath it.