As I watch a video of the latest, horrific TikTok pattern – a cat being picked up underneath their entrance legs and swung a few front room like a ragdoll – I really feel pissed off and unhappy.
But what I don’t really feel is shocked.
There’s an epidemic of cat struggling on social media. An epidemic that’s not solely going unnoticed however is, in some methods, being rewarded by the social media firms themselves and one that’s being indulged by those that profess to like our feline buddies.
I’m not watching this poor, terrified cat to make myself offended. Rather I’m watching it as a part of my job as an animal behaviourist, working for the charity Cats Protection.
Part of my position consists of training, working with everybody from these in the veterinary career to most of the people.
I additionally give skilled opinions on present occasions regarding cats and, with the explosion of social media, this position has turn out to be more difficult as we attempt to firefight all of the dangerous cat welfare developments and messaging.
Just so we’re all clear; which means that a part of my job is to advise individuals why it could be harmful for these animals to be chased round a room, picked up and swung round for extended durations of time.
If you discover it baffling that folks truly must be advised 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 to advocate for felines in a sequence of more and more weird contexts.
It leads me to surprise, if I didn’t work for Cats Protection and I noticed this latest video, would I be compelled to walk into my front room, decide up my cat and swing her across the room? Am I judging these movies by the privilege of data and expertise?
It doesn’t take me lengthy to reply, it’s fairly straightforward, in reality – no. I wouldn’t do it as a result of why would I wish to make my pet really feel fearful? Why would I wish to doubtlessly injure her?
Social media seems to have a approach of permitting individuals to have interaction with one thing that they wouldn’t tolerate in person. Do now we have such a scarcity of empathy for the pets in our home that we don’t care? Or is it a lack of information about cats? Or maybe each?
Trends are solely the top-line issues for cats on social media, the bits that get individuals’s consideration. However, there’s a each day cesspool of poor feline welfare that exists; laughing at cats combating, cats being closely restrained to carry out on digital camera, cats which might be dressed up in a approach that inhibits their pure behaviour.
Social media is rife with this type of content material that may encourage customers to suppose that that is acceptable.
Cats Protection’s annual report this yr reveals that extra young persons are getting cats, with these 34 and underneath making up 35% of UK cat house owners. While on the identical time, social media websites resembling Tik Tok are more and more being utilized by younger generations (with 19% of cat house owners looking out social media for recommendation).
We face unlucky timing of individuals taking over possession for the primary time, whereas being inundated with inappropriate methods to work together with these animals.
If house owners wish to educate themselves to higher perceive fearful physique language in cats, or what’s good for their pets’ welfare, there are many respected websites to do that, by way of organisations resembling Cats Protection or International Cat Care.
Unfortunately, some individuals don’t have empathy for cats or different sentient animals and this doesn’t seem like it can change anytime quickly, subsequently sadly we will’t anticipate the creation of those movies to stop.
And, whereas I wasn’t shocked watching the spinning cat video, what did shock me was the feedback beneath it. Where I anticipated to see outrage and concern for the poor animal, I noticed individuals cooing and even commenting on the cat’s fearful physique language as if it have been cute.
Herein lies the issue; we’re a world of so-called cat lovers however we don’t act that approach. There seems to be a disconnect between being a cat lover and being somebody who needs what’s greatest for the animals themselves.
Some cat house owners would possibly ‘like’ movies of a cat walking on a lead, terrified on the underground, combating, displaying fear-based aggression and being swung round a room.
But somebody who needs the very best for our feline buddies won’t like these movies, won’t subscribe to that channel or interact with these customers.
We want extra individuals to need what’s greatest for cats, we’d like extra advocates. The nice information is you could nonetheless love cats, you may relish of their magnificence and luxury and humorous methods – by partaking with social media customers who produce content material that doesn’t hurt them in any approach.
We can’t management what content material will get made however we will management whether or not we interact with it.
Disclaimer: social media customers are inspired to report dangerous content material to social media platforms for evaluation and the social media platforms themselves to make sure content material which reveals animal abuse is eliminated and reported to the related authorities.
Do you have got a narrative you’d prefer to share? Get in contact by emailing [email protected].
Share your views within the feedback beneath.
MORE : This lovely rescue cat with ‘rare’ two noses is in search of a brand new home
MORE : Woman in feud with neighbours over cats utilizing her backyard as a rest room
MORE : Four cats ‘tragically’ die after being poisoned in Swindon
Sign as much as our information to what’s on in London, trusted evaluations, sensible affords and competitions. London’s greatest bits in your inbox
This website is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
