Cute But Cruel? Research Shows Popular Pet Videos Often Cause Stress

A study published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science has found that many popular online videos featuring dogs and cats may actually involve harm or stress to the animals. Researchers analysed 162 widely shared videos from Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube that appeared to pose possible risks to pets, even though they did not show outright cruelty.

The analysis found four types of videos:

• Challenges that harmed animal welfare, such as trends involving "slapping" a pet, appeared in 6.2% of the analysed videos.
• Challenges targeting sensitive pets, which typically involved provoking or irritating the animal.
• Fun and entertainment videos, created mainly for humour or enjoyment.
• Anthropomorphic content, where pets were dressed in costumes or made to appear human-like, also seen in 6.2% of the videos.

While many people view these videos as funny or adorable, the findings show a different reality.

More than half of the videos (53%) put the animal at risk of injury, and 82% showed clear behavioural signs of stress. In many cases, people in the videos were seen provoking, frightening, or harassing the animals. Dogs commonly showed stress through wide eyes, ears pulled back, and avoidance behaviours, while cats often had wide eyes and dilated pupils.

The researchers stated that, "Posts featuring pets offer users a means to counteract negative online experiences through their inherent cuteness. However, an emotional or humorous portrayal can lead to a concealment of the actual animal welfare problems by distracting from the signs of suffering. While there is nothing inherently wrong with enjoying animal videos on social media, it is crucial that they do not entail any suffering for the animals involved."

The research also highlighted welfare issues linked to breeding, such as flat-faced dogs and Scottish Fold cats, which suffer from genetic health problems. Some videos also featured pets with cropped ears, docked tails, or obesity.

The authors warned that humorous presentations often hide signs of distress. They urged social media users to learn to recognise stress signals in pets and avoid participating in viral "challenges" that could harm animals. They also encouraged viewers to report or hide videos showing distress. The study concludes that while animal videos can be enjoyable, they should never involve suffering.