Online Cat Videos May Be Normalising Cat Distress

Cats are ubiquitous online: it is easy to come across these felines swatting at things, racing about, engaging with their owners, or being adorable in some other way.

But are all these videos really good for either cats or people?

Cat distress in online videos

A study published in Anthrozoös by researchers at Adelaide University in Australia has found that commenters readily brush off signs of cat distress in online content as insignificant, sweet, funny, or even good for the cats concerned.

That is troubling, given that several earlier studies have demonstrated how important human–cat interactions are to feline well-being.

"Play is increasingly promoted by advocates and practitioners as a tool for human-cat bonding and feline enrichment," write the researchers in their published paper.

"Our findings highlight a critical need for educating the public about recognizing, and more crucially, respecting cat dissent, as well as cat preferences for touch and interaction and the serious human health risks of cat bites and scratches."

Veterinary scientist Julia Henning and colleagues located 11 human–cat interaction videos on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Their creators had all described them as ‘play’, yet every video displayed clear signs of cat distress, such as hissing or trying to get away.

The team then examined the comments - 1,100 in all.

Although the cats showed distress, 75-93 percent of comments on the videos expressed a positive view of the interaction between the feline and person.

"When a cat's early dissent signals go unrecognized or ignored (as they were in each of the videos included in this study), a cat experiences acute stress that may become chronic if unwanted interactions occur repeatedly," writes the team.

"This can have serious consequences for cat health and well-being.

"Despite this, cat dissent behaviors were frequently trivialized by viewers."

Summary of online videos used for analysis and sentiment within the first 100 viewer comments. (Henning et al., *Anthrozoös, 2026)*

How viewers interpret cat distress

Based on their content, the researchers sorted the comments into nine separate themes.

One was ‘if they didn't like it, you would know’: comments based on the assumption that a cat would display stronger signs of distress, or just walk away, if it disliked the interaction.

They also identified ‘lost in translation’, in which viewers misunderstood the distress cues; ‘they just get it’, the idea that cats understand a person is only playing; and ‘you'll win them over’, the belief that negative interactions will ultimately be beneficial.

The remaining themes included ‘that's cat love’, which romanticises dissent; ‘satisfying the killer inside’, which frames the behaviour as cats acting out their predatory instinct; and ‘but it's cute’, where cuteness takes precedence over every other signal.

The final two were ‘just having a laugh’, in which cat distress is seen as funny or entertaining, and ‘Karens take a back seat’, where commenters critical of an interaction were dismissed as people who knew too little about cats.

"Social media may magnify these perceptions through algorithms that reward engagement regardless of problematic content," write the researchers.

"Considering the influence of social media and perceived social norms in maintaining cognitive processes, guardian social media usage and media literacy are likely important elements to consider when creating preventative interventions."

The researchers say social media's structure may not be helping. (Jonas Leupe/Unsplash)

Risks for cats and people

The harm is not confined to cats: 7 out of the 11 videos included a visible injury to a person. Although these injuries may have appeared slight and comments often minimised them, they nevertheless involve a risk of infection.

Related: Cat Ownership Linked to Increased Risk of Schizophrenia, Study Suggests

For the next steps, the researchers say more should be done to tackle preconceptions and cognitive biases involved in watching online content. This should sit alongside teaching viewers what cat dissent actually looks like and removing some social-media features that may promote the normalisation of animal distress.

"These findings suggest that traditional educational approaches focusing solely on correcting interpretation of cat body language are likely insufficient for long-term alteration of human behavior," Henning and team conclude.

The research was published in Anthrozoös.

This article was fact-checked by Rachel Garner and edited by Rebecca Dyer. While we take pride in our process, we are only human. If you spot an error, please let us know.