‘Funny’ videos of stressed and frightened pets are no laughing matter

It turns out it is incredibly funny to scare the hell out of your cats and dogs. At least, that is the message we are getting from certain TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram videos.

As a science writer who is focused a lot on animal behaviour, I have to say I just don’t get the joke. Owners post videos of themselves wearing Halloween masks or with predator plush puppets, jumping out from behind doorways and couches, just for the fun of spooking their supposedly beloved pets – who promptly leap in the air, cry out in fear or bound away – sometimes straight into a wall or off a ledge.

Clearly, though, my viral radar is off, because these clips really tickle viewers’ funny bones. They garner millions of hits, crying-with-laughter emojis and gleeful comments from users highlighting their favourite moments.

Admittedly, watching such videos isn’t my usual way of procrastinating on a deadline. But recently, I came across a study by Alina Kühnöhl at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in Germany and her colleagues analysing 162 “funny” pet videos from various social media platforms. They found that 82 per cent of the clips showed animals expressing clear signs of stress, and 30 per cent featured animals that were probably in pain. Surprised by those statistics, I decided to take a look for myself.

I have now spent far too many hours watching so-called hilarious uploads of cats and dogs on social media. Sadly, I can confirm that those researchers weren’t exaggerating. Not only are there endless videos of people deliberately terrorising cats and dogs with scary “boo” pranks, but there is also a hefty stock of clips where pets accidentally get hurt – like kittens tumbling down staircases and dogs crashing through glass doors.

I once fostered a rescue kitten that accidentally slipped off a couch and landed badly, causing paralysis that required euthanasia. I have seen dogs get concussions, nerve damage and gruesome injuries from ramming into glass. But ha ha ha, so funny, right?

It also seems popular to showcase dogs’ “naughty” behaviour. People film piles of fluff and fabric from what used to be their couches while condescendingly singing out “what did you do?”, as the dog hides. The owners may delight in their social media success and their pet’s “guilt”, but the truth is that destructive behaviour often reflects poor welfare, and a guilty dog face is more likely to be an expression of anticipating punishment than remorse. So actually, the joke’s on you, owner.

And then there are the many morbidly obese animals, which are so overweight they get stuck in pet doors, can barely walk and simply can’t jump at all onto furniture, despite efforts that are, frankly, heart-wrenching to watch. Other pets featured as laughable have disabilities like nerve damage, causing them to walk or move abnormally.

Watching these scenes, I feel like I have been transported into some sick spectacle where modern technology gets mixed with 19^th-century circuses and sideshows – the kind where audiences roar bawdily at people in clown suits getting scared, kicked or ridiculed and at others with physical deformities just trying to live their lives.

It is hard to untangle where this trend is coming from – and my hope is that it is all just a big misunderstanding. Maybe people just don’t realise that they are laughing at another living thing’s misery. Still, it is a concerning trend, as research shows that repeatedly watching violence and cruelty online can blunt people’s emotions. That can make us less sensitive to animals’ suffering while normalising such harmful scenes in our minds, as Kühnöhl and her colleagues poignantly point out. (Indeed, that theory plays out in the real world, as the few commenters who flag these scenes as cruel often get bombarded with responses of hate and shame.)

The good news is that animals can be incredibly funny on their own, without pain, stress or provocation. Just ask anyone whose cat has swatted at their computer screen or played with their sink faucet, or whose dogs have got the zoomies or leapt gleefully into a lake. It is easy to get lots of laughs from watching happy, healthy animals engage in natural play and safe exploration.

And with that, let us propose a new social media challenge. Make us laugh with videos of your pets having fun with no discomfort, no stress and no restrictions. We dare you and your pets to have fun together.