ABSTRACT

Every day, thousands of humorous animal videos are uploaded on social media platforms. In this study, 162 pet videos intended to be funny from various social media platforms were analyzed for content related to poor animal welfare. The videos were analyzed regarding risk of injury for the animals, suspected pain, agony breeding characteristics and animal behavior indicating stress. The success of each video was assessed based on views, likes and shares. Stress reactions of the animals were observed in 82% of all videos, while risks of injury were found in 52% of the videos. Pain was assumed in 30% of cases, and 32% of the videos showed pets displaying agony breeding characteristics, such as brachycephaly. A total of 93.8% of all videos achieved the benchmark “views:account follower (exposure)” value of 0.14, classifying them as successful videos. This study showed that successful animal videos on social media are often related to poor animal welfare. The study emphasizes the importance of raising awareness among social media users about animal welfare issues and can be the starting point for necessary educational work.

Introduction

Pets have evolved into indispensable family members and loyal companions (Scotsman, Citation2022; Statista, Citation2023a, Citation2023b; ZZF, Citation2023). However, the human connection to pets transcends mere cohabitation. In a world dominated by social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, where 4.95 billion users were active globally in October 2023 (Statista, Citation2023c) a trend has emerged: pet-related content. Countless pet videos are uploaded daily, eliciting joy among viewers (Maddox, Citation2020). A previous study published by the authors in 2024 based on a large-scale survey revealed that 98.5% of social media users had already watched animal videos, with 41.8% of those videos categorized as funny/entertaining (Stumpf et al., Citation2024). Animal videos are popular on social media, yet instances of animal suffering within them often go unnoticed (Stumpf et al., Citation2024).

The popular short-video platform TikTok was installed around 186 million times worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2024 (Statista, Citation2025). This platform is notably recognized for rapidly spreading the content “challenge,” where an action is intended to be imitated by other users and associated with a challenge hashtag (L. H. X. Ng et al., Citation2021Citation2021). There are also countless challenges involving pets, and a study uncovered that certain challenges, such as the Cats versus cheese challenge and the Cats versus cucumber challenge, are linked to animal suffering that often goes unnoticed by viewers (Volker & Fels, Citation2021). Challenges intended for human amusement can even turn perilous, leading to fatalities in both humans (e.g., the Benadryl challenge (Minhaj & Leonard, Citation2021) and animals (e.g., Kulikitaka challenge). The Kulikitaka challenge is a TikTok trend where people startle cows with sudden movements.

An increasing number of pet owners are even creating and managing social media accounts in the names of their animal companions – the so-called Petfluencer accounts (Zhang et al., Citation2023) which are often extremely successful. Anthropomorphizing animals plays a significant role here, sometimes also portraying the animals akin to prominent personalities (Hänninen, Citation2021). Social media users follow pet posts with a variety of motivations, such as affection, curiosity or entertainment (Hänninen, Citation2021).

Recent studies highlight how public perception remains remarkably positive even in the presence of obvious distress for the animals or questionable legality. An analysis of the exotic pet trade in Canada revealed that social media users tend to view such trade favorably, even when TikTok videos display poor animal care and questionable legality (Anagnostou & Doberstein, Citation2024). Public awareness of the links between wildlife trade and poor animal welfare seems to be low, with social media users mistakenly believing that private ownership of exotic animals contributes to wildlife conservation (Anagnostou & Doberstein, Citation2024). This finding was supported by further analysis of comment sections on YouTube, where text and emoji use revealed predominantly positive sentiment in response to the exploitation of exotic wildcats and primates (Moloney et al., Citation2021). Such results underscore the normalization of problematic animal portrayals on social media.

Another study focusing on the depiction of slow lorises on platforms like YouTube and Instagram further demonstrates how social media decontextualizes wild animals, leading to the normalization of their ownership outside their natural habitat, often resulting in severe animal suffering (Quarles et al., Citation2023). Videos showing signs of stress or poor health were more frequently viewed than those featuring healthy lorises in natural conditions (Quarles et al., Citation2023).

Given these motivations and the strong presence of pets on social media, the question becomes increasingly important as to whether animal videos which are apparently funny to the user actually contain animal suffering. While prior research has examined videos of exotic species (Anagnostou & Doberstein, Citation2024; Bka-I et al., Citation2013; Quarles et al., Citation2023) the impact of animal selfies (L. A. Harrington, Elwin, D’Cruze, et al., Citation2023) or staged rescue videos (L. A. Harrington, Elwin, Paterson, et al., Citation2023) on social media, there remains limited insight into how pet videos framed as humorous may obscure poor animal welfare. The present study aims to bridge this gap by collecting a wide array of entertaining dog and cat videos from different social media platforms for thorough analysis. The animal depictions were assessed with regard to the risk of injury and pain to the animals, the presence of signs of stress that are evident in the animals’ behavior and the presence of breeding-related suffering. It is important to note that the purpose of this study is not to estimate what proportion of humorous social media videos of dogs and cats show evidence of welfare concerns, but rather to investigate what sorts of welfare concerns are evident in a sample of those videos. The study forms the basis for necessary educational work concerning the recognition of animal suffering in social media content with the aim of making users aware of this problem.

Materials and methods

Sampling strategy

Pet videos intended as humorous potentially including animal suffering were sought on the social media platforms Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. These platforms were chosen due to their popularity during the research period and the predominance of video content, as on TikTok and YouTube all user-generated content is in video format.

A mixed approach was applied for video collecting, utilizing the search function of the platforms on the one hand, and the snowball sampling method on the other hand, that involved reusing hashtags and the linked sound of relevant videos to find related videos as potential imitators (Noy, Citation2008). In the collection phase, various English-language search terms and hashtags were used: funny dog, funny dog video, dog challenge, funny cat, funny cat video, cat challenge, funny pet, funny pet video, #dogchallenge, #dogsoftiktok, #dogsofinstagram, #catchallenge, #catsoftiktok, #catsofinstagram, #funnypet. The “relevance” filter was applied to the platforms, suggesting suitable videos based on how well the title, tags, description and video content match the search query (YouTube Product Features: YouTube-Search). Additionally, a random search for hashtags and sounds linked in the titles of the identified videos was carried out to identify additional related videos (imitators). Furthermore, videos suggested by the platforms’ algorithms based on the videos already watched were also considered.

In the screening phase, the collected videos were assessed to determine whether they met one or more of the following criteria: potential risk of injury, suspected pain, agony breeding characteristics, or potential stress situations. Videos meeting these criteria were included in the study sample. Thus, the videos serving as data for this study were not randomly selected from social media platforms but were purposefully chosen based on the combination of humorous framing and the presence of potential animal welfare concerns. No attempt was made to give preference to videos of dogs versus cats. Videos depicting multiple animal species, obvious animal cruelty or lacking animal welfare relevance were excluded from the study. Furthermore, only videos in which the animals’ behavioral reactions were clearly visible and thus allowed conclusions to be drawn about animal suffering were included in the study.

This approach was used because the aim of the study was to reveal the occurrence of different forms of potential animal suffering taking place in pet videos rather than to estimate the overall frequency of such videos on social media platforms. In order to address this aim, the selected videos were assigned to predefined video categories () and subjected to further analysis of welfare-related behaviors seen in the videos (). Each video was systematically screened based on predefined criteria although some criteria (e.g., suspected pain), may involve subjective interpretation. The use of clear operational definitions aimed to reduce such bias, however it cannot be completely ruled out.

Table 1. Overview of the data collected from each video, separated by general video metrics and specific content of the individual videos.

Table 2. Behavioral categories analyzed in the present study and related behaviors of dogs and cats that indicate stress.

The search process ended after finding 200 videos that clearly met the criteria for deeper analysis. However, a few videos were subsequently excluded from the analysis because they did not allow for a detailed analysis with a clear conclusion concerning animal suffering due to the image presentation or the length of the video. Ultimately, 162 videos remained for deeper analysis. All relevant videos were collected by saving the link, or if possible, downloading the video. The selection of videos for the study did not consider a minimum number of views, likes, comments or shares. The videos included were intended to be entertaining to viewers, as evident from their titles or accompanying music, while they also affected animal welfare.

All video analyses were conducted by a single observer with a degree in veterinary medicine and specialized training in the behavior and welfare of dogs and cats. The videos were scored according to clearly defined operational criteria.

Video analysis

For each video included in the study, general data on the video were initially collected. The interactions with a video gave an indication of its success and were also determined. All recorded video data and their definitions are listed in .

Alongside the general data collected from each video, a comprehensive content analysis was conducted.

As shown in , the content analysis of each video included a video categorization, the collection of various animal characteristics and the animals’ behavior (when discernible) as well as the human behavior (when discernible). The categorization was based on the definition of Volker and Fels (Citation2021) albeit slightly modified for the present study, resulting in the categories “anthropomorphism,” “challenge affecting animal welfare,” “challenge affecting animal welfare of sensitive pets” and “fun and entertainment.” Anthropomorphism refers to the humanization of pets, for example, by dressing them in human clothing. A challenge affecting animal welfare generally involves an action/behavior of humans toward animals that causes animal suffering and is intended to be imitated by other people, for instance the Cat tape challenge, where a cat’s paws are pressed onto adhesive tape, and the animal’s reaction is filmed. In contrast, a challenge affecting animal welfare of sensitive pets does not inherently cause animal suffering, as the effects depend on the individual sensitivity of the animal. An example of this is the How many taps until your pet attacks you challenge, in which an animal is repeatedly tapped until it reacts. The category fun and entertainment includes videos in which animals perform extraordinary or actions perceived as humorous, such as an overweight dog sitting on its hindquarters and moving back and forth.

Attention was also paid to impairments affecting the animals, with a distinction made between permanent impairments and temporary ones. Permanent impairments included cropped ears or tails, extreme obesity and agony breeding characteristics. Temporary impairments included colored fur or claws, the binding or covering of sensory organs, and movement restrictions caused by the animals wearing costumes.

As permanent impairments, the following agony breeding characteristics were recorded

Brachycephaly, which describes the short-headedness and is characteristic of certain breeds, such as the Pug (dog) or the Persian cat 1.

Folded ears, which are a characteristic of the Scottish Fold (cat) 1.

Hairless animals 1.

Tailless animals 1.

Cats with shortened limbs, which are a characteristic of the Munchkin breed

Signs of pain in the animals were also documented, distinguishing between obvious expressions of pain (e.g., swallowing after being hit) and assumed pain (likely, as a similar situation in humans would cause pain).

The behavior of the animal was assigned to previously defined categories (). A stress reaction () was identified if the animal showed a stress-related behavior (). If the animal exhibited behavior that did not fit into any of these categories but still indicated negative emotions such as startling and trembling, it was categorized as “other.”

The person-related data () encompassed the human behavior toward the animal when observable and were categorized and defined as follows:

“Provocation” involved intentionally agitating the animal, such as maintaining a steady stare at the dog without changing facial expressions until it elicited a reaction, as in the Bark at your dog challenge. 1.

“Assault/harassment” entailed harassing the animal and invading its personal space. In the “slapping” category the person hit the animal with an open hand. 1.

“Costuming” pertained to dressing the animal in attire for amusement, excluding clothing for adverse weather conditions or medical necessity. 1.

“Frightening” signified the intentional act of instilling fear in the animal, for instance, abruptly startling sleeping animals with a loud noise. 1.

“Other non-animal-friendly handling” described instances where animals are anthropomorphized or were placed in non-species-specific body positions.

Video metrics

To assess the exposure, popularity and engagement of each individual video, the following parameters were calculated for each video:

views:account follower (exposure) = number of views of the respective video divided by number of followers of the respective account 1.

likes:views (popularity) = number of likes of the respective video divided by number of views of the respective video 1.

comments:views (engagement) = number of comments of the respective video divided by number of views of the respective video.

In order to contextualize the parameter values, these were contrasted with published benchmark figures for YouTubers, commonly recognized as metrics of success (Robertson, Citation2014). These included a like-to-view ratio of 0.04 (four likes per 100 views) and a comment-to-view ratio of 0.005 (five comments per 1000 views) as well as a views-to-account follower ratio of 0.14 (14 views per 100 followers) (L. A. Harrington, Elwin, Paterson, et al., Citation2023; L. Harrington et al., Citation2019; Robertson, Citation2014). These are considered the thresholds for a successful video. This method has been previously employed in other scientific studies (L. A. Harrington, Elwin, Paterson, et al., Citation2023; L. Harrington et al., Citation2019).

Statistical analysis

Data were collected in Microsoft Excel (V.2301, Microsoft Corporation, WA, USA). Statistical analysis was performed using the software R (R Core Team, Citation2023).

First, descriptive statistics were used to present the results of all analyzed parameters. Thereby, frequency distributions (percentages) of different variables were calculated. Afterward, a logistic regression model (R Core Team, Citation2023) using the fixed effects of video category and animal species was calculated for the following items present in a video: risk of injury, stress reaction, pain and agony breeding characteristics. For the post hoc tests based on the model results, the R-package emmeans (Lenth, Citation2023) was used. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.

The variables “obvious pain” and “assumed pain” were combined into “pain” for the statistical model calculations.

A gamma regression model with log link was applied using the fixed effect of video category for the following items: views, likes, shares and comments per online day. For this purpose, the R-package emmeans (Lenth, Citation2023) was used.

Results

Number of videos

In the period from August 2022 to August 2023, a total of 162 videos on the social media platforms Instagram (n = 20), TikTok (n = 113) and YouTube (n = 29) were analyzed. The videos were uploaded between the years 2015 and 2023.

Content analysis

Most videos were categorized as “challenge affecting animal welfare” (34.6%), followed by “challenge affecting animal welfare of sensitive pets” (26.5%), “fun and entertainment” (25.9%) and “anthropomorphism” (13.0%).

provides an overview of various indicators relating to impaired animal welfare found in the videos depending on the video categories. All videos included in this study were relevant to animal welfare. In 53% of the videos, the video content depicted situations that put animals at risk of injury, and 82% of all videos showed animals exhibiting stress reactions. Notably, more than 90% of videos featuring challenges exhibited stress reactions that were evident in the animals’ behavior. A permanent impairment of the animals was shown in 38% of the videos, while pain was observed as obvious in 4% of the videos and presumed based on the situation in 25% of the videos.

Table 3. Frequency (%) of different indicators for impaired animal welfare observed in videos depending on the different video categories and average frequency (%) of the indicators over all video categories (n = 162 videos).

The indicators relating to impaired animal welfare described above were found in videos with dogs as well as cats. The results of the statistical models revealed that the chance of finding a “risk of injury,” a “stress reaction,” “pain” and “agony breeding characteristic” (the most frequently found impairment) was not significantly affected by the animal species shown in the video, i.e., dogs and cats (p > 0.05). Thus, these indicators of impaired welfare seem to appear in videos with dogs and cats alike. However, there were some significant differences depending on the video categories, with the exception of the stress reaction category (, ).

Figure 1. Results of the logistic regression model for occurrence of a risk of injury, pain, a stress reaction, and agony breeding characteristics in videos depending on the video category. The graph shows the average predicted probability represented by dots and the 95% confidence intervals represented by bars (n = 162 videos).

Table 4. Significant logistic regression model results (p < 0.05) of pairwise comparisons between the video categories for risk of injury, pain and agony breeding characteristics with Bonferroni adjusted p-values (n = 162 videos).

Animal characteristics

A total of 67.3% of videos presented dogs and 32.7% presented cats. The most common dog breed was the Pomeranian (20.5%), followed by the Pug (17.0%) and the English Bulldog (12.5%). The most common cat breed was the Scottish Fold (45.5%), followed by Munchkin (27.3%) and the Sphynx (18.2%). The breeds that were identified in the videos are listed in the Supplementary Materials (Table S1).

More than half of the videos (54.3%) featured animals with impairments. On the one hand, 37.7% of the videos showed animals with permanent impairments like agony breeding characteristics, ears/tail cropped and extreme obesity (). On the other hand, 23.5% of the videos showed animals with temporary impairments, which were added only for the video like sensory organs covered/bound together, fur/claws colored, and restricted mobility due to costuming (). Some videos showed both permanent and temporary impairments.

In total, out of the 88 videos featuring animals with impairments, 58.0% exhibited animals with agony breeding characteristics, making it the largest proportion of impairments. The various agony breeding characteristics depending on the animal species are presented in . In the case of dogs, the most common agony breeding characteristic was brachycephaly, and for cats, folded ears ().

Table 5. Occurrence of various agony breeding characteristics related to all videos in which agony breeding characteristics were found, separated by dog and cat (ndogs = 38, ncats = 13 videos with agony breeding characteristics).

The statistical model revealed that the occurrence of animals featuring agony breeding characteristics was affected by the video category (p = 0.002) (). Videos in the “fun and entertainment” category were most likely to exhibit agony breeding characteristics (). However, the animal species had no significant impact on the presence of agony breeding characteristics in the videos (p > 0.05) ().

Animal behavior

In 145 videos, the behavioral reactions of the animals were assessed. In 47.6% of the videos, the animals exhibited signs of a “stressed face,” which was the most observed behavior. Following that, the behaviors “flight” (27.6%), “gestures of appeasement” (31.0%), “freeze” (20.7%), “other agonistic behaviour” (14.5%), “threatening” (11.0%), and “displacement activities” (4.1%) were observed. The “other” category (54.5%) describes behaviors that could not be assigned to a pre-defined group, which, however, indicate an impairment of well-being. This included the following behaviors: startling, wincing, contorting, increased breathing, trembling, whimpering, fidgeting, kneading and unnatural behavior, e.g., French bulldog sleeps in sitting up position. The distribution of the behaviors among the animal species is shown in .

Figure 2. Frequency (%) of behavioral reactions of dogs and cats observed in the videos (n = 145 videos, 94 videos with dogs and 51 videos with cats).

More details about the displayed stressed face which was most frequently found in the videos, are presented in . Among the animals exhibiting a stressed face, 77.6% of the dogs (n = 49 videos) and 50.0% of the cats (n = 20 videos) pulled back their ears. Additionally, 65.3% of dogs (n = 49 videos) and 75.0% of cats (n = 20 videos) had wide open eyes. In addition, 65.0% of the cats (n = 20 videos) had dilated pupils.

Figure 3. Frequency (%) of the different facial expressions belonging to the stressed face observed in dogs and cats (n = 70 videos, 49 videos with dogs and 21 videos with cats).

Human behavior

In 145 videos, human behavior toward the animals was assessed. The most frequently shown behavior was “assault/harassment” (33.8%). This was followed by “provocation” (27.6%), “frightening/scaring” (16.6%), “costuming” (9.7%), and finally, both “slapping” and “other non-animal-friendly handling” (6.2% each).

The distribution of the behavior of humans across the different video categories is shown in . In the category “challenge affecting animal welfare of sensitive pets,” animals were most frequently deliberately provoked. In the category “challenge affecting animal welfare,” animals were most frequently subjected to slapping. Costumed animals occurred most frequently in the category of “anthropomorphism.” The non-animal-friendly handling was prevalent in the category of “fun and entertainment.”

Table 6. Frequency (%) of human behaviors toward the animals, depending on four video categories and average frequency of human behaviors over all video categories (n = 145 videos).

Performance analysis of the videos used in this study

All interactions within the video categories resulting from the statistical model are shown in . In our data, we observed the most interactions (emmeans of views, likes, shares and comments) in the “fun and entertainment” category ().

Table 7. Number of views and interactions of the videos per online day (marginal means (emmeans), standard errors (SE), degrees of freedom (df), lower and upper 95% confidence intervals (CI) and t-ratios) resulting from the gamma regression model with log link depending on the video categories (n = 162 videos).

A total of 93.8% of all videos achieved the benchmark “views:account follower (exposure)” value of 0.14 or more, classifying them as successful videos on social media. Across all four video categories, the medians of “views:account follower (exposure)” surpassed the benchmark (0.14) for a successful video ().

Figure 4. Results of the views: Account follower exposure ( = number of views of the respective video divided by the number of followers of the respective account), the likes:views popularity ( = number of likes of the respective video divided by number of views of the respective video), and the comments:views engagement ( = number of comments of the respective video divided by number of views of the respective video). Boxplots are presented showing median, 95% confidence intervals, minimum, maximum, mean values (marked as asterisks) and benchmark lines (marked as red lines) (n = 162 videos).

Videos within the “challenges affecting animal welfare” category had the highest average “views:account follower (exposure)” value of 47.4 (±324.5, n = 56).

A total of 74.7% of all videos achieved the benchmark “likes:views (popularity)” value of 0.04 or more, classifying them as popular videos. Of these videos, 82.6% featured scenes depicting animal stress reactions, 43.8% exhibited scenes with risk of injury to animals, and nearly a third (32.2%) displayed animals with agony breeding characteristics (n = 121).

The most popular video category was “challenge affecting animal welfare of sensitive pets,” which received a mean popularity value of 0.112 (±0.053) (n = 43).

In total, only two videos reached the benchmark value of “comments:views (engagement)” set at 0.005. These videos belonged to the category “challenges affecting animal welfare.” In one video, an initially sleeping Chihuahua was startled by a person, causing it to awaken, as part of the Scare your dog challenge (engagement value = 0.008). The second video depicted a scenario from the Slap your dog’s bum challenge, where the dog’s posterior was slapped with an open hand, capturing the ensuing reaction characterized by a stressed face and appeasement signs (engagement value = 0.006).

Discussion

This study provides an analysis of cat and dog videos appearing on social media platforms whose content is framed as being humorous. There are a number of research studies examining the impact of viewing animal rescue videos or wildlife content online (Bka-I et al., Citation2013; Davies et al., Citation2022; Freund et al., Citation2021; L. A. Harrington, Elwin, D’Cruze, et al., Citation2023; L. A. Harrington, Elwin, Paterson, et al., Citation2023; L. Harrington et al., Citation2019; Moloney et al., Citation2021). However, there is a notable gap in the literature regarding the portrayal of pets on social media. The findings of this study showed that popular videos intended to entertain viewers may entail suffering for the pets involved.

Challenges on social media: Risks for animal welfare

The majority (61.0%) of the videos analyzed were so-called “challenges.” Challenges, characterized by formats that prompt imitation and rapid dissemination, are particularly popular on social media platforms (Vasukam, Citation2023). The content of challenge videos is dynamic, as each user adds their own touch (L. H. X. Ng et al., Citation2021) with each user contributing their own variation, leading to escalating risks as participants strive to outdo one another (Clinic Why Social Media Challenges Can Be a Recipe for Disaster - When They’re Real, Citation2023). When watching challenges with pets, it becomes evident what ordeals the owners deliberately put their pets through in order to publish this on social media (Volker & Fels, Citation2021). Our study’s results revealed that the risk of injury in the category “challenges affecting animal welfare” exceeded 85.0%, while in 50.0% of the videos, pain was detected. In this latter category, the pets are put in particularly dangerous situations. Specific examples include the Cat versus tape challenge, in which cats’ paws are pressed onto adhesive tape, or the Put it in a bun challenge, in which dogs’ and cats’ ears are tied together with a rubber band. This explains why videos in the “challenge affecting animal welfare” category were significantly more likely to feature scenes with injury risk than those in the “challenges affecting animal welfare of sensitive pets” or “fun and entertainment” categories. However, in the latter two categories, the animals also showed stress reactions very frequently.

The study results revealed that the occurrence of indicators relating to impaired animal welfare (risk of injury, stress reaction, pain, agony breeding characteristic) in humorous videos is not significantly influenced by whether the videos feature cats or dogs. This result may stem from common content characteristics that are popular, such as animals in unusual situations or animal mishaps (Stumpf et al., Citation2024). Since dogs and cats are both common pets, the ways people interact with them may lead to similar situations and consequently to similar videos. Furthermore, social media algorithms prioritize content that seems to be relevant for the users (Eg et al., Citation2023) and perhaps focuses more on the type of video than the type of animal. Overall, the issue seems to be more related to general media production mechanisms and human perceptions of humor rather than the specific animal type.

Popularity of pets featuring agony breeding characteristics

Nearly 38.0% of all videos featured dogs and cats with permanent impairments, which underwrites the role of exhibiting animals with physical damage. Agony breeding characteristics, which presents the largest proportion of impairments in this study, are breeding-related features that can cause pain, suffering or harm to the pets. The total proportion of 32.0% may seem low at first glance, but it assumes greater significance when considering that this study specifically targeted entertaining content, hence nearly one-third of the videos featured pets with agony breeding characteristics. Among these, the most prevalent characteristic observed was brachycephaly, characterized by a short-headed appearance. Brachycephalic breeds have enjoyed widespread popularity internationally for several years (Carter & Martin, Citation2021; Paul et al., Citation2023) due to their endearing infant-like features (Lorenz, Citation1943): round face, short nose and large eyes. However, their anatomy predisposes them to various health issues, such as brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) (Mitze et al., Citation2022; O’Neill et al., Citation2015; R. M. Packer et al., Citation2015). Furthermore, brachycephalic breeds have a shorter lifespan compared to mesocephalic (medium proportions) or dolichocephalic (long-faced) breeds, which can be attributed to the significant conformation-related health restrictions (McMillan et al., Citation2024; O’Neill et al., Citation2015; R. M. Packer et al., Citation2019). Particularly problematic is the fact that pets with agony breeding characteristics were presented significantly more often in the “fun and entertainment” category than pets without such characteristics. Videos from this category achieved the highest number of shares, indicating widespread dissemination.

The Pug and the French Bulldog, two of the three most common dog breeds in the videos, are brachycephalic breeds. It is known that people tend to choose dogs based on their appearance without paying sufficient attention to their health (R. Packer et al., Citation2017; Sandøe et al., Citation2017). The Pomeranian was the most common dog breed, which is a very small breed. The most common cat breed observed in this study was the Scottish Fold, also a breed with agony breeding characteristics. The distinguishing feature of the Scottish Fold is the forward-folded ears. This is an inherited painful disease, called osteochondrodysplasia, leading to generalized defective cartilage formations, not only affecting the ears but also impacting the limbs and tail (Chang et al., Citation2007; Graeme, Citation2000; Malik et al., Citation1999; Mathews et al., Citation1995). The resultant impairment and pain associated with this disease have prompted earlier studies to caution against further breeding of the Scottish Fold (Malik et al., Citation1999; Takanosu & Hattori, Citation2020). The two other most common cat breeds, Munchkin (extreme shortened limbs) and Sphynx (hairless), are also cats with agony breeding characteristics.

The noncritical portrayal of pets with agony breeding characteristics on social media poses a significant risk of fueling interest in these breeds. This phenomenon mirrors the surge in Dalmatian registrations following the release of Disney’s movie “101 Dalmatians,” although causality cannot be definitively attributed to the film (Herzog et al., Citation2004). Posts on social media platforms can wield considerable influence, potentially leading to far-reaching consequences when scenes relevant to animal welfare are uncritically disseminated. For instance, previous research demonstrated that exposure to images of chimpanzees in anthropogenic settings, such as close proximity to humans, not only instigated desires to keep them as pets but also distorted perceptions negatively (Ross et al., Citation2011). Similar effects have also been documented in other studies (Leighty et al., Citation2015; Osterberg & Nekaris, Citation2015; Ross et al., Citation2011; Schroepfer et al., Citation2011; Svensson et al., Citation2021); for example, a viral video featuring a lemur prompted an increase in inquiries about acquiring lemurs as pets (Clarke et al., Citation2019).

Social media interactions may further exacerbate the problem by rewarding and normalizing the display of animals with health-compromising traits. Research on exotic pets has shown that the predominance of positive emotional responses and favorable social media feedback can condition users to perceive such portrayals as desirable and socially endorsed, thereby increasing intentions to acquire similar animals (Anagnostou & Doberstein, Citation2024). This dynamic may similarly apply to pet videos, where repeated exposure to “cute” or humorous videos involving agony breeding characteristics can trivialize the associated welfare issues and amplify demand through mechanisms of positive reinforcement.

It is imperative to develop strategies aimed at raising public awareness about the health issues associated with specific breeds. Enhanced education regarding responsible pet ownership and pet selection practices is crucial in addressing this issue.

Stress reactions and the role of anthropomorphism in pet videos on social media

Analyzing animal behavior serves as a common method for assessing stress levels (Z. Y. Ng et al., Citation2014). Stress reactions were observed in more than 90.0% of videos across both challenge categories. The high prevalence of stressed pets in these videos can be attributed to human behavior, as nearly 80.0% of the videos in the category “challenges affecting the welfare of sensitive pets” involved deliberate provocation by humans. Moreover, instances of assault or harassment were observed in more than a third of all videos. However, the findings of this study do not allow for an assessment regarding whether the humans failed to recognize the animals’ stress signals or knowingly ignored them. Nevertheless, it is clear the situations depicted in these videos indicate animal suffering.

A previous study found that humans associated animal well-being with indicators that could also represent signs of stress (Stumpf et al., Citation2024). The correct interpretation of behavior not only plays an important role in the well-being of animals, but also in the security of the humans. Ignoring signs of appeasement in human-dog interactions may prompt dogs to resort to alternative communication strategies, such as aggression (Rugaas, Citation2006; Shepherd, Citation2009). Consequently, a problematic video shared on social media could potentially contribute to dangerous behavior in dogs in the future.

These aspects highlight the need for improved awareness of stress signals in pets. Accurate assessment and interpretation of pet behavior by owners and viewers are crucial for safeguarding animal welfare. Therefore, it is imperative that videos featuring stressed pets are identified appropriately and not shared uncritically on social media platforms. Furthermore, repeated exposure to certain content in social media, such as scenes of violence, can lead to emotional blunting and desensitization (De Choudhury et al., Citation2014; Mrug et al., Citation2015) potentially reducing sensitivity to animal suffering and normalizing harmful scenes.

Another noteworthy phenomenon increasingly observed in the videos is anthropomorphism, which refers to the tendency to attribute human characteristics, intentions, motivations and emotions to animals or objects (Epley et al., Citation2007). The popularity of animals presented in anthropogenic settings on social media has already been well documented (Volker & Fels, Citation2021). Furthermore, an earlier study showed that videos of lorises received more likes when the animals appeared in anthropogenic contexts than when they were shown in their natural habitat (Quarles et al., Citation2023).

In this study, the most prevalent form of anthropomorphism observed was the costuming of pets, a practice that can have negative implications for animal welfare and health (Mota-Rojas, Mariti, et al., Citation2021). For instance, dressing up animals can disrupt their thermoregulation, potentially leading to heatstroke, particularly in brachycephalic breeds due to their physique (Mota-Rojas, Mariti, et al., Citation2021). The results of this study revealed that more than 70.0% of the videos in the “anthropomorphism” category featured a risk of injury to the animals, and more than 65.0% showed stress reactions of dogs and cats. This may be because the pets in more than 50.0% of these videos are forced into costumes that severely restrict their movement, increasing the risk of injury.

The impact of funny pet videos on social media

By collecting the video metrics exposure, popularity and engagement of each individual video, it was possible to estimate the success of the videos. In contrast to other studies on animal welfare-related content on social media platforms (L. A. Harrington, Elwin, D’Cruze, et al., Citation2023; L. A. Harrington, Elwin, Paterson, et al., Citation2023) the videos in this study had a high level of awareness, nearly 75.0% of the videos reaching the benchmark popularity. An explanation for this result may be that this study focussed on pet videos labeled as funny, which are in general very popular on social media platforms (Stumpf et al., Citation2024).

Impressively, more than 90.0% of all videos analyzed in the present study were classified as successful videos, as they reached the benchmark exposure, underscoring the significance of funny pet videos on social media. This means that the videos have a high number of views in relation to the number of followers of the accounts. From this, it can be concluded that these videos are widely shared. Such videos benefit from emotional appeal and social reinforcement through likes and shares, which can contribute to their wide dissemination. This was already confirmed for exotic pet content, where emotionally appealing posts can influence user perception and behavior while obscuring animal welfare concerns (Anagnostou & Doberstein, Citation2024). Especially, posts featuring pets offer users a means to counteract negative online experiences through their inherent cuteness (Maddox, Citation2020). However, an emotional or humorous portrayal can lead to a concealment of the actual animal welfare problems by distracting from the signs of suffering (Quarles et al., Citation2023). 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.

Limitations

This study is subject to several limitations. All video assessments were conducted by a single observer. Although the observer had relevant training and used predefined operational criteria, individual interpretation may have introduced subjective bias. In particular, some indicators of potential suffering, such as suspected pain or stress, are inherently difficult to assess with full objectivity in short, edited social media videos. For judging the behavior in the videos, the use of multiple observers would have been desirable as well. Furthermore, the selection of videos was based on both humorous framing and visible welfare concerns, which may have excluded videos in which welfare issues were present but less apparent. As such, the findings should not be interpreted as representative of all pet-related social media content, but rather as illustrative of the types of welfare concerns that can occur within this genre. Moreover, the reliance on platform search functions and algorithmically suggested content may have influenced the sample in ways that are not fully transparent or replicable. The dataset also reflects a specific point in time and may not capture temporal trends or shifts in content patterns. Finally, limited contextual information was available regarding the setting, duration, or conditions of the recorded scenes, which may affect the interpretation of animal welfare indicators.

Conclusion

The present study confirms that animal videos intended to be humorous, which enjoy great popularity on social media, may contain elements of animal suffering. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether users consciously recognize this suffering or unknowingly consume and share such content. To mitigate the spread of content that may be detrimental to animal welfare, it is essential to promote greater awareness and critical engagement among users. Ensuring that the demand for entertaining animal videos does not come at the expense of animal well-being requires a shift in how pets are portrayed in digital media, alongside enhanced recognition of their needs and behaviors. Increasing public awareness and providing education on animal welfare-related content are key steps in fostering more responsible interactions with pet videos on social media.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, A.K. and M.F.; methodology, A.K. and M.F.; software, L.B. and S.H.; validation, A.K., M.F., N.K. and S.H.; formal analysis, A.K., L.B. and S.H.; investigation, A.K.; resources, M.F. and N.K.; data curation, A.K.; writing – original draft preparation, A.K. and M.F.; writing – review and editing, A.K., L.B., M.F., N.K. and S.H.; visualization, A.K., L.B. and S.H.; supervision, M.F; project administration, M.F. and N.K.; funding acquisition, M.F. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).