Unfortunately, the gif won’t be animated once sent via the Messenger API.

I am obsessed with an internet cat called Poncho (@ponchoIRL)

May 6, 2016

This is a time suck and why I went back to SMS notifications.

Unfortunately, the gif won’t be animated once sent via the Messenger API. I believe FB team is working on that. Speaking of the notification, we made change and you should be able to see it as soon as you open the Messenger app.