Do not ignore the indirect injury to pets caused by these three behaviors from pet videos in social media.
Introduction
In the context of the increasing number of extensive application of media, many people are able to share various kinds of information through media and network. Fascinating content can make the author get a lot of attention and likes from Internet users. To get more followers and attention, people begin to imitate high attention video content, but ignore the harm of these videos. The health of pets is one of the important areas among these hazards. The target audience of this article is people who spend lots of time on social media especially watching or making pet videos. This article is mainly to solve the problem where people cause indirect harm to pets in order to increase followers. In order to better express the specific point of view, cats are chosen as the representative of pets in this study.
Herd mentality in social media
Personal behavior is easily influenced by the behavior of the surrounding people. In order to join in the group, individuals will change their behavior through feedback from a group, like following and imitating the behavior of the group. Most mobile Internet users including people who like the popular culture to learn and make short video because of the popular of TikTok. They enjoy creating a sense of belonging to the trend by following their friends or opinion leaders into Tiktok. Users will follow suit in content production because Tiktok content are easy to imitate. However, the growing trend of “viral communication” among social media users may lead to accidental injury and risk-taking behavior. In such an environment, it is difficult for people to make sure that their behavior will not cause harm to their pets in the process of creating pets videos. Video viewers do not often think about it either. These behaviors that caused these indirect injuries to animals may be spread widely.
Issue
With the background of media popularity and increasing importance, the released pet video content will be seen by many people. Social media platforms are almost everywhere in the lives of young users. On average, American teenagers spend at least one hour a day interacting with social media. Some popular video content contains indirect harm behavior to animals. Without the understanding of relevant knowledge, this kind of behavior will be watched by more people and even used to making same video of their own pets. It will cause more pets be hurted and the wrong knowledge will spread more widely. The problem that this article aims to solve is to reduce the phenomenon that people use social media to make videos that indirectly harm pets, and make more people realize that pets cannot be used as a tool to attract attention. Before imitating some behaviors, it’s better to find out the relevant information first, and don’t hurt pets.
Phenomenon
1.Color the hair of cat
Example
In order to attract more fans and make their pets more “beautiful”, some people will use pet fur dye or other dyes to color their pets’ hair. And it was filmed and sent to the social media platform for more people to watch.
(Example 1: https://www.tiktok.com/@queenstaralien/video/6947467862869085445?lang=zh-Hant-TW&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1)
(Example 2: https://www.tiktok.com/@sydney.taylorrrrrr/video/6903304216455040262?lang=zh-Hant-TW&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1)
Harm to pets
Cats usually don’t like foreign bodies on their skin. They always find opportunities to clean their fur. Therefore, once the cat’s hair is dyed, they are 99.9% likely to lick it clean. Whether it’s a human hair dye or a unique pet hair dye, it will cause harm to the cat’s body. First of all, hair dyes used in humans contain dangerous chemicals that can be extremely toxic to cats. Even simple products can also be dangerous to cats, because the cat’s liver is unable to process certain drugs or chemicals well. Secondly, even for pet hair dyes, many suppliers say “don’t let pets lick hair dyes” . Either they need to stop their natural behavior, or they need to face the risk of eating things that may be harmful to them for no reason, both of which are not good for the health of pets. Any product used on cats should be sugar free and xylitol free. Just because it’s “natural” doesn’t mean it’s safe for cats. For example, when some concentrated natural essential oils are used in cats, they may cause dyspnea, drunkenness, oral corrosion, burns, and even liver failure. Therefore, for the health of cats, do not use any form of dye to colour their fur.
2.Catching a funny shoot by scared cat
Example
Funny videos usually attract attention from lots of people. Some people will laugh to relieve their stress by watching the video of the fierce reaction of pets. Some people think that the video of the frightened pet making funny behavior is very interesting. Therefore, it’s common to share these kinds of videos to increase the number of their followers.
Harm to pets
Cats cannot respond well to change. Even just little changes in their living environment, it also can lead stress to them. If possible, loud noise and sudden movement should be avoided.When something scares the kittens and makes them jump, many people will laugh. However, a frightened and anxious cat is not a joke. This can be a serious problem, especially if it is not treated in time. Untreated anxiety disorders do not get better, and may get worse over time. Like humans, chronic stress may have physiological effects on kittens’ health. If it persists, it could damage their immune system, making them more susceptible to disease, which in turn could increase their pressure. This stress can lead to cat disease, and can increase the cat’s heart rate and blood pressure. They can also develop severe depression on top of anxiety, all of which may lead to other behavioral problems. For example, scaring cat response caused by shock. Shock is defined as a serious life-threatening syndrome. When a cat is shocked, it may lead to a decrease in blood pressure or even sudden death.
3.Feed the cat human food
Example
The body structure of cats is totally different from that of humans. Many foods that are good for the human body are fatal to cats. Some people do not know this relevant knowledge, and they feed them human food just because the cat shows curiosity about it. However, others record the anthropomorphic behavior of cats by feeding them human food, such as barbecue or alcohol. And then they get the attention of the Internet by uploading videos of these anthropomorphic behaviors of cats.
(Example 5: https://www.tiktok.com/@hi_dno/video/6870184674342243589?lang=zh-Hant-TW&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1)
Harm to pets
There are so many wrong messages about feeding cats. Many people inadvertently give them human food that they think is nutritious and delicious, but in fact it may make the cat’s stomach uncomfortable, or even worse. Any food not specially designed for cats can affect the digestive system and cause vomiting, diarrhea or loss of appetite. Some cats beg for human food, especially when they see people eating. It is a dangerous practice to give the food scraps or snacks on any table for cats, which should not be encouraged for a variety of reasons. Cats need the nutrients that are specially provided to them in high-quality cat food, and any “extra nutrients” that cats eat will make them lose appetite in their daily diet. Some ordinary meat will not kill cats, but will help them form bad habits. They may start to be interested in some other human food. Common dairy products, alcohol, chocolate, raisins, caffeine, xylitol, onion and garlic are not suitable for cats. It may lead to stomach discomfort, diarrhea, hemolytic anemia, acute renal failure, vomiting, decreased blood pressure, dyspnea, heart failure and even death. Do not feed human food to cats, including other pets, without searching relevant information.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can find lots of cat videos on different platforms. For many people, cats are not only pets, but also important family and friends. For their health and safety, we should pay more attention to these issues. Whether it’s for our own pleasure or to gain more fans, it shouldn’t be the reason for us to make these videos that indirectly hurt them. The significance of pet videos should be to help more people love and learn to take care of their pets, and record happy times with pets. It should be a tool to get attention from people and make money through ignorance of the health of our pets.
