TikTok Vet Urges Social Media Users to Avoid Dangerous, Unfunny Trend Involving Cats

A cat wearing ear protection (EPA)
A cat wearing ear protection (EPA)
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TikTok Vet Urges Social Media Users to Avoid Dangerous, Unfunny Trend Involving Cats

A cat wearing ear protection (EPA)
A cat wearing ear protection (EPA)

A vet popular on TikTok has urged social media users to avoid taking part in a potentially dangerous and unfunny trend involving cats.

UK-based veterinarian Ben the Vet has some 209,000 followers on TikTok and more than five million likes on his videos, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

Last week, Ben published a video from another TikTok post, showing someone spinning their cat around.

The video, which is among his many videos focusing on animal welfare topics, was accompanied by a short caption: “Leave the cats on the ground people.”

The footage, as Ben says, has more than four million views.

In his video, Ben shared his thoughts on the trend and asked: “Is that funny? Am I not getting why it is so entertaining? It is really?”

He continued: “Is it [funny] watching an unhappy cat be spun around, [who is quite clearly, not very happy with the situation?”

Ben closed his video saying: “I'm all for funny cat videos, but not when the cat is the sort of losing party.”

People in the comments hit out at the original clip, with one saying: “THANK YOU. People stay stressing their animals out for views.”

Another person said: “People often seem to think that harassing their cats is funny... hate it.”

One more commented on the trend, saying: “I think it’s cute sometimes, but most cats and dogs do not enjoy this trend. Most viral videos feature uncomfortable animals, since I have worked in vet med I now realize this...”

According to animal welfarists, videos in which people spin around their pets - including cats, dogs and rabbits - are dangerous for a number of reasons.

As well as potentially causing nausea and vomiting, spinning animals around, particularly when holding them by the front legs, puts lots of pressure on their shoulders and legs.

In addition, when the animals squirm while being spun around, this can cause damage to their spines.

People took to the comments section of the video to share their own thoughts on the topic - and appeared to mainly agree with the veterinarian.



'Retro Park' Revives 80s and 90s Gaming Nostalgia at the Esports World Cup 2025

The video game industry has undergone rapid evolution over the past decades. (SPA)
The video game industry has undergone rapid evolution over the past decades. (SPA)
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'Retro Park' Revives 80s and 90s Gaming Nostalgia at the Esports World Cup 2025

The video game industry has undergone rapid evolution over the past decades. (SPA)
The video game industry has undergone rapid evolution over the past decades. (SPA)

The video game industry has undergone rapid evolution over the past decades, with various devices and platforms shaping the features of successive generations, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.

In this context, the Retro Park pavilion drew large crowds at the Esports World Cup 2025, currently taking place at Boulevard Riyadh City. It offers an interactive journey through the world of classic video games, inspired by the 1980s and 1990s, continuing through the 2000s to the present day, starting with the 1972 "Odyssey," the world's first home gaming console, and culminating in today's virtual reality technologies.

In the 1970s, specifically in 1977, the Atari video game console gained prominence with its iconic game Pac-Man. In 1983, the Arab world saw the launch of its first Arabic-localized home gaming console, known as Sakhr, alongside the release of the Family game console, fondly remembered by a generation for the classic game Mario.

In the early 1990s, the Super Nintendo console emerged, accompanied by the release of Super Mario World in 1993. Arcade machines also became popular in gaming halls before many of their titles transitioned to home consoles.

A significant turning point occurred in 1996 with the launch of the PlayStation by Sony, which gained widespread popularity due to its hit game, Crash. The decade concluded with the release of the Sega Dreamcast video game console.

In the 2000s, home gaming advanced significantly with the release of the PlayStation 2 and 3, alongside popular games such as Ratchet & Clank and Black Ops. Moreover, Nintendo launched the highly successful Wii, while handheld consoles from Nintendo and PlayStation also gained traction. The emergence of YouTube in 2005 paved the way for "Let's Play" content and gaming-related media.

In the second decade of the millennium, video games continued to evolve with the rise of motion-based games such as Just Dance, while meme culture and reaction content spread among gamers and internet users, becoming part of their digital memory.

In 2020, virtual reality (VR) technology gained significant prominence through the use of VR headsets, elevating the gaming experience to unprecedented levels and becoming a key part of the industry's global future.

The Saudi scene is an active part of this evolution, with the Kingdom witnessing significant growth in the number of players and content creators, in line with the Saudi Vision 2030, which places strong emphasis on the gaming sector as part of digital transformation and youth empowerment.