Back in May, we were appalled at UK Metro’s seemingly endless appetite (sorry) for photos of chonky cats:
“Do you have a pet who’s even chunkier than Manson? Get in touch to share their story,” Metro’s editors wrote at the end of an article profiling a 28-pound fat cat.
Now The Guardian is similarly alarmed, declaring the trend of glorifying morbidly obese cats online “has to end”:
The internet is now full of pictures of fat cats that their owners think are adorable but are actually health disasters, barely able to fit through a cat flap, let alone jump on to a ledge. In fact, the only time they jump is when their owner fills their feeding bowl.
The newspaper cites popular Instagram accounts like Round Boys, which counts almost 800,000 followers and features a constant stream of plump butterballs in cute poses, and Cats Is Chonky, a Facebook group that does not allow any discouragement of overfeeding cats, which the page’s operators say amounts to “shaming.” (There’s only one cat who can surf the internet and read its content, as we know, and his name starts with Bu and ends with ddy. Thankfully he’s more concerned with reading comments about himself and trying to order turkey.)
The Guardian’s call — and our own post — has nothing to do with shaming and everything to do with the fact that rewarding bad pet parenting only encourages more people to overstuff their cats.
If people think fattening up their cats is a shortcut to internet fame and lucrative $15,000 sponsored Instagram posts, they’re much more likely to hand out snacks like crack, and much less likely to use the word “no,” which as we all know is a necessary part of the vocabulary when caring for cats.
Obesity is not healthy for our feline friends. The chonk craze is dangerous. Not only does obesity lead to early death — as in the case of Buddha, pictured at the top, who died at age 6 from obesity-related complications — but by overfeeding, we are choosing an unhealthy lifestyle for our pets, who can’t give their consent or complain about unhealthy meals.
Please do right by your cats and feed them healthy, balanced foods. More time with your little buddies is more important than ephemeral internet fame.
Pain In The Bud 
Over feeding or wrongly feeding cats in order to make them obese is blatant, sheer cruelty no matter how people see it aß so called “cute”!!!!
I would much rather my cats live a long and healthy life than havee their lives shortened by obesity because someone thinks obesity in cats is “cute”.
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We live in an age when parents are willing to abuse their own children with “pranks” to get Youtube followers, so this is just another kind of hustle to earn the currency of attention. It shows how unhealthy social media is. The internet gives us almost the entire sum of human knowledge at our fingertips, and we use it to browse photos of obese cats, read gossip about celebrities and post selfies.
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I used to volunteer with Philadelphia PAWS, taking care of PAWS cats in the local PetSmart. We had a would-be adopter who wanted a cat she could shower with love and food. Lots and lots and lots of food. Her goal was a fat cat, because she said she LOVED fat cats. Her application was declined, and her name put on the ‘Do Not Adopt’ list.
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At least she was honest about it so you could reject her application. I wonder if she learned from that or just went to the next rescue.
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What an awful person! At least she was honest or stupid enough to announce her plans. What was she thinking?!
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Just when I think people aren’t all that bad, something like this happens. What is wrong with these people? They claim to love their cats, and then they pander to the all mighty upvotes.
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And the money. Sponsored posts can bring in lots of money for “influencers,” which pet food/product companies may consider more effective than traditional advertising.
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It’s really a feedback loop, isn’t it? The influencers and the pet food companies get fame and money and the poor cats get fat. How horrible!
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It’s overwhelming to go on Instagram and see how many people are trying to turn their pets into money making social media stars.
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I am so thankful to learn I am noot the only one who finds this appalling! How sad these people are that overfeeding their kitties have such empty lives! They are killing creatures for social approval. They need help.
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The Chonky cat craze makes me sad. 😦
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Nice job on those recent music posts. The music industry was so different back then.
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