The first point of discussion about this viral TikTok video is the pressing question as to what breed of cat this is. The news media have described this cat as a “grey British Shorthair”. They mean a blue British shorthair. But I don’t think this cat is a British shorthair because the ears are folded. Therefore, I conclude that this is a blue Scottish Fold who looks very much like a blue British shorthair. And my analysis I think is supported by the fact that the Russian lady who lives with this cat has called her TikTok page “the_scottish_king”. The Scottish Fold comes from Scotland originally (duh 😊). In Russian she calls her cat “Барон” which is Russian for the word” Baron”.
Okay, having got that out of the way we can get to the meat of the article which is Baron’s gagging response to a raw shrimp presented to his face. He obviously finds raw shrimp very distasteful. The lady lives with another cat as far as I can tell who loves the smell of raw shrimp. Normal.
@the_scottish_king Ответ @fifth_wheel_living ♬ SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY – Remix – Amaarae & Kali Uchis
Note: This is a video from another website which is embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.
My cat loves prawns but that is another matter because they are cooked. We don’t know why this cat gags at the smell of raw shrimp. It could be any number of reasons. It might be something slightly toxic on the shrimp which makes him do it. The natural reaction would be interest. Cats are naturally drawn to fish. Normally domestic cats would be drawn to raw shrimp as they are the type of food which interests them.
Although, I certainly wouldn’t advise allowing a cat to eat raw shrimp. Perhaps occasionally but not regularly. Even cooked prawns are probably not a very good idea because they are a human food probably with added salt and perhaps other additives to make them more palatable to humans.
The experts say that shrimp is high in sodium and cholesterol. Raw shrimp might contain potentially toxic chemicals, fungicides and antibiotics! I don’t know but let’s be kind to this cat.
Domestic cats have a fantastic sense of smell. They can detect things that we can’t. I feel quite confident that Baron has detected something on or in this shrimp which smells horrible to him which results in the amusing gagging (I’m not sure that I find it entirely amusing but I get the point). He’s being wise and sensible. He’s found something on that shrimp which humans can’t.
The video has been seen over 70 million times. What is interesting about this video is that the lady in question uploaded the same video some time ago at which time it was viewed over 100 million times. Therefore, she has uploaded it twice and, on each occasion, the exact same video has achieved a remarkable viral response. Why should this be? It does make you think. People obviously find it amusing but the cat is slightly distressed so why is that amusing? You know that in about 34% of all funny cat videos the domestic cat featured in it is stressed. That stat also makes you think.
