OPINION: The news media online is writing about a bug-eyed cat who’s gone viral thanks to an uncanny resemblance to some A-list actors. Great fun. This cat, called ‘Winky’ has an Instagram account. It’s another example of a cat with a severe inherited health problem becoming a celebrity.
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Am I the only person who questions whether such a cat should become an Internet, social media celebrity? Is it right to make money through advertising or other means on social media from a cat who’s inherited severe health problems? Is it right to glorify and make celebrity such a cat? Am I being far too serious?
Winky is like a more famous celebrity dwarf cat who has now passed over the rainbow bridge, Lil Bub. Lil Bub was also a dwarf cat with bulging eyes and a malformed jaw which meant that she was unable to keep her tongue inside her mouth. Very cute. Lil Bub died at the age of eight. The average domestic at lifespan is probably around 16 years, twice the lifespan of Lil Bub.
PETA used Lil Bub to promote their organisation which I find very surprising. PETA says that we shouldn’t use animals to entertain ourselves so they went against their principles chasing dosh.
My research doesn’t provide me with a clear reason why dwarf cats sometimes have bulbous or protruding eyes which must, by the way, make it hard for the cat to keep their eyes moist because blinking must be harder.
She might have pituitary dwarfism but I am quite possibly wrong. If Winky does suffer from pituitary dwarfism she has many other health problems which you don’t see in her cute photographs videos/
But dwarf cat in any case can have severe health problems such as lordosis (excessive curvature of the spine) and pectus excavatum (hollowed chest).
Winky is very cute. She is a bug-eyed cutie whose been likened to Emma Stone the actress! I think that’s ridiculous. I’m not sure what Emma Stone thinks about that if anything. She has been also likened to the actor Steve Buscemi. A better comparison.
Winky was rescued by her owner, Tim Spencer, and his wife Heather, from a shelter in Boise, Idaho. At the time they were foster carers of cats.
Making cats with defective anatomies which is what’s happening is something that we would never do with other humans. We did this kind of thing in Victorian freak shows. We are more civilised these days.
We don’t parade dwarf humans on the Internet and call them cute. We respect them as individuals. We are incredibly respectful of people who’ve inherited genetic mutations which have negatively impacting their anatomy and health. Why do we turn that principle on its head when it comes to domestic cats? Speciesism.
There is a terrible desire by humanity to gain celebrity anyway possible and funny looking cats are the vehicle for that objective, never mind if they are very unhealthy.
Why do we exploit them on social media? I’ve said it before that when people exploit funny looking cats on social media, they do it to obtain celebrity themselves through their cat i.e. vicariously. Personally, I don’t like it. I see it as lacking in principle and ethics but perhaps I’m being far too strict and high-minded. I’m out of step I think with the rest of the world on this but I don’t mind.
The biggest ever dwarf cat star in the history of the cat world was Grumpy Cat. Grumpy cat died at the age of seven which as you can see is very similar to the aged at which Lil Bub died. I’m not going to make a prediction but it would not surprise me if Winky died at a similar age.
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