Judgmental cat photos causing litter of commotion online

2022-06-25 00:32:07 By : Ms. Beca Chen

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The internet is going wild for photos of “judgmental cats” on Reddit. Troves of users on the online platform are causing hiss-sterics, posting pictures of critical creatures who appear to be casting doubt on their owners with curled lips and squinting eyes.

“[I] started singing out loud and glanced over to see my cat, Snuggles, staring at me with lots of judgement [sic]. Cats,” Redditor lscraig posted.

Skeptical kitties are also giving cold stares on other social media platforms. The hashtag #judgmentalcat has more than 388,100 posts on TikTok.

But scratching below the surface, these expressions might not mean what owners think they do, experts say.

“Cats are not judgmental … there might be other things causing that expression. Perhaps the cat is feeling cornered, or there’s another cat nearby, or maybe there’s a slight pain, or another animal [around],” certified cat behavior consultant Marilyn Krieger told The Post.

The bottom line: “People judge, that’s a human characteristic. Not a feline characteristic.”

So, it’s all just a harmless, adorable misunderstanding. But, it might have an upside.

“A lot of people,” Krieger said. “They’ll think it’s cute and it will make them feel more warm and fuzzy towards the cat, or the cat breed, or towards cats as a whole.”