According to Upvoted, the first cat-scared-by-cucumber video
appears to have been uploaded in May and went viral by July or so. Countless
others followed, to the point where Reddit has an entire Cucumbers Scaring Cats
community. The idea behind these videos is that if you put a cucumber behind a
cat, it'll freak out when it sees it. But experts say that's bad for the cats,
with some calling the videos "cruel" and "despicable,"
National Geographic reports.
"If you cause stress to an animal, that's probably not
a good thing," animal behaviorist Jill Goldman tells National Geographic.
"If you do it for laughs, it makes me question your humanity." She
says startling cats can cause them to injure themselves or become chronically
stressed. But why exactly are cats scared of cucumbers? Goldman says it's
simply a natural reaction to seeing an object where they aren't used to seeing
it. A number of animal experts tell Upvoted it could also be because cats associate
the cucumbers with snakes, and their brains—like the brains of all mammals—are
reportedly predisposed to fear snakes. Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Katherine
Houpt says that's unlikely, as cats hunt snakes in the wild. Regardless, she
agrees: Stop scaring your cats with cucumbers.
