JB Mall Faces Social Media Backlash over “Fat Cat Competition”

Last Updated on 2023-05-08 , 1:02 pm

Cats have taken the internet by storm, with adorable cat videos on Youtube amassing millions of views. Chonky—internet-speak for fat—cats are especially popular, with many worldwide thrilled and cooing over these chubby felines. 

A pet fair at Sutera Mall in Johor Bahru jumped in on the trend, hosting a “Fat Cat Competition”, where owners plunked their fat cats on weighing scales in hopes of clinching a prize. 

However, the competition drew the ire of some netizens, criticising the organisers for promoting unhealthy feeding habits and obesity in cats.

The Pet Fair

The “Fat Cat Competition” was held as part of a larger event—a pet fair at Sutera Mall from 28 April to 1 May. 

The mall’s 2023 Pet Fair boasted more than 60 pet-related booths, with a pet-themed local handicraft market as well. There was even a sharing session about beetles during the event.

Other competitions were also held there, including a “Doggy Concentration Competition” that tested the focus and obedience of dogs when presented with treats, and a “Poo Keeper Competition” that required owners to shovel excrement out from cat litter as quickly as they could. 

However, none of these drew as much controversy as the “Fat Cat Competition”.

The Fat Cat Competition

The premise of the competition was simple—owners would lift their cats onto a weighing scale, and winners would be presented with prizes, including more cat food.

Sutera Mall shared pictures of the competition, held on 30 April, in a Facebook post:

In the photos, smiling owners hoist their cats onto a weighing scale while the cats look less than enthused. 

The post quickly went viral and has since gained over 11,000 comments and 41,000 shares—overwhelmingly greater than the post about the “Doggy Concentration Competition”, which has only three comments and 17 shares.

The top comments, however, criticised the competition, slamming it for promoting overfeeding, unhealthy habits and obesity, which is detrimental to a cat’s health. 

A commenter opines that competitions like this lead to intentional overfeeding:

Another weighs in that these events promote unhealthy feeding habits, which can cause health complications and risks in cats.

Someone even pointed out that the “Fattest Cat” record was removed from the Guinness World Records to discourage intentional overfeeding, which they felt was a form of animal abuse. 

Even r/chonkers, a subreddit for posting pictures of fat cats on the social media platform Reddit, comes with a warning in the sidebar, stating that pet obesity is not condoned. It even links resources on how to help a fat cat lose weight.

There were a few positive comments about the event, but most commenters were aware of the dangers obesity posed to cats, even as they acknowledged these cats were cute.

Fat Cats: A Dangerous Trend?

Although pictures of fat cats are immensely popular on the internet—r/chonkers has around 644k subscribers—cat obesity is a dangerous problem that needs to be addressed.

Just like humans, cats have a metabolism too, and overfeeding can lead to weight gain and health problems, eventually resulting in possible premature death.

A 2020 study in the United States, sponsored by cat food company Purina, revealed that more than half of household cats in the country were overweight.

This is significant—according to experts, cats overweight by even just one kilogram are prone to health issues like joint pain, heart problems, skin conditions and diabetes. Many consider overfeeding pets to be inhumane; the British Veterinary Association even classifies obesity in pets as a severe medical condition because of the harm it causes.

So, even if your cat seems cuter when it’s fat, don’t deliberately overfeed it—a happy, healthy cat is the cutest, after all.