Photo: Instagram / TikTok
Influencer Tammy Hembrow has upset her fans with this video.
By John Sundholm — Written on Feb 17, 2023
Encounters between babies and cats are usually the type of thing that makes us all go "aww" when they hit the internet.
But the relationship between one woman's baby and her cat is going viral for all the wrong reasons.
Some feel that the video is just a funny moment between a baby who doesn't understand a cat is, you know, a living thing.
But others are outraged, and calling out the mom for animal abuse.
The video shows Australian influencer Tammy Hembrow's six-month-old baby Posy squashing her cat Bubbles.
Hembrow, 28, most mostly focuses on fitness and workouts in her content, along with day-to-day glimpses of her life as a mom in the Gold Coast of Australia's state of Queensland.
One of her latest videos shows her baby daughter Posy hitting a certain roadblock as she crawls out of her playpen—her cat Bubbles.
As Posy makes her way out of the playpen, her little hands smash right into Bubbles' body, squashing her with all her body weight.
She then continues on her way and lays directly down on the cat before kneading her hands and knees into her again.
In the original video, which seems to have been deleted from Hembrow's Instagram and TikTok accounts, she appears to be laughing at the situation.
Onscreen text in the screen captures posted to TikTok, Reddit and other platforms say that Hembrow joked, "Poor Bubbles," but never did anything to stop Posy from smashing her.
People called Hembrow out for not stopping baby Posy from squashing Bubbles, and accused her of animal abuse.
Many people were absolutely outraged by the video.
"Wtf is wrong with people?! Why would she let the baby do that," one Reddit user wrote.
"Tammy how is this acceptable?" a TikToker commented, while another wrote, "Omg that’s so horrific! That made me so upset that she didn’t step in and do something."
Another person agreed, commenting, "Look babies have no idea what [they're] doing that’s why we as mothers teach them instead of laughing."
Others pointed out that it's only because Bubbles' breed, ragdoll cats, are so docile that it didn't seem like the cat was being injured.
One person on TikTok explained, "ragdollls won’t move because they have no sense of danger, just because the cat is lying there doesn’t mean that it’s not hurting."
"That’s so messed up," another Redditor added. "Even if the cat never fights back that poor cat is being abused."
Others criticized Hembrow's parenting and felt she put her baby in danger of being attacked by the cat.
"What is wrong with her?!?!" one person exclaimed. "One bite from the cat & the cat get’s rehomed."
Many TikTokers agreed, with one commenting, "and then one day the cat fights back and she’s gonna blame the cat."
"Imagine her reaction if that cat scratched the babies face," another added.
"The baby will get scratched eventually," another Redditor warned, "even if it’s an accident and I’m sure she’ll probably be upset about it. Animals aren’t toys for children to play with."
Before deleting her video, Hembrow defended her handling of the situation.
An uproar ensued on TikTok as soon as Hembrow's video went viral. But screenshots show she was totally unfazed.
When a TikToker commented to let her know they'd reported her to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the UK and British Commonwealth's counterpart to the ASPCA, Hembrow doubled down.
"Lmao," Hembrow wrote. "Did my cat hiss or meow or run away? [My kids] literally go up to her ALL DAY and lie there ON THEIR BACKS..."
That may be true, but as one Redditor put it, "She’ll be singing a different song when that cat attacks her baby. And it won’t be the cat's fault."
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.