Celebrities are criticised for dressing up their cats - as craze is said to cause felines distress

Even by feline standards, Jennifer Garner’s cat looks distinctly unamused.

But it is hardly surprising, given that Moose has been dressed up with a blonde wig, sparkly outfit and pink guitar to look like Dolly Parton.

Nor is it the first time that the Hollywood star’s grey-and-white longhair has found himself in a costume.

Before Christmas, he appeared on Instagram looking downcast in a festive tartan cap, with Jennifer, 52, writing: ‘I promise he loves me.’

She is far from the only celebrity to dress up her cat for social media – actress Kate Beckinsale and 12 Years A Slave star Lupita Nyong’o have both done much the same with their cats recently.

But leading feline charity Cats Protection has now stepped in to criticise the cruel celebrity trend, which it says leaves the animals ‘distressed’ and may be fuelling a rise in the number of people choosing to dress up their own animals.

The charity’s social media team says it has noticed a significant uptick in the number of people emulating celebrities by posting images of their cats in outfits – and is urging others not to ‘like’ such pictures so the trend is not encouraged further.

Nicky Trevorrow, a cat behaviour expert at Cats Protection, said: ‘We are worried that celebrities who dress up their cats make it look fun and glamorous and normalise it so that others will do the same.

‘Cats don’t understand why they are being forced into outfits which are not easy to get on, which can be heavy, hot and itchy, and have distressingly loud velcro fastenings or zips and buttons.

‘They don’t understand why they can’t move properly, making them fearful they can’t run away and hide from danger, and they don’t know why they can’t regulate their own body temperature through grooming because there is clothing on their fur.’

Ms Trevorrow said even cats who don’t seem to mind clothing have actually just ‘shut down’ because they are so stressed.

‘We actually worry more about the cats that don’t protest and try to escape being put into clothes,’ she said.

‘People think this is because they are happy and relaxed, but in fact the cats will be so distressed that the only way they can cope is to shut down and disassociate from the situation.’

Lupita Nyong’o, who took to the red carpet with the cat who starred with her in the film A Quiet Place: Day One, has posed on Instagram with her own pet, Yoyo, wearing Christmas pyjamas.

And Kate Beckinsale has regularly appeared with her own Persian cat, Clive, who died in 2023, on her social media pages. He was regularly dressed up for Christmas and Halloween, and they sometimes wore matching outfits.

More recently she has posed with her other cat, Willow, dressed as Rambo and with dyed pink hair.

Cats Protection says cats dressed in clothing often show clear signs of stress, like having wide pupils and flattened ears, licking their lips, going floppy or hunching over, according to animal welfare experts.

In a blog on its website, the charity says: ‘Clothing can prevent cats from being able to groom their fur, go to the toilet or run away from danger.

‘Taking away their choice to do these things can make them anxious and scared.’

It adds: ‘Putting clothing on a cat often involves handling them a lot and moving their body into different positions.

‘This can be very uncomfortable and stressful for them, especially if they’re not used to it.’

In some cases, vets advise a jumper for a hairless cat to keep them warm, while cats can be given special medical vests to protect wounds, but these are the only types of clothing advised.

Nicky Trevorrow said: ‘We are very aware that pictures of cats “break the internet” and are incredibly popular, but there are alternatives to dressing pets in uncomfortable clothing and disregarding their needs.

‘People can use photo editing to dress their cat up digitally, or they can create incredible toys for cats to use on their own terms, like cardboard castles, which look great on social media.’