This is the moment a Malaysian woman makes her cat-fearing friend scream in horror by repeatedly thrusting a ginger moggy in her face, sparking accusations online that the prank could have “traumatic” effects.

The video, which split opinion among netizens, was shared on TikTok by Malaysian user ‘Tasyapunyerrr’ where it has been viewed over 70,000 times.

She posted the footage with the caption: “A friend who is scared of cats be like…”

The footage shows the TikTok user’s poor friend shrieking in horror as she repeatedly thrusts a ginger cat in her face.

After the video was widely shared on the Chinese social network, netizen opinion was divided, with some seeing the funny side of the prank and others viewing it as cruel and even “traumatic”.

One TikTok user said “it is not funny and this can be trauma” while another said “can people not do this type of thing even though they may be close to one another?”

A netizen agreed, commenting: “Sorry, if someone did this to me I would be traumatised for at least a week or even more, I swear.”

‘Tasyapunyerrr’ later said that she did not expect a backlash to the video as she had posted it before when her profiled was listed as private.

She added that it was just a joke on her close pal and that she was fine with being teased like that.

An irrational fear of cats is known as ailurophobia.