Did you know some people keep pets to keep mice away? It's true! Known for their strong predatory instincts, cats and dogs can be your best defense against pest problems. That is, except for one cat and golden retriever online who seem totally perplexed by the sight of pests running around their house.
If owners are expecting their cat or dog to “fend for themselves,” that's unlikely to happen.
In a video shared online by its owner @frankandmur, the rat can be seen being chased by both the cat and the golden retriever, with the rat circling them both to no avail.
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“Everyone, somebody catch a mouse!” their mother urged from behind the camera.
It was a tough one for the pair: the golden retriever chased the mouse for about four seconds, but by the end of the video, the two animals were sniffing the mouse cautiously, with the small mammal standing completely still.
“Two cats, a dog and a rat without a scratch,” the woman joked in the caption.
Commenters were quick to criticize the animals' performance. “You three have zero killer instinct,” one person joked. “You lied on your resume,” another teased. “Mom, you raised a lover, not a warrior. I'm about to adopt the baby,” another commenter chided.
But one person has a different explanation for what's going on: “The rats may have toxoplasmosis,” they write.
Toxoplasmosis in mice
The commenter may be onto something here: Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. Humans can become infected through contact with raw meat or cat feces. But when it comes to animals, things are a bit different.
A study published in an academic journal in 2013 PLoS One It turns out that when mice get toxoplasmosis, they lose their fear of cats. It's true: the infection completely changes something in the mouse's brain. The study found that even months after the infection had cleared, the mice were no longer afraid of cats, leading scientists to believe that the change was permanent.
In this case, this would explain why the mouse was completely unfazed by two large animals looming overhead. It didn't actually run, it just circled. If so, then the Golden Retriever and the cat were actually pretty smart. We don't want to think about what would have happened if they'd caught the mouse, and we're sure the owner doesn't either.
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