In our cognition, cats and mice are natural enemies, and it is normal for cats to eat mice, but have you ever thought about the question: Why do cats eat mice? The rat is so dirty, why does the cat not get sick when it eats it?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="22" > Why do cats like to eat mice? </h1>
From the perspective of biological evolution, domestic cats are domesticated from wild cats, which are derived from a species that has long been extinct, the ancient cat beast.
According to fossil research, the ancient cat beast is a carnivore born at least 50 million years ago, they live in the forest, the main predator is a variety of small animals living in the jungle.
Therefore, a branch of the ancient cat beast later evolved into a wild cat, but their habits were also preserved. Although domestic pet cats nowadays generally eat artificial foods such as cat food and canned cats, feral cats are still pure carnivorous, and in the wildcat diet, their favorite food is a variety of small mammals, small birds and small amphibians and reptiles.
It can be seen from here that in fact, cats do not like to eat fish as much as we think, because in the diet of wild cats, 69% of the food sources are small mammals, and among small mammals, more than 66% are eating rodents, especially rats, naturally, it will give people the impression that cats like to eat mice the most.
Of course, cats like to eat mice, and one of the important reasons is because among rodents, the number of rats is the largest, and studies believe that there are at least tens of billions of rats on the earth, and they reproduce at an alarming rate, even if they are killed on a large scale, it will still give people a feeling of "infinity".
Naturally, feral cats, which are originally small and do not have much advantage among carnivores, have become their main source of food in the process of foraging.
In addition, researchers from Germany also found that in addition to the number of rats enough for wild cats not to worry about food, in fact, cats like to eat mice, but also because the rat's body has a nutrient that the cat body needs - taurine.
We all know that cats are "nocturnal animals", they are an animal that likes to move at night, and the reason why cats can see everything around them at night is inseparable from the cat's body, which is rich in taurine.
So, how is taurine for cats obtained? The answer is from the food side, and the rats just carry nutrients that can provide cats with rich taurine, naturally, cats in order to be able to move at night, have good vision, will also prey on a large number of mice.
At the same time, as a mammal, the body of the mouse also has a lot of nutrients, cats eat mice, not only will get taurine, but also get fat, protein, etc., obviously, mice for cats, is also an excellent food.
Here, there is another problem, we all know that rats actually carry a lot of bacteria, viruses, as harmful animals, we are avoiding them, but wild cats eat a lot of mice, but they will not be infected, what is going on?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > is cat immune to mouse germs? </h1>
Speaking of which, the most terrible germ on the mouse is the plague bacillus, but not all mice carry this germ, and since the birth of the wild cat, they have been feeding on mice, for a long time, genetic evolution is actually on the mouse bacteria, has a certain resistance, naturally, cats eat mice, it is not easy to get sick.
In addition, today's domestic cats, generally will also be vaccinated, even if you eat the mice that carry Y. pestis, in fact, the probability of the disease is also very low, if you have pet cats at home, one day found that the cat ate the mouse, we don't need to worry too much, as long as the cat is cleaned well, there is no problem.
For wild cats that are originally wild animals, or stray cats that have been abandoned by humans, if they live in dirty places for a long time, and the prey is also living in the sewers and around the garbage cans, then such cats eat mice with germs for a long time, and then the probability of contracting and dying is still relatively large, and the reason why we did not find it is mainly because we do not pay so much attention to them.
In the case of wild cats, they are mainly distributed in the African savannah, or in the low-altitude areas of Europe and western Asia, unless there is a shortage of food, they are rarely close to human living areas, and they are often solitary, usually acting alone, because there are still many small animals that can be used as food in nature, so wild cats are not all rats.
Coupled with the fact that in nature, the infection and death of wild animals themselves are things that happen every day, so even if there are wild cats that die of infection because they eat mice, in fact, we do not know.