Can a cat become infected with a bacteria or virus from rat?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Psinter
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Bacteria Virus
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
Sign up Log in
9 replies · 3K views
Psinter
Messages
278
Reaction score
785
I once saw a cat in the streets playing with a living mouse. The mouse wasn't moving, but it was breathing. The cat moved it from paw to paw and then took it in its mouth and moved it to another place where it kept playing with it.

Can a cat become infected with bacteria or virus for playing/hunting rats/mouses?
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: ProfuselyQuarky
Biology news on Phys.org

Discussion

Theoretically yes, my understanding is that any mammal can be infected with rabies, if the mouse is infected then the cat is exposed.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Psinter
gjonesy said:
Theoretically yes, my understanding is that any mammal can be infected with rabies, if the mouse is infected then the cat is exposed.
I see. Thanks for replying.

I was a little bit curious.
 
Yes - toxoplasmosis actually alters rat and mouse behavior such that the prey become easier for the cat to catch.
. "The effect of Toxoplasma gondii and other parasites on activity levels in wild and hybrid Rattus norvegicus". Parasitology 109 (5): 583–589. doi:10.1017/s0031182000076460. ISSN 0031-1820. PMID 7831094

In North America ~23% of adults have been or are currently infected with toxoplasmosis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/toxoplasmosis.html

And yes, there are both bacteria and virus diseases that are transmitted from small rodents to domestic cats. Toxoplasmosis is a single celled organism related to malaria. Not a bacterium or a virus.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Psinter
jim mcnamara said:
Yes - toxoplasmosis actually alters rat and mouse behavior such that the prey become easier for the cat to catch.
. "The effect of Toxoplasma gondii and other parasites on activity levels in wild and hybrid Rattus norvegicus". Parasitology 109 (5): 583–589. doi:10.1017/s0031182000076460. ISSN 0031-1820. PMID 7831094

In North America ~23% of adults have been or are currently infected with toxoplasmosis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/toxoplasmosis.html

And yes, there are both bacteria and virus diseases that are transmitted from small rodents to domestic cats. Toxoplasmosis is a single celled organism related to malaria. Not a bacterium or a virus.
Very informative. Thanks!

It calls my attention how toxoplasmosis alters the rat and mouse behavior. I find it interesting and curious for something to alter the host behavior in such a way that increases its chances of multiplying. Very interesting indeed.
 
gjonesy said:
Theoretically yes,

The reason I used the words "theoretically yes" is because not all exposers will result in an infection. There was a case in California where a young girl contracted rabies from a cat that was around her school or neighborhood. The CDC confirmed that she had rabies. They said she was fully infected and was treated but she was expected to die but some how she recovered. All of the stray cats in the neighborhood were captured and none of them tested positive for rabies. It was postulated that the cat had either ran off and died, or that one of the captured cats had recently attacked a rabid animal and the scratch the girl received inoculated her with the virus.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rabies-miracle-california-girl-survives-dread-disease-without-vaccine/
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6104a1.htm
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Psinter
Hmm. Humans get all manner of pathogens from what we eat - Listeria, Salmonella, tapeworms, pinworms - (like @lisab above) so it should come as no surprise that food-borne illness should be something that happens to many animals. Parasitism is exceedingly common in Nature, simply because it is such a great way for organisms to thrive.

PW Ewald provided a lot of primary research and helped to define the field of the Ecology and Evolutuion of parasitism. from 1987
an example: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3304078
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Psinter