Pets Love Wheels? Cat Version of Mouse Wheel Explained

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Mallignamius
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This is a clip of a "cat wheel," a feline version of a mouse wheel. I had several mice years ago, and they couldn't seem to get enough of their wheel. What is the appeal of these wheels to animals?

Anyways, it's also a cute clip, and if you're a cat lover, you know you want one.

 
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wouldn't YOU want one?
 
If I was a quadruped, maybe.
 
Click on the "onboard Skylab" video from the link below. It includes a scene of the "running" track. There's another video of 3 people running on the track at the same time, but I haven't found it yet.

http://www.stmms.org/video.html
 
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Yeah, I've seen that before. I'd think almost everything is fun in 0g. I still don't understand the love animals have for a wheel. It might be fun for a while, but these animals will do it all their lives, and compete over it.
 
Mallignamius said:
I had several mice years ago, and they couldn't seem to get enough of their wheel. What is the appeal of these wheels to animals?

I don't know if it would be as appealing to cats as it is to mice. Mice (and other small rodents) typically run quite long distances every night in the wild while searching for food and mates. When confined to a small cage, about the only running exercise they can get to express this behavior is on those wheels. I recall years ago some debate by animal behaviorists whether wheel running was a health expression of normal behavior, or an abnormal stereotypy (like pacing by lions or cribbing by horses) due to a stressful/overly boring housing environment. I'm not sure that debate was ever resolved. But, the more elaborate their housing environment so they have more choices of things to do and ways to get exercise, the less wheel running they'll do. Have fun building an elaborate habitrail for your rodent pets, putting food in various chambers for them to forage, and bedding/nesting material in others, and watch them scurry all over the place at night.
 
moe darklight said:
wouldn't YOU want one?

I have one and it cost me a thousand bucks. I call it a treadmill. :smile:
 
out of whack said:
I have one and it cost me a thousand bucks. I call it a treadmill. :smile:
Mine soon became a clothes rack. :redface: