‘Friendly’ cat lets a mouse ride his back [Video]

Another TikTok video is going viral. This time it’s a cat with a mouse riding its back.

Jessica Pippen posted the video and captioned it, “I have so many questions.”

After watching the video, we too, need some answers.

@jess_pip I have so many questions #cats #PINKHolidayRemix #TheHarderTheyFall #catsoftiktok #mouse #confused ♬ original sound – Jessica Pippin

In the video, Jessica opens her door to a couple of cats. What’s interesting is, one of them has a small mouse crawling on its back. That’s really strange.

“Is that a mouse on your back?” Jessica asks the feline. “OK … OK …” 

Jessica quickly ventures back into the house and grabs a dishtowel. She then goes outside and plucks the mouse off the much-too-friendly cat.

You can hear her murmuring, “Oh my God” under her breath. She then put the rodent on the ground a safe distance away. 

The video went viral unsurprisingly, racking 10.1 million views.

However, there are a lot of unanswered questions: Did the cat know that he’s carrying a mouse on his back? Are they buddies? How did the mouse get there? And the biggest question is: why didn’t the mouse get scared? Hopping on the back of a cat could easily kill it.

Actually, there’s a scientific explanation for that: toxoplasmosis. It’s a disease caused by a parasite that can change a rodent’s behavior.

“This disease is caused by a parasitic infection that alters the brain chemistry of rodents and seems to eliminate their instinctive fear of cats and other predators,” says Jenna Stregowski, RVT and Daily Paws’ pet health and behavior editor. “Studies indicate that toxoplasmosis does even more; it reduces overall anxiety and diminishes fear of potential dangerous situations.” 

Toxoplasmosis usually doesn’t cause illnesses, Stregowski adds, but it mostly will affect animals who are young or immunocompromised. So perhaps this mouse caught the disease from eating something—meat, dirt, or even cat poop—out in the wild. 

But there’s also the possibility that this mouse and this cat are really BFFs!

Source: Daily Paws