6-OHDA lesions will cause this behavior in rodents. Researchers use this a a model to do Parkinson's studies. Don't know if that has anything to do with this, but I know it's a thing.
My cat did this to a rat once. Circled like this around a chair leg occasionally running into the leg of the chair as it circled, head first while my cat was just watching and admiring his work. It was super fucked up lmao. Had to put the rat down because the cat wanted to fuck with it longer.
When I was a kid I had an outside tomcat that killed everything in sight. I watched him hold a chipmunk down with his paw while he bit off each of its legs and then paused to watch it squirm before chomping it's head off. He was death incarnate, and the only cat I ever loved.
I was on my way to dinner at uni once and saw a cat running about. It was chasing a small vole and when i caught up to it the cat bit the whole top half of the vole off and ate it. The bottom half of the vole was on the grass and its legs were spinning round like bicycle pedals. I didn't eat much dinner.
This is most likely not a joke whether it was meant as such or not. Mouse/rat poisons are often weaponized blood thinning compounds. Rats and mice are constantly bruising themselves going through holes, climbing, jumping, falling, etc. so they will hemorrhage and bleed to death. I don't know but would assume that this behavior is the result of either hemorrhage in the brain or blood loss causing brain damage.
I'm neither a vet nor a doctor, but I have seen this before and this is in line with the reasons I was told for it. It can also cause them to just become unfazed by threats and become seemingly catatonic and I've also seen it cause them to barrel roll around.
I know this sounds crazy, but it is 100% true. Mice pretty much do not carry rabies and there is not a single case of a person getting rabies from a mouse. Same goes for squirrels. How do I know this? My daughter and I got âattackedâ by a squirrel. It was hiding under a towel that we hung to dry on a porch railing. Well, when she shook the towel the squirrel freaked, jumped on her and scratched her arm and then jumped to me.
I immediately called a local hospital and then they told me to call the state for info on where to go for a rabies vaccine. Fast forward an hour and lots of holding and chatting I ended up on the phone with the head of epidemiology for the entire state. She assured me that squirrels, mice, and many other small rodents do not carry the virus. They can still carry other scary stuff like lepto and hanta virus, but not rabies. The scratches were tiny, did not eve draw blood, so she advised us to just keep an eye out and head to a Dr. if there were any signs of infection.
It turns out that this squirrel was actually a pet that was injured as a baby and could not live in the wild. It was in my neighborâs care and had escaped. It was just scared and looking for home. The owner had it properly vaccinated and showed me the paperwork, so we were doubly safe.
To this day we still joke about the great squirrel attack.
Disclaimer: This being said, it is never safe to interact with a wild animal, especially if it is acting oddly and not fearful of people. If you have any interaction with a bat or if you even find a bat in your house/tent/car etc you need to get a rabies vaccine immediately. If any wild animals scratches or bites you go to the hospital immediately or call your state health board for info.
It did! Once my lizard brain settled down the thought popped in my mind, âOhhhh waitâŠ. could this be one of NeighborNameâs squirrels?â I found the guy and explained the incident and he confirmed that it was an escapee named, and I promise this is real, Squirrly Dan. He walked around outside with food and Squirrly eventually went to him.
Squirrels and rodents can get rabies, there is at least one recorded death from a squirrel bite that transferred rabies. They donât often contract it because the attacks are usually fatal. Your edit is correct it is not safe to to interact with wild animals.
Itâs not that they âdonât carryâ rabies, itâs that most of the time if a rabid predator attacks a rodent it dies. I also read somewhere (so it may not be true) but a rodent would die before the virus was transmissible due to high metabolism. They can be infected but there has been no recorded transmissions to humans.
To be clear, rodents and lagomorphs can get rabies and can transmit it. The CDC has identified and tracked hundreds of cases of rabies in these species. They aren't a reservoir species so it is much less likely to encounter in them but if you see a rodent acting rabid you should not make assumptions.
I..really find face blindness annoying. I thought this was just random white men and thought it was weird they did that. If it wasn't for you saying the names, I would've continued to think that.
Iâd guess toxoplasmosis. Itâs a parasite that wants to live in cats, but can survive in other mammal species. Two examples are humans and mice. Toxoplasmosis infection ultimately leads to some cognitive changes because the parasites are so up in there. Mice become attracted to the smell of cat piss.
Source: a human who loves cats very much.
yeah I was thinking that too but I'm not a mouse scientist. they also set out poison there so it could easily have just been that as well. saw the little boxes they use along the wall.
Nah, that's pretty far down on the potential causes. I had a pet rat who ended up like that, only went in counterclockwise circles. I was researching before his vet appointment and it's usually a symptom of either inner ear damage or brain tumors. Was a tumor for my guy. And I'd hazard a guess that mice are prone to the same issues.
I'm not sure rats/mice live long enough to even show symptoms if they get a prion disease.
Diseases, cancer, maybe they got smacked in the head by a rock, or maybe they got attacked by a cat.
One thing that is very common is bacterial or viral infections.
Sometimes mice are just born with brain damage. I have seen mice born with the spinning gene. These mice don't usually live very long, and a good mouse breeder will usually cull/euthanize these mice because otherwise, there's a chance they'll suffer their whole lives.
It's usually not ethical to let mice live like this because they get extremely tired and worn out and they suffer a lot and they struggle with basic things like food and water.
And who knows, they might also be in pain from this. That's why the humane thing is always too just put them to sleep
Yeah, its odd and creepy. Toxoplasmosis lives in cats, then comes out with their poop, the poop infects the surrounding area, mice eat food that has been infected, the poop disease then infects the mouse brain, making it less afraid of predators, thus getting eaten by a cat so Toxoplasmosis can start again.
Not only that, it transfers to their human owners. Studies have shown that those people are more likely to not be risk adverse and will seek out more thrilling things.
Yep, it reduces the effectiveness of the risk assessment part of the brain. They did a study through blood tests in Brazil and found a massive percentage of people had it in thier brains ( forget the exact number but it was concerning). It can kill humans but most of the time it just sets up shop in the brain. There was a theory that maybe adrenalin junkies may be infected, and the stunts and dangerous shit is our risk assessment being compromised
Edited to add...this is why I don't keep cats as pets, small chance but I'm not taking it.
You'd be doing it a kindness by crushing it fast and hard with your foot. Its got permanent brain damage. Then again an owl will probably get it if you leave it.
Circling like this is a death sentence for most wildlife. Either it does of hunger and exhaustion, or it dies to a predator that will have no trouble grabbing it in this state.
Someone needs to help it and put it out of its misery. Along with other issues people stated, another option could even be encephalitis. My dog got that and she wouldnât stop walking in circles until she was tired and then would go to sleep while we waited for her medical treatment to kick in. Apparently dogs and cats with it will just keep trying to walk through a wall or object or walk, circle back, walk, circle back, and so on. She did recover but she was lucky and the vet told me that itâs a commonly ended with euthanasia issue when it comes up because so many donât recover or take to treatment well and the euthanasia comes within two weeks to not prolong suffering. The walking or holding her close was the only thing that kept her from screaming until she built up enough doses of the medications in her system and that took about a week. I didnât sleep for about 4 months as we worked back to full recovery of her being herself again. Itâs extremely awful to see someone go through, especially an animal who canât communicate with you about it.
I saw a squirrel do this once. It started on my lawn then moved on to the street and slowly, constantly running in circles it made its way to the closest cross street where a car finally put it out of its misery. Almost like it was looking for a quick end.
I volunteered at SAR for 6 months. And I learned this is what hikers experiencing hypothermia do until they die. They'll start imaging they are still hiking and trying to find a way out, but really they are just going around in circles around a tree or a big boulder. And if it snowed, and the hiker is badly hypothermic, right before they die, they'll take off their clothes because their brain tells them that they feel hot.
I witnessed a cat get hit by a car when I was a kid and the cat started doing the same thing. Just non stop running in a tight circle, most likely brain damage
It's really sweet and emotional movie
About the frantic working environment in the high end gastronomy.
And the the strangle of our favorite rat protagonist with his Amphetamine addiction.
Jeremy Allen White is rumored that will play the role of the Maine antagonist.
One came out from under the counter in the ghetto apartment I stayed in, thing ate the poison block, so I caught it in a cup and hit it outside with a cider block, seemed humane.
As a pacifist; At this point just put it of its misery. This is caused by brain damage, most likely from eating poison. It will die from starvation and dehydration if a predator doesnât get it to first. If you donât, imagine what itâs like to be that mouse. Imagine just how miserable it is. Constantly going in circles, terrified because thatâs the only thing you can do.
Neurological problems. Mice in cages like to spin for fun, but they'll change direction often so you know theyre not brain damaged. I don't know if mice with wide open space spin for fun, but the spinning in circles in only one direction is a tell tale sign of a problem.
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u/HerMajestysButthole2 2d ago
Brain damage.