Are cats evil beasts that should be killed to save mice?

[The Grand Nudger]

We took in a stray tomcat that sleeps on our dog. Cute as all get out..but between the two of em, they've got a bigger carbon footprint than our car. It occurs to me that murder machine might not be far off...and it's not like a cat would correct us if we were wrong about that. Because cat. There are certainly lines of argumentation that could end up in the "kill all cats" place, I just don't think dead mice pave that road.

[Objectivist]

[Jehanne]

I love cats!! Unlike dogs, they actually have expectations for our relationship, although, at their core, they are merciless, cold-blooded killers. Mice, on the other hand, are constantly having sex, and, so, cats predating mice are a necessary part of the ecological system, at least until the Democrats provide free birth control to the mice, limiting their population that way.

[The Grand Nudger]

Feed the rats to the cats, the cats to the dogs, and the dogs to the children.

[The Valkyrie]

No.

There are plenty of human-sized rodents that should be culled before we look at smaller rodents.

Also, cats are better than people.

[Fireball]

No.

There are plenty of human-sized rodents that should be culled before we look at smaller rodents. True.

Also, cats are better than people. Disagree.

[The Architect Of Fate]

[The Valkyrie]

No.

There are plenty of human-sized rodents that should be culled before we look at smaller rodents. True.

Also, cats are better than people. Disagree.

Are you having another senior moment?

[FlatAssembler]

People regularly contract diseases from rodents, including (but not limited to) hantavirus, tularemia, leptospirosis, monkeypox, and Lassa fever.

I must admit I never heard of those things.

FYI, bats are not rodents.

I know that. My argument was if the contacts between rodents and humans are to be controlled for the sake of disease control, then the same goes even more for contacts between bats and humans. Rodents have caused zero pandemics in recent history, bats have caused three.
Bats, as far as I understand it, have a very different immune system from other mammals, because of having a very fast metabolism. In most mammals, the immune system is focused on eliminating the viruses from the body. In bats, the immune system is focused on making the virus coexist harmlessly with the body. Thus, the viruses can evolve in bats to be much more deadly and contagious than they can in other mammals, because strains that would immediately kill other mammals can spread between bats. It's like leaky vaccines such as for Marek's disease lead to more deadly and contagious strains: bat immune system acts as if it was vaccinated with a leaky vaccine. That's why many pandemics start with bats.

How many would die from rodent-borne diseases if it weren’t for cats?

And cats help against rodent-borne diseases... how exactly? If a cat eats an infected rodent, it becomes infected itself, right?

We deliberately kill billions of birds and mammals every year for food and and for industrial raw materials, and have caused the extinction of thousands of species through the expansion of our own.

Yet no human being is as blood-thirsty as a cat is. No human being would, if they sees a mouse, run after it and tear it apart using their teeth. And almost every cat would do that if it sees a mouse.

[The Architect Of Fate]

I know that. My argument was if the contacts between rodents and humans are to be controlled for the sake of disease control, then the same goes even more for contacts between bats and humans. Rodents have caused zero pandemics in recent history, bats have caused three.

Bats, as far as I understand it, have a very different immune system from other mammals, because of having a very fast metabolism. In most mammals, the immune system is focused on eliminating the viruses from the body. In bats, the immune system is focused on making the virus coexist harmlessly with the body. Thus, the viruses can evolve in bats to be much more deadly and contagious than they can in other mammals, because strains that would immediately kill other mammals can spread between bats. It's like leaky vaccines such as for Marek's disease lead to more deadly and contagious strains: bat immune system acts as if it was vaccinated with a leaky vaccine. That's why many pandemics start with bats.

Just because it doesn't cause a pandemic doesn't mean you want it around.

And cats help against rodent-borne diseases... how exactly? If a cat eats an infected rodent, it becomes infected itself, right?

Nope,  most of the common bacterial infections cats are immune to and this can further be helped by vaccines and anti-parasite treatments.

Yet no human being is as blood-thirsty as a cat is. No human being would, if they sees a mouse, run after it and tear it apart using their teeth. And almost every cat would do that if it sees a mouse.

Humans are probably the cruelest most bloodthirsty creatures on this planet. Our capacity to inflict harm on our own kind and other species is without rival