Is the owl video cute?
Rating: NOT CUTE
Cats have a very dangerous bacteria in their saliva that is fatal if introduced into the owl’s bloodstream
Cat saliva exposure will kill an owl this size if not treated within 24 hours, and survivors may still have complications limiting quality of life
Cats and owls should never be allowed access to each other, regardless of how well they seem to get along
I think some people just like to hear themselves talk, and some like to see themselves type.
It is absolutely insane to watch someone just decide “healthy” birds are somehow immune to the known bacteria species that inhabits the saliva of most cats, and also decide that birds just naturally produce salmonella.
I don’t even know where to start on the idea that hygiene is unnecessary in home cooking. Yes, you may avoid getting liver flukes from your unwashed imported veggies if you’re lucky, but you may also avoid getting a beef tapeworm from an undercooked burger at a McDonald’s.
My point being, the precautions taken in the food industry should absolutely be taken when you cook at home. Cooks in chain restaurants don’t just secrete cholera from their sweat glands and grow pinworms in their hair, you have just as much a chance of getting a food borne illness at home as you do dining out. Just because you’ve never gotten salmonella despite never washing your hands after touching raw chicken or eggs doesn’t mean your home cooking experience is safer, the infectious agents just didn’t happen to be in that piece of chicken.
Similarly, there will be some rare birds to get bitten or scratched by a cat and survive without intensive care. That’s not because they’re “healthy” birds, that’s almost invariably because for whatever reason, the cat’s saliva wasn’t contaminated with the gram-negative bacteria responsible for killing birds. These are far outlier cases.
Since most cats have this toxic bacteria, think of it the same as you’d think of a venomous snake. Would you think it was cute for a dog to be kissing a rattlesnake? Sure, the snake didn’t bite in the video, and of course the venom is only dangerous if the snake bites! So, that means the snake will never ever bite the dog, right? It’s totally safe for them to be in contact even though the snake’s instincts are to bite when it’s space is invaded? There’s no way an animal would just act on instinct in a seemingly unexpected incident, is there?
That may sound dramatic, but it’s exactly what’s happening here. Cats have an insanely high prey drive that humans more or less bred them for as they have been erroneously used as rodent control for thousands of years. Banking on the cat NEVER biting or scratching the owl is absolutely insane and irresponsible. Even if the cat just wants to play, they can very easily create a puncture wound too small to see under feathers. To be completely honest, the skin of a bird is so thin it’s very possible for a cat to break the skin by licking too roughly.
How about listening to people who actually know about this issue instead of making up a bunch of nonsense to keep the illusion of owls being uwu cute good pets.
