1116
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] nesc@lemmy.cafe 2 points 4 days ago

They are extremely useful and adorable. I think it's the violence that makes them so magical, like they are extremely cute cold blooded killing machines.

[-] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The usefulness is dubious for most house cats. Most households don't have mouse infestations, and cats who go outside actively endanger wildlife (and yes, that is an issue for humans as well).

I do agree that they're extremely cute, probably very useful on a psychological level, and honestly I don't know any other cute pet animals that are as cleanly with their feces (dogs can relatively easily be trained to not shit on the carpet, but not to shit in a dog toilet).

[-] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago

The usefulness is dubious for most house cats. Most households don't have mouse infestations, and cats who go outside actively endanger wildlife (and yes, that is an issue for humans as well).

I'd say our cats are useful. These are their stats:

Number of birds killed by cats in my household over the last 5 years: 1
Number of birds killed by going full speed, beak first, into a closed window, then tried being passed off as a successful prey: 2 Number of mice killed: +500
Other wildlife known to have been affected: 1 mole

Can other wildlife have been affected? Possibly, but we're confident with regards to birds. And the only other weve seen cats go for are mice. Not even rats, I guess they're too big.

[-] nesc@lemmy.cafe 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Most households where? Even in rich modern nations mice and rodents were a problem very recently. Like in the lifespan of some users on this network.

[-] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago

Most households in rich nations I guess. I haven't ever heard of anyone I personally know that they have a rodent infestation in their home.

[-] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

Oh, we had. Rats are common in all cities, and mice in the countryside. Sure, nowadays you'd just get an exterminator, but having a cat would prevent that as well. Our dog caught a rat in our basement once, and I'm pretty sure we avoided mice due to her presence as well.

this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
1116 points (99.7% liked)

Science Memes

19160 readers
4501 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS