Could my cat catch something from this oddly-acting mouse?

Question

So this all started at one A.M., when I usually go down to get a cat to lay with me in bed. When I opened the door to let them in, I noticed that our oldest kitty had something in his mouth, so I went to investigate.

It was a mouse. A living, squeaking mouse.

The second the cat saw me look at the thing, he dropped it, and I managed to get a basket over it before my other cats could kill the poor thing. I put him outside and, after a moment, he started to move! I was really happy, but I noticed some odd behaviour, and I want to make sure that my kitty isn't in any danger.

At first, he fidgeted a bit, clearly coming out of shock, and then began to wash the saliva off of himself. As he got up to move, I noticed that he was moving in lazy circles. Not constantly, only three or four times, and he'd stop to groom himself or have a sniff at something, so I'm wondering if he was cleaning his tail? Then again, I've also seen that rabies or toxoplasmosis symptoms could cause circling. Or perhaps the shock of it all?

As I'm writing this, it's about ten minutes since I saw him circling, and he's no longer in sight of my window. What do you guys think? Should I be worried?

EDIT: My apologies, it appears my question wasn't clear. The question here is: Should I be worried about my cat catching something from the mouse?

Answer 1

This sounds like perfectly normal behavior.

Imagine you were almost swallowed by a giant beast and then suddenly put into an unknown place. Wouldn't you turn around and try to orient yourself?

The mouse was probably

1. Trying to assess whether the cat was still around
2. Trying to orient itself
3. Trying to find a way back home or at least back to known territory

As to the health of your cats, you should make sure they get at least the default vaccines for outside cats which usually have to be refreshed each year. If your area is known for rabies in wild animals, make sure to vaccinate your pets and yourself as well. Otherwise I wouldn't worry too much.

Answer 2

I do not think you need to be worried about your cat getting infected with Toxoplasma gondii; a very large number of cats do have this and it is not dangerous for a healthy cat.

The main danger from toxoplasmosis is to pregnant women or animals, but only if they are infected during pregnancy (there is a risk of miscarriage). If the woman or animal is infected some time before pregnancy, the woman or animal will be immune and is no longer in danger of losing the baby.

When it comes to rabies, the risk for your cat is small unless the cat has a wound where the illness can enter the cat's body. So if your cat have been bitten by the mouse, it might be infected.

The cat will not be infected by eating an infected mouse unless the cat has a wound, but this being said, you need to keep the rabies vaccine up to date for your cat. This is done every two years, I believe.

More information about rabies in cats could be found in this article on petmd.com.

Here is some information about the vaccines a cat needs.

Finally, if you live in an area where rabies is found, your cat should get this vaccine as a part of the vaccination program your vet has for your cat. Be sure to contact your new vet if you move house, so you can keep all of the vaccines up to date.