Getting a rat off a cat.

Pumpkinseeds

So it was a nice sunny evening and I was cooking dinner, I looked out the open back door and there was 1 of our 2 moggies sitting there nonchalantly looking at me with a large wriggling rat in his mouth.:eek: I have a phobia about rats and could barely speak to scream for mr pumpkinseeds. I can deal with sociopaths and scumbags and most things but not rats/mice, particularly rats.

I was cooking curry at the time but it turned my stomach so am having crisps now instead. I just wondered how others deal with getting rodents away from cats. Mr pumkinseeds helped it escape:rolleyes:, but he's on nights next week and I'll be waking up every time I hear the cat flap next week waiting for 1 of my cats to bring it in through the cat flap.:eek:

Gremlin

Just close the curtains and let it be, thats what cats do. If you go interfering in that process, you will end up worse off, either bitten/scratched by a cat or worse bitten by a scared mangy rat.

PieForPi

Release the dogs.

Then release the lions to sort out the dogs.

You'll have to improvise re: the lions.

Pumpkinseeds

I haven't seen a rat in the garden for about 18 years. The cat that got it is the Forrest Gump of cats, he's adorable and we love him dearly, he's built for comfort and not for speed. Our other chap is a former feral and would have dispatched it in minutes. Its gone now and the cats have forgotten it. An old boy down the street was tidying up an overgrown area at the bottom of his daughters garden yesterday and I'm guessing thats where it came from.

Its just the thought of them bringing one in when I'm on my own at night that freaks me out. We had a plumber in about a month ago when a pipe burst under the kitchen sink unit, we had to pull the baseboard out the evening before he came out so we could mop up the water, there was nothing but water. The next day the plummer found a freshly killed mouse under there. Its funny how the mind feeds the phobia.

Gremlin

Also be thankful that you have your cat to keep these vermin away from your house. My parents got an infestation (due to poor building work) about 10 years ago and I can assure you it was not pretty. If pussy brings in a dead one once in a blue moon at least you know the old tom's still got what it takes to keep your house vermin free!

ShaShaBear

I dont know why, but this makes me think of when I fostered a cat, and the way she used to look at my rats in their cage, and then me, as if to say "But, I would be able to do my job if you could somehow shoo them out of there!"

I don't know if it would help, not too familiar with cat-flaps, but those ones that are activated by the collar... would it not work if they were holding something as large as a wild rat because it's the rat coming into contact with the catflap before the collar itself?

Pumpkinseeds

Thanks for the replies. We have a microchip cat flap, we didn't realise until last night that you can't actually set it to lock cats out, not that you'd need to do that very often. I'm delighted that he caught it, I was shocked to see a rat around here, he's an opportunistic hunter rather than a skilled one. He'd be the cat equivalent of a person running at something with their arms and legs flapping wildly.:D

In 4 years he's caught 3 things, that we know of and he just holds on to them looking confused, he's never killed them. Our other chap would've killed it outright. It was just the thought of them bringing it in to the house and it running around and getting under something that freaked me out. I would've preferred if he'd killed it. Mr pumpkinseeds got him to let go of it and it escaped,unfortunately.

Lawrence1895

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

So it was a nice sunny evening and I was cooking dinner, I looked out the open back door and there was 1 of our 2 moggies sitting there nonchalantly looking at me with a large wriggling rat in his mouth.:eek: I have a phobia about rats and could barely speak to scream for mr pumpkinseeds. I can deal with sociopaths and scumbags and most things but not rats/mice, particularly rats.

I was cooking curry at the time but it turned my stomach so am having crisps now instead. I just wondered how others deal with getting rodents away from cats. Mr pumkinseeds helped it escape:rolleyes:, but he's on nights next week and I'll be waking up every time I hear the cat flap next week waiting for 1 of my cats to bring it in through the cat flap.:eek:

That might happen alright. Both of my Toms brought in rodents already, throwing them around all over the place. Maybe they want to give me a present?

sligoface

i thought mr pumpkinseeds was your cats name till i looked at your username.

i am so calling my next cat (or pet rat) mr. pumpkinseeds! hope you don't mind

zef

Reminds me of how i became a cat owner. Back in 90s we had just moved into our house, I was doing the morning dishes looking out the window at some squirrels playing in the garden thinking how great everything was in the world.
I called my partner over and showed him the squirrels frolicking out back near the trees, and he said with horror - 'they're rats!!'
Now I like (pet) rats, but the OH had a pathological fear of them. So we got a rescue ex-feral kitten thru a vet in Raheny, and that cat lived with us for 15 years. R.I.P. Iggy.

I get the odd 'present' from one of my kittehs, usually rats n mice, but Iggy once brought home a small rabbit. Or a live bird last summer, I had to sit with the poor thing till it died. Probably should have just let the cat finish it off.
If the cat had a rat/ mouse, I wouldn't bother taking it off him though. I don't like wild rats so much, they are teeming with fleas!

Pumpkinseeds

sligoface wrote: »

i thought mr pumpkinseeds was your cats name till i looked at your username.

i am so calling my next cat (or pet rat) mr. pumpkinseeds! hope you don't mind

Hee hee, nope my cats are called Felix and Jasper. I don't mind in the slightest if you use the name.

Pumpkinseeds

zef wrote: »

Reminds me of how i became a cat owner. Back in 90s we had just moved into our house, I was doing the morning dishes looking out the window at some squirrels playing in the garden thinking how great everything was in the world.
I called my partner over and showed him the squirrels frolicking out back near the trees, and he said with horror - 'they're rats!!'
Now I like (pet) rats, but the OH had a pathological fear of them. So we got a rescue ex-feral kitten thru a vet in Raheny, and that cat lived with us for 15 years. R.I.P. Iggy.

I get the odd 'present' from one of my kittehs, usually rats n mice, but Iggy once brought home a small rabbit. Or a live bird last summer, I had to sit with the poor thing till it died. Probably should have just let the cat finish it off.
If the cat had a rat/ mouse, I wouldn't bother taking it off him though. I don't like wild rats so much, they are teeming with fleas!

I'm terrified of rodents, especially rats. My cat Jazzy was a feral kitten that adopted us and as far as I know he kept himself alive by killing birds and mice. When he does kill a bird he eats the whole thing. Never have seen him eat a rodent although he does tend to head across to the fields and bring home 'gifts' of field mice and shrews. Felix has grabbed a seagull, a swift and the rat. All of which he lets go unhurt. I don't think he knows what to do with them. He prefers his food prepacked.

Caroline_ie

Aw I am sure your cat was super smug about his kill :P
He's actually just showing you how it's done because he has noticed you were a crap hunter.
My cat Naya brings the odd mouse in the flat, the problem is that ... she usually deposits them on my bed ... One day I was sleeping and I got a fright when I woke up next to a dead mouse. That day I threw the mouse right back out the window, but she dug it back up a couple of days later and brought it back and it was covered with maggots!