What is this rodenty thing?

[Tweefutom]

The dog started playing with something in the sitting room. Then the something started squeaking and I panicked shooed her outside.

This was the rodent she caught. What the dickens is it? DH thinks it’s a mouse, I’m afraid it’s a baby rat.

I'm going for young rat purely on length of it's tail

Wheat, was that aimed at me?
Having lived in a house backing straight on to fields, which grew mostly grain crops, I have had both varieties of mice.
I once caught ten in less than two weeks (house mice, all of them). I've also caught the odd field mouse too.
I'm hoping I can tell the difference by now, thanks all the same.

Looks rat like to me.

OP, a picture for your comparison.

Vote for rat here :(

(It was still alive so I put some leaves on it and left it to recover)

did it?

wood mice can bounce like kangaroos

It looks like a vole. Our dog catches a lot alive in the garden and brings them in the house so we release them back into the forest. Voles have shorter snouts than nice and rats and a more curved skull

That was the last one we released for comparison

I used to breed pet rats for years, and I agree with @CuriousaboutSamphire - that's not a baby rat. The hind legs on that are too kangaroo - like and the head doesn't look like a baby rat's head. The fur growth is quite thick suggesting that, if rat or mouse, it would be over 2 weeks old - but a rat that age is a different shape. It does look very like a baby gerbil but I can't imagine where that would have come from unless someone released a pair or pregnant female. Otherwise, wood mice in particular can have that sort of hind leg shape/proportion , but I don't know as much about them so can't say for certain.

I am a rat breeder.

That is not a baby rat.

What do you breed rats for? Love rats and all animals but just never heard of it before

OP's critter doesn't look remotely like a vole.
I'm getting too invested(!)
Hope OP doesn't put poison down.

Baby fancy rats are very cute, nice pets.

It's a mouse. I've seen more of them in my Edinburgh flat than I've had hot dinners.

Too big to be mouse I think ,we had a few mice when we lived in a flat that was near fields and a river they were tiny so should say rat although I hate all rodents

I have rats before (pet ones!). It doesn’t look like a rat to me. The body is the wrong shape.

He’s far too large to be a baby mouse. Mummy mice are only tiny themselves aren’t they.
He’s gorgeous, though. I’d be snuggling him if I found him.

What!!

I think the general consensus is we do t know for sure what it is, but keep your eyes open for more! Look inside your house too for any poops in case any have moved in for the winter, but as you’ve only seen the one and you have a successful hunter living in the house with you I would think they have not.

Baby rat.

I am pretty sure it’s a baby rat.

It would have been better to finish it off, by the way. It wouldn’t have recovered.

Just for reference this is a newborn rat. You can see why us rat breeders don't think OPs picture is a rat. The attachment and articulation of the legs and body shape are wrong.

Field mouse or vole. I hope it's recovered.

Completely the wrong Body and nose shape to be a rat to all these '100% baby rat' people.

It's a field mouse. Definitely not a rat. We have snakes, i'm quite familiar with dead looking rats in a range of sizes

Difficult to see the size, but if it's very tiny it's a mouse. Our garage is invade every winter. Maybe 6cm?