Oh Holy Crap! Cat has just brought in LIVE MUTANT RAT!

[SarahLundKicksAss]

... and has cornered it behind the wardrobe in the spare bedroom. I have locked offending cat in the room, but beyond that WTF can I do?

(I'm not 100% sure whether the rat is a mutant, but it's flippin' big!)

[onyx72]

rats are vermin.

call pest control asap.

[Trazzletoes]

catneuterer when I came across rats in my old compost bin, I was led to believe that it is illegal to release a live rat in to the wild with them being vermin and all. I thought if it was caught it had to be murderised.

[thecatneuterer]

I've a feeling that might well be true, but who is going to know? Rats do no harm at all living outside, and I'm sure it was doing no harm at all living wherever it came from. And anyway all the term 'vermin' really means is animals that humans find inconvenient.

[blondieminx]

Right, remove cat from room as if the rat was slow enough to be caught its prob half dead from poisoning which works by dissolving its innards. You don't want moggy eating it.

Can you put out a plea on fb "horrible moggy has brought in a RAT - urgently need a trap can anyone help at this time as obv the shops are closed...HELP!"

If you can, bait the trap with peanut butter and chocolate. Homebase sell v effective traps.

We had one in our garage last winter, yuuuuuuk.

[FairPhyllis]

Rats are so much bigger than you'd think - I have mistaken one for a cat in the past. Can you fashion a rat guidance system using furniture to funnel it to an outside exit? Then arm yourself with wellies and a broom and chase it out?

[flamingtoaster]

This is about why rats pee everywhere: www.ratbehavior.org/WhyDoRatsPee.htm

You could try a large wastepaper basket to trap it and then slide a flat tray underneath and use the same method we use for spiders (but with a yoghurt pot - thank goodness we don't have spiders that need a wastepaper basket - ). If you chickened out at that point (i.e. didn't feel up to carrying it out) then it would be contained for the pest controller and would only be peeing in one place.

I would put something solid against the gap under the door - I would worry a towel would be enough.

[SarahLundKicksAss]

We (that's me and DD - she's braver than I!) have tried the whole "ushering it out", but with little success. Plan B is now to leave it overnight and contact pest control tomorrow morning. i have the day from hell at work, so not sure how I can fit in pest control man, but it must be done! I just hope DS's room is gap free, because i can't bear the thought of it getting elsewhere in the house.

Have applied flea control to the cat as a precautionary measure! I guess the room will need a thorough cleaning once the deed is done.

Oh, hot water has also stopped working - nothing to do with the rat, so this is turning out to be a fine old week!

[SarahLundKicksAss]

Yes, good point flamingtoaster, I will beef up the rat containment defences.

Bastard, bastard cat.

[BrianCoxandTheTempleofDOOM]

I bet the cat is all "Sorry? What? A rat???? What on earth are you on about minion? Now, feed me wench!"

[Fluffycloudland77]

Cats are a bit rubbish really aren't they? Complete lack of follow through on important rat catching expeditions.

[Hassled]

No advice but a load of sympathy. I think I would just move into the local Travel Lodge until someone big and brave came along and dealt with it - just knowing that rats exist makes me want to cry a bit.

[NomNomDePlumPudding]

not a good idea to pit cat against rat, really, the rat will probably hurt your cat. if you know someone with a terrier, it would deal with the rat in about one minute (but do not let the dog eat the rat in case it is poisoned). you could get pest control, but a terrier would be cheaper and probably quicker for the poor beast.

[SarahLundKicksAss]

Going to bed now. All quiet in the rat den. Will phone pest control in the morning. Nighty night!

bastard, bastarding cat is asleep

[Elkieb]

I don't know if this has been said before but at least it's not a rat in the kitchen. Oh yes, my jokes are that good!

[Lonecatwithkitten]

I'll send round the tiny tail less wonder she is a demon rat killer regularly killing rats that are over a third of her own body weight. They were so large I weighed some of them 1.5 kg ! And the Tail less weighs 3.3kg! She never eats them just kills for fun.

[TheSilveryPussycat]

Go into room taking with you some large empty wellies. Shut door. Distribute wellies around room. Disturb rat. Watch which welly it goes in. Scoop up welly. Rush outside. Release rat.



PS I also love rats, and have had many pet ones pre DCat, but life is red in tooth and claw with a hunting cat.

[ThatVikRinA22]

can you not just don some gardening gloves and pick it up? or chase it out?

im sure it will be fairly scared and ready to run if it has an escape route to the outside. (open front door etc)

i have cats and dogs - i still take mice off them if they are just caught....rats and mice dont bother me at all.....i dont kill them though. i have never had any bother when the cats have brought a lone mouse or rat in - always just put it back out, usually without gloves. never been bitten. could be luck but they know when you are helping them!

[TheSilveryPussycat]

Friend of mine caught a rat a while ago. He lay in wait and managed to trap it in a saucepan...

[florencerose]

wish I had gone to bed about 5 minutes ago

[issey6cats]

being as the rat is now on its own in the room could you kleave the window open as rats can drop quite a height without hurting themselves, you never know the rat may go out of the window then you can shut the little (well big) bugger out without resorting to traps or an injured cat put some chocolate on the window sill (outside) to encourage him in that direction traps are vile even a rat i couldnt set up something that snapped an animals neck

[SummerRainIsADistantMemory]

My cats tackle rats regularly and bring the dead ones back to me. I'd put the cat back in the room and make it finish what it started.

I once came home from school to have my mother announce 'your cat brought a live rat in today. It's under a bucket in the garage for you to deal with'. Well it may well have been but as she failed to put anything on top of the bucket to weigh it down it had escaped long before I got home. It lived in the garage for ages with my mom getting increasingly twitchy.

[SarahLundKicksAss]

I have come home from work to await the Rat man, who is bringing some ominously-named sticky boards. All is quiet in the Ratroom, and the towel across the bottom of the door is still in place, so unless the little blighter has found another way out it should be in there still. I did leave a window open (1st floor), but no sign of splatted rat in the front garden - hang on, can they shimmy down an outside wall? Would it be likely to do this in broad daylight?

I have a vivid memory of watching a "Tales of the Unexpected" many years ago, where a family ended up trapped in their house by thousands of rats who were underneath the house, and in the wall cavities and roof. All you could hear was scratching and squeaking, and the programme ended when the family decided to make a run for it, and you heard their dying screams drowned out by the rat noises. Am I overthinking this a little now?

I just hope the boards are super sticky, otherwise Ratty's going to get all riled up, then his first thought will be to wreak his revenge on DD and me in the middle of the night. (Definitely overthinking now!)

[SarahLundKicksAss]

Meanwhile bastard cat is washing her backside oblivious to my mental anguish!

[Trazzletoes]

Yes it could well have shimmied out of an open window and down the wall.