Can a cat really take a rat?

[JVS]

I know cats can kill mice, but I think a full blown rat could give a cat a run for its money. Any proof that cats can kill rats?

[Taverner]

1. I've seen it

Big ass rat, cat shredded the vile little fuck.

Very happy cat, I might add.

[roguevalley]

2. They might. I hear the rat takes the cheese.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. A cat once killed and maimed an opposum in my back yard.

Left it under the porch. I had to get a male neighbor to remove the thing for me.

He commented..."This did not die a natural death". Opposums are not predators and move slowly, but they are big.

I think a fast-moving cat could kill a rat. No proof, but.....

[yellowdogintexas]

4. I have one that kills squirrels, and have had more than one

that left dead rats for me to appreciate as I stepped out the door

One of my rat killers was actually not a very large cat.

Of course my half Siamese, mighty bird hunter that he is, can catch birds on the fly.

[porkrind]

5. Don't know, but a rat could be a mean sumbitch I bet.

[TroubleMan]

6. Depends on the rat ...... depends on the cat

nt.

[WildClarySage]

7. Many years ago when I lived in Charleston SC, I had a cat

named Garfield who climbed the balcony support to our second story condo with a big fucking rat in her mouth which was not dead and which scared the living daylights outta my poor mother when Garfie dropped in at her feet. She (the cat) proceeded to disembowl the rat, which was I swear to Goddess the size of Godzilla (ok, slightly smaller-maybe.)

[AllyCat]

8. My friend's cats likes rabbits and chipmunks

He likes to bring them in the house still alive and then set the poor creature to running. Cat goes to sleep. Once they're in the house, they're guests.

Same cat has been spotted eyeballing the freeper neighbor's dachshunds.

[Amaya]

9. Yes, my kitty use to kill squirrels

He was a vicious little bastard.
I miss him.

[alittlelark]

10. I have a 6 lb kitty that has taken out rats 1/4 her size

Here in Los Altos we have the infamous 'Los Altos roof rats'. They are huge, and nasty. I have a few other cats that are rat killers, but they are 10+ lbs. The BIGGEST RAT I ever saw taken down by one of my cats was actually a mole ( I had never seen one before -ugggllly). That was one freaky lookin' creature... it was almost as big as the cat!.

Anyway, cats can easily take out rats - that is their purpose.

[yardwork]

11. Yes. Two of my cats killed large rats the same size as them.

My cats killed the rats and dragged them out in the open for us to see. The cats were very, very pleased with themselves.

I don't know how they did it, but I used to watch them catch rabbits. The cats let the rabbits get a little ahead of them, and then pounced on their prey's back and bit their spinal cord. Instant death.

I think they caught the rats the same way.

[FDRLincoln]

12. squirrel

My sister's cat Tabitha (1978-1993) killed a squirrel in 1982.

The squirrel was bigger than Tabitha. I will never forget the sight of her dragging the dead squirrel across the front yard.

Yes, a sufficiently-skilled housecat can kill a rat.

[happyslug]

13. Black or Brown Rat?

For information on the Black, Roof or ship rat (Rattus Rattus):
http://interface1.net/r8/rattuse.html
http://www.mitar.co.uk/blrat.htm
Weight: about 2/3 of a pound:

For information on the Brown or Norwegian Rat (Rattus Norvegicus):
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Rattus_norvegicus.html
http://www.mitar.co.uk/brat.htm
Weight just under a pound:

General rat Information:
http://perso.dixinet.com/animaux-infos/erat.html

Domestic Cat is about 8 pounds and its teeth are design to bite not to chew:
http://www.msjellicle.com/real/mcccat.html

On Domestic Cats hunting (A cat can kill up to a 1000 animals a year):
http://wildlife.wisc.edu/extension/catfly3.htm
http://www.petnet.com.au/reark/reark.html

[yardwork]

18. Brown rats - that's what my cats caught

Big ugly brown pest rats. They're mean, too.

[happyslug]

22. That is the Number One rat today.

When I was a pre-schooler my parents had a Border-Collie Shetland sheepdog mix who hated rats. My parents had a little 25 acre farmette which had 7 springs on it (Today it would be called a wetland but this was the early 1960s). Anyway one time we were sitting outside in the back yard a rat rat ran between my legs (It was heading from one spring to another). That dog ran from beside the house, caught that rat, threw it up in the air (breaking the rat's neck) before it had gone ten feet. I had not even jumped down from my chair (scared by the rat running between my legs) before she had killed that rat.

That dog hated Rats for Rats are mean little animals and while the dog would tolerate any animal that did not bother her, Rats had bothered her once that once was to many times.

Dogs and Cats can be quick when they want to be, and rats are an easy target for them.

[yardwork]

21. It's true that domestic cats endanger wildlife species

Since humans brought domestic cats to most parts of the world, we have a responsibility to keep them from killing birds and other wildlife.

Rats, however, are perfectly appropriate prey. Brown or Norwegian rats are not native to North America, and they are pests.

[happyslug]

25. but you can see the problem if introducing a new species.

If Cats only killed Rats, than no one would have a problem with Cats. The problem is Cats not only killed rats, but birds, Squirrels and other wildlife.

Thus while the Rat is a Problem the Cat has been a poor killer of Rats (With a lot of "Collateral Damage" when cats kill other animals).

Given how many rats and cats live in America today we can not hope to eliminate either from the environment, but we have to control both, even if that means killing cats as while as rats.

[slutticus]

26. "Rattus Rattus"

LOL!

[happyslug]

29. Her problem was not Rattus Rattus but Rattus Norvegicus.

Rattus Norvegicus or the Brown or Norwegian Rat, believe to come from northern China.

See, the the first step in the "Yellow Peril" of the Red Chinese (If you believe that I have some swamp land to sell you).

Anyway the bubonic plague is believed to be associated with the Black Rat (Rattus Rattus) and its replacement by the Brown Rat (Rattus Norvegicus)is believed to be a major cause for the ending of epidemics of Bubonic Plague. This is believe more to do with the Brown Rat dieing in the sewers (and it fleas having no place to go except other rats) while the Black Rat died among humans (thus the Black rats Fleas would jump to Humans and spread Bubonic Plague).

[distantearlywarning]

14. My 12 lb male cat kills large squirrels.

They have sharp little teeth and fight back viciously too.

We don't have any rats in the vicinity that I know of, but I imagine that he could probably take one without too much problem.

My husband says he used to have a cat as a child who brought home full grown wild rabbits that were bigger than she was (and rabbits fight back too, with hind feet and teeth).

[Booster]

15. I have a very small cat and one day she came running across

the street with a rat so big she was practically walking on her hind legs just to keep it in her mouth and off the pavement. Of course, she was bringing it to me.

[soothsayer]

16. we had a rat population explosion following the cicadas this year

and my neighbors cat killed and ate at least one. (how do I know? he ate it outside----all except the gizzard and the tail, ewwwww).

[Carni]

17. My manly cat could take that rat...easily

LOL

[eyepaddle]

19. Cats are just about nature's perfect killing machine

They might look all cuddly, but when it comes down to it, they are all business. They do use the surprise attack more than, oh, say dogs--which is why they are solitary hunters--as opposed to pack hunters.

I'd imagine from time to time a really tough rat gets in a lucky shot--but in general if rats were able to kill cats, they would.\

A neighbor used to have a big french lop-ear rabbit, we were sitting on his porch and we watched a neighborhood cat stalking the bunny. We were prepared to go out and rescue "bun-one" but the damn rabbit lined up and took about a ten-foot hop straight at the cat. It was a devastating head butt, the cat had this really surprised look and just sort of drifted away, looking over its shoulder...

on edit spelling d'oh

[sasquatch]

20. I had a 10 pound female cat that killed a 25 lb wild rabbit.

She actually went to my brother and meowed at him to help her carry it to her kittens.

[spinbaby]

40. A 25-pound rabbit!

I got news for you--that was no rabbit, that was a kangaroo!

[MuseRider]

23. My barn cats kill them

all the time. Big rats and smaller rats. My cats are not terribly big either but they get them without a problem.

[Kali]

24. Piece O Cake!

My defective, runty little Mammakitty kills 'em a couple times a year.


About the rabbits - they will fight, but they also give up pretty easy once something actually catches them.

[eyepaddle]

32. Yeah, the one "rabbit victory"

I saw was clearly a fluke. The cat was more curious than anything else. It was still pretty funny to see. :)

[slutticus]

27. I've seen a cat take on a Doberman

[happyslug]

30. I had a Australia Shepard that hated Cats

As a pup he had tried to be friendly with one and it clawed him, he hated Cats ever after that and did his best to go after them. I had to watch him, he tried several times to get a cat. All I ever saw him do is chase them but if I had left him catch one he would have killed them (He never did he would obey being told to quit chasing the cats and come back to me, but if he had the opportunity.....).

[Kali]

33. heh

that's part of the reason Mommakitty is defective - heeler got a hold of her for about 2 seconds once.

[ContraBass Black]

35. Who won?

[slutticus]

36. The Doberman.

[dweller]

43. My Spike took on a Boxer

no blood shed, just show.

our mutt Wooki has no guts, and the Boxer was a neighbor's. It came over to check out our dog, and had him backed onto the porch where he had gone into a completely submissive posture, Boxer standing over him, etc. I turned to say something to the owner, she was calling her Boxer to come to her with no response, and i heard this thump! and looked back and Spike and dropped into the scene, all puffed up, hunched up in a bowed stance and talking some really loud trash to the Boxer. :D

The Boxer didn't know what was happening i guess, and walked backwards about 20 feet to the owner with Spike pressing her the whole way with some of the wildest growls i'd ever heard...must have been some really nasty threats since that Boxer never set foot again in our yard...

RIP Spike...he was a Champ.


dp

[Osamasux]

49. That's a tough looking cat.

Big legs!

[Osamasux]

28. I've seen cats do some bizarre things.

A cat trained by its mother to kill properly can be deadly. They go for the throat and the gut. They are brutal and efficient.

When I was a kid, four or five of my grandmother's cats attacked a medium sized dog when it came into their yard looking for trouble. They took out his eyes, cut him up bad and the dog ended up being put to sleep. He stumbled down the driveway with two of them clinging to his back and side. I had more respect for them after that.

My Friend had some huge cats on a farm. One time they trapped a small deer. She said heard something, came out of the house and there was this deer backed in by here bushes, with her cats trying to keep it from leaving.

Another friend's father had a cat in his store whose job it was to catch mice and rats. The cat would leave them by the door as gifts for my friend sometimes. The rats were small to mid-sized.

If the cat was not trained to kill as a kitten, it is a whole different story.

[yardwork]

31. That's true. Another cat (usually mamma) has to teach them to hunt

I brought a stray kitten home back in the 1970s and she learned to hunt from our full-grown male neutered cat. The male was a great hunter - he had been feral for a while before he came to live with us. The little female kitten followed him around - she stayed about twenty paces behind and followed him everywhere. She learned to hunt from him and became a great hunter.

Neither of them ever caught birds as far as I know. They caught mice, voles, rabbits, and the rats.

[hedgehog]

45. We have a cat that's tried to take on deer, too

Several times he's come back in the Spring with a hoof mark in his side. We figure he's been tracking a fawn when Mmma came back and gave him a good kick!

[underseasurveyor]

34. oooh yes

Just a few months ago I was awakened by our darling sweet Mr.~M~ kitty with his 'here I brought you something' (((ye-owl))). It was around three in the morning so I grabbed my flashlight and went into the living room. Sitting there so proudly was Mr.~M~ now meowing demurely, and lying in front of him was this huge corn fed brown rat (female). I was expecting a bird, a mouse, but no it was a huge brown rat.

I went to the kitchen and got a large pairs of tongs and poked the body to make sure it was dead. Thank goodness it was :WHEW: I picked it up by the tail with the tongs and gave it a quick look over before taking outside to the trash, and I couldn't find any blood any where on the rat. Broken neck? Strangled? I don't know and I wasn't about to palp the deceased body to find out either x( eeewwwww

Next morning I went over every inch of our cat because a full grown barn rat is quite the opponent and had I found any punctures or deep wounds ~M~ would have been in Doc's office first thing that morning but there was not a scratch on him.
FYI- Mr.~M~ is a 5 year old neutered domestic long hair tabby cat and at last check up 6 to 8 months ago weighed just under 14 pounds.

[RPM]

37. I hate cat threads....

I hate cat threa... oh, wait - this one is cool!

[Joe Power]

38. A rat killed my python

My idiot ex-wife put an extra-mean rat, that I had already removed from the tank due to his aggressiveness and the snake's timidity, back into the tank when I was at work. She, and her visiting equally bright mother, then proceeded to ignore them all day as the rat ate my python alive, all because they didn't like the idea of a rat, in a closed tank mind you, being in the house.

It has no bearing on this topic, of course, and I'm barely bitter these days...:mad:

[Murphys_Unlawful]

39. Only if it owns a hat and fights on a mat.

[LWolf]

41. Sure.

Living rurally, it's pretty commonplace.

The last few years I've lived in town, but I spent 12 years out in the middle of empty desert, and my cat dispatched rats on a regular basis.

And mice, gophers, ground squirrels, rabbits......

Sometimes she caught them and brought them as "gifts." Sometimes she turned them loose in the house to play with. I think she was trying to teach me to hunt.

Sometimes all I'd find is a pile of guts and a tail.

[LynneSin]

42. Evita killed a bat....

...I was pretty impressed since bats can fly and well Evita can't.

[Bertha Venation]

44. Noooo.... the horror! Think of the poor rat!

Herds of feral cats are decimating the earth's rat population! Only ethical and responsible individuals will keep their cats away from this noble rodent.

[hedgehog]

46. My cat generally avoid rats but one of them dispatched an ermine

[txaslftist]

47. It ain't the size of the rat in the fight, its the size of the fight...

in the rat.

[Redneck Socialist]

48. My parents' cat took on a fox

well, ok so it only chased it. I don't know what would have happened if the cat had actually caught the fox. They also had a cat that killed a weasel and brought it home. I'm pretty sure a weasel is tougher than your average rat.

[Osamasux]

50. I would have to agree.