Are cats scared of rats? Do they catch them as they would birds and mice?

Hmmm i think a cat would have a go at anything if it wanted to lol. I mean we've just seen a video on another thread (although i thought it was horrible) of a cat taking on a snake...

They hunt them just as they do birds and mice, the only difference is that rats are more likely to put up a fight.

Baby rats are no problem for a cat however the bigger ones do fight back and the cat could get injured!

Our cat only brings in tiny mice. Never a bird, never anything bigger than a field mouse. But then she is pretty tiny herself.

I have two hamsters and a rat here and she's good as gold with them. She sits on the bed while the hamsters come out for a run around (on the bed) and just watches them and she has taken it upon herself to be the rodent guardian in the house.

However - she seems to just know these are pets and has never once tried to get at them, I am under no illusion they will still go out and kill although recently she's brought home things like barbequed sausages and chicken bones - clearly scavenged from other people's cooking so whether she has decided she's going to go on the straight and narrow or whether she's just getting too old to catch them I have no idea!

I used to have a cat called MOG and he was forever fetching small rabbits back and plonking them on the back step, he did however once fetch a great big rat back that was still alive and squeaking like a good un. We managed to rescue the rat from him and it "legged it" pretty sharpish out of the gate. Mog had a few nips from the rat on his face so we took him to the vets, £50 later for injections, I was not a happy chap.. MOG never fetched any more rats back after that thank heavens..

My cats killed probably up to a hundred smallish rats the summer before last when there was a sudden population explosion of them, I was clearing them off the garden continually.

ours as had hundreds big ones and little ones, he as had a magpie before now

Farmers tend to use cats to kill rats that steal the harvests or animals food and spreads parasites- i knowthe farm i wored at had two rat killing cats

I walked into my house about a year ago to find a dead rat - full sized - laid on the carpet! :gag:

I have never been sure if my cats killed it or found it and thought it would be a nice present for me :rolleyes:

I somehow couldn't imagine them tackling it as it was almost half their size - unless they ganged up on it I suppose.

I think adult rats that are sick are probably easy kitty prey, not sure about fit and healthy savvy ones, but that's an opinion based on well - nothing!:D

Of the people I know who have pet cats and pet rats, the cats seem to know that they don't touch but equally people usually dont let them meet for obvious reasons.

2 of my cats spent a whole week taking it in terns to catch a family of rats at the bottom of my garden they did catch them all even the mother.

A rat got into our house - probably through the catflap. Opened up my computer cupboard to see a large hairy backside with a long tail sat on my computer tower :hihi: Now - I'm not scared of rats but I thought - right - 6 cats and 1 rat - definitely sorted - NOT. They just sat there and looked at it - didn't give chase or anything - so I ended up trying to catch it in a box - which didn't work - so I had no alternative than to go for the snapper trap under the kitchen cupboard - not nice - but obviously my 6 - yes 6 - had passed on this 1 :D PS - It was nearly as big as em :hihi:

My late Jazzycat was a fantastically able hunter.

I always said I should have named him Jaeger (German for 'Hunter')

He had a few small birds ( :( ) umpteen squirrels :o , at least a couple of Pigeons, umpteen neighbourhood rats, vast quantities of Mice, and even came bounding through the window with a small rabbit on one occasion :o .