Cats and rats

Re: Cats and rats

Katie Mansfield — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:42:31 GMT

we have 6 cats 2 dogs 2 rats and a hamster. The rats and hamster are upstairs in various kids bedrooms, although one of the dogs belongs to our daughter and sleeps in the same room as the rats overnight. because we knew this was gonna be the case when hubby built the rats enclosure he put solid perspex doors on the front to prevent any attempt from dog / cat to get at rats or defence bites from the rats!!

we have had one incidence of cat on hamster cage (it's a Rotastak, so no chance of cat reaching hamster), but 99.9% of the time the bedroom doors are kept shut to prevent this.

I must say I agree with the others and really think you need to re-think where everyone lives in your flat to prevent any mishaps.

K x

Re: Cats and rats

Elerrina — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:57:18 GMT

Our collie loves to stalk our rats though shes only interested in them if theyre being paticularly active, we have never managed to get her to lose interest in them so just keep them seperate when we go out she is shut in the kitchen away from the rats.

Re: Cats and rats

Vicky RVN — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:12:44 GMT

I have to agree there, I would keep rats and cat seperate, it's not fair on either of them to be in contect with each other. Even if you stopped the cat from showing interest in the rats while you're there, you never know what they're up to when you're not there.

Re: Cats and rats

Gillian Mostyn — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:38:17 GMT

It is perfectly normal for a cat to want to chase and kill the rats, and attempting to stop this behaviour is likely to not only be unsuccessful but likely to lead to very stressed cat and rats. You need to keep them in different rooms and if this is not possible it was perhaps not the most sensible idea to get the cat...

Re: Cats and rats

Julie-Anne Wilson — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:17:24 GMT

Unfortunately I live in quite a small flat so there's not a lot of places for their cage to go.

Re: Cats and rats

Kim Buckley — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:47:11 GMT

When I had rats my dog wouldn't leave them alone. This was until she stuck her nose through the bars and got bitten and then she wouldn't go near them!

I'm afraid I don't have any advice as to your cat they are prey. Could you not put them somewhere that she can't get to?