Cats and Rats

[sausage4ever]

I know this may have been covered before but I want some specifics on this issue. As of right now my rats live with me in Guelph and the cats live at home in Kitchener. The cats have met the rats since I've had them, about a month ago. The problem is my Carnage will go so far as leaping at the cage to try and get at the rats. He, like all cats, thinks their toys...which means he must bite and "kill." Phoenix doesn't seem to be an issue but that could just be a matter of time. I'm not really worried about the cage falling and busting open (although it could happen worse case scenario), what I'm wondering about is the stress this may cause to my boys. Will the cats cause them undue stress or will they be fine?

P.S. The cats live in the basement and that's also where we keep the rats and there are no rooms available for the rats to go in to be locked away safely. The mouse is in my room only because he's more at risk for being eaten.

 

[Debbie]

I say a cat jumping at the cage would DEFINITELY stress your rats out. And stress is all it takes to cause other health issues in rats too. It's just not a good situation, no matter what way you look at it.

Before our old kitty passed away, she used like to saunter into the rat room. All their cages were up on tables, but just her walking through the room (with no intention to do them harm at all) was all it took for the rats to all freeze in their cages. When I say freeze, I mean, catatonic in one place. I could literally rub a treat under their noses and they would not move. They would freeze like this for up to 15 minutes. Then they'd hide for an hour or so after that. And that was just with a cat in the same room as them. Although Tasha was too old to want to "play" with the rats, they knew she must have wanted to at some point...because they seem very intuned to a "good" kitty, vs a "bad" one.

 

[Riana]

My cats showed the usual interest in my rats, but I had previous encouragement with one of them when we had our fish tank. The first time they looked at the fish tank one cat jumped right up to try to get at them, and I slammed my hand down on the table beside the tank and it was enough to permanently scare the cat away from the tank. With the rats I upped the 'discipline' by using a water bottle. Every time the cats would even look at the rats, I squirted them. Now I know this sounds cruel, but they very quickly understood that they could not even acknowledge that the rats were there. They would come into my room and they wouldn't even tilt an ear over to the cage, instead just stare straight ahead. I thought that this was better than not scaring them of the rats, but that's just me. I felt that with them showing interest it was the safest thing for my rats, because if they were allowed to show that interest, it could potentially lead to an accident, and I wasn't willing to let that happen.

I also ended up building a light wooden frame with small wire in it so that I could put it around the rat cage at night, just for an extra level of security. I never needed it, but I wanted to be safer than sorrier, you know? I can try to see if I have a picture of it, but I don't think I ever did get one. If not, I can draw you a picture of what it looked like, if you're curious. :3

So, I don't know if you were looking for any sort of advice, but it could be something that you may be able to implement. I don't know if the other members of the forum would agree on my 'scare method' though.

 

[ryelle]

As Riana said, the water bottle works a treat with a lot of animals. But, if the cat is going to jump up at the cage, then it's a really bad idea to keep them in the same room. My friends cat jumped up at her rat cage and it caused the rat to be really stressed and skittish. They moved the rat out of the house for a while, but had to move him back again, and he died within a few weeks of being back from stress (he had no illnesses prior to moving back to the home) The kitty was awful though. Would not leave that poor rat alone. It was worse at night when the owners were sleeping in a different room. We used to stay on the couch in the living room when we visited, in the room with the rat and the cats and i ended up locking the cats in the kitchen so they would leave the rat alone

 

[DarkBlade]

Unlucky you. My cat is afraid of my rats. It's quite funny. Mizu, one time, she grabbed my cat's fur on her back legs when she was starting to run away... She ended up doing cat fur skie, sliding as my cat ran.

But yeah, I suggest you don't put them together is kittie thinks they are toys!

 

[Debbie]

Our other older kitty, Sadie was quite interested in the rats when they first arrived. She was the one I always watched for and was sure to keep the rat room door closed, in fear she'd try to go in and terrorize the rats. Well, one day I was careless and left their door open. :doh: I happened to be standing in the bathroom right next door. I suddenly heard a hiss from the cat and turned to the rat room. I looked just as Sadie was jumping down off the table, after being right next to the rat cage. On the inside of the cage right next to where Sadie had been, was Venus...at first my heart dropped in fear that Venus was petrified. But then I looked closer, as Venus turned to me, spat out a chunk of cat fur and ran to the front of the cage like "yeah, no worries...THAT cat won't be back mom". :giggle:

Although it scared the crap out of me, I can look back and laugh now. Thankfully, nothing happened to my ratties......and Sadie never went in their room again. She was forever scared of the "evil furred vermin" in the other room. :wink2:

Unfortunately, more rats are terrorized by the site of a cat :sad3: But I did want to share that story.

 

[Zooy]

Morgan was very interested in the rats until Cujo bit her paw... she's stayed away ever since.
Luna was never interested.
Hank... the bugger. Interested, and terrorizes the poor rats to the point where we have to keep the rat room door shut. We never had to do that with Morgan and Luna.
Just be careful with both species in the same place.

 

[sausage4ever]

Thanks guys for all the stories I will try squirting the cats to avert their interest and I will lock them in the back room at night (as that when the incident took place -- my friend was sleeping over). Hopefully this helps if not I will surely think of something!