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Do rats keep cats away?
It is in the cat's instinctive nature to chase after smaller animals, particularly rodents such as mice and rats.
This is a source of amusement for the animal, and in the wild, it once would have been a source of food and nutrition.
These days, however, chasing after rats and mice is just a thing that cats do because they feel the need to. It is in
their nature.
These days, however, cats don't live in the wild. Many homeowners report that their cats do not chase after rats and mice,
and even worse than that, in some cases they are actually very frightened of them. They are not animals that come into contact
with each other very often these days, and that's even more so the case with indoor cats. Cats aren't stupid - they won't chase
after something when they aren't all that sure whether or not it can hurt them. They like to weigh everything up first - the pros
and cons.
It's also been reported in the news and other media that rats are getting bigger. This could be because they have access to more food,
or just because they are evolutionarily getting bigger. Some scientists have argued that these larger rats, almost the size of small house
cats, are just "freaks of nature", and something that won't happen that often, but there seem to be an awful lot of reports int he news that
would go against this statement.
Do rats keep dogs away?
Cats are still killers though. They are hunter-killers. If they see a rat or a mouse, there's a good chance they'll chase right on after it,
and that's where you find yourself with a problem on your hands. It's actually better for your cat to be frightened of this animal, and to want
to run away.
There are a number of reasons why you wouldn't want to use your household cat to capture rats, or even to be let loose in a property where rats are
present. Here are the reasons why:
1 - If you are using rat traps, they are big enough to trap and seriously injure a cat. If you are going to use them, make sure you
place them in areas that the cat cannot get to.
2 - If you are using poison, which we do not advice, make sure your cat doesn't have access to it. Cats are more and more frequently
being taken to vets with poisoning, and also secondary poisoning - when a cat has ingested rat matter that has been poisoned.
3 - Make sure your cat doesn't come into contact with the live rat. As well as bing able to transmit a wide range of diseases, the
rat can actually injure your cat.
4 - Make sure your cat doesn't come into contact with the live rat. Again, as well as being able to transmit a wide range of diseases
still, and even more so in some cases than with the live rat, the cat can become accidentally poisoned if the rat has been poisoned.
5 - Make sure you do not leave cat food lying around. Rats can pass on tapeworm and other diseases by sharing the same food as a cat.
Also, rats will urinate and defecate as they run. If they run over your cat's food, it will be eating contaminated food. As well as tapeworm, leptospirosis
and toxoplasmosis can also be a problem, both of which can be fatal to felines.
6 - Make sure you do not let rats come into contact with your cat's water. This is for all of the reasons we mentioned above. A rat will
defecate and urine in the cat's water, passing on disease. It will also drink from the water, once again, passing on disease.
If you are thinking of letting your cat loose to get the rat or rats you have spotted or heard in your home, reconsider. It's a very bad idea. Also: if you are
thinking of using poison, please reconsider. This causes more problems than it solves, and you also run the risk of poisoning the wildlife in your area that you
DON'T want to kill.
For more rat information, visit our rat removal tips page, or for more specific how-to instructions, read the how to get rid of rats page with 6 step-by-step instructions.
If you have a problem with rats above your ceiling in your house, read my rats in the attic guide. The most important part of rat control is sealing shut entry holes into the building, but after
you've done that, you'll want to know how to kill rats humanely to complete the rat control job. If you need to hire professional help in your city, click on my directory of over
200 rat removal companies servicing 95% of the USA. we can help your with your rat problem!
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