Cat bringing in rats! Help!

shomk

Our cat keeps bringing in, amongst other thing, rats. We think he might be getting then from next doors decking as he is often under there.

Most things are dead, but He recently brough in a rat which was alive and it hid in our hallway, it was only that I went downstairs and noticed his behaviour and heard the noises I realised he had brought something in, again. When we went to get it out it was dead (for some reason) but I am so worried about him bringing in rats and us not realising he has and them running about our house.

We are starting a family and I do not want rats in the house when we have young children. In fact I dont want anything being brought in.

My Mum says we will have to get rid of our cat and I think she may be right but I really dont want to.

Has anyone got any advise, please.

Fire_Fox

Try a magnetic cat flap on a quick release collar. I came home once to my little female bashing a poor blackbird against the cat flap, as the magnet on her collar would not contact with something large in her mouth! Did not stop her bringing in small stuff.

Also block up all the holes where small creatures can hide, and put a (gentle) automatic door closure on the door after the cat flap, so cats can only get into the first room and not the whole house. Speak to your neighbour about getting a pest controller out.

walwin

If you get rid of the cat flap you can police what he's bringing in

~Chameleon~

There's not a lot you can do to prevent him catching rats/mice etc but please ensure that if you or your neighbours call in pest control that they don't use poison otherwise this could severely harm your cat via secondary poisoning.

Find someone willing to use humane traps or terriers, and will shoot to despatch them.

shomk

Thanks, we dont have a cat flap - he comes in and out through the window (like a cat burgular!!). We cant fit a cat flap as we have a completey glass door so we cant afford to replace it for this reason at the moment and we have no where else to put the cat flap.

We let him come and go at all times (which often leaves us very cold) as he does his toilet business outside.

Would anyone recommed keeping him in at night and using a litter tray instead. It is in the morning that we make most of the gruesome discoveries. The most annoying thing is once they are dead he has no interest, so its not even as though he eats them, its just like leaving us a gift!

snowmaid

Your cat is bringing you gifts. Enjoy!

tealady

Hi I would mention to your neighbour that they have rats under their decking and suggest that they contact their local Council to enquire about pest control. Here in Brum rats are poisoned for free for most domestic customers.

Sagz_2

Shut the window!

Hopefully he may not need a litter tray as most cats can 'hold it' if let out last thing at night and then again in the morning. It may be worth training him to come when called - mine run in at the speed of light when I put dry food in their bowl and shake it out the window

As much as I like to live-and-let-live rats in a domestic setting can cause problems so I'd contact the local council and inform them of the problem.

Fire_Fox

shomk wrote: »

Would anyone recommed keeping him in at night and using a litter tray instead. It is in the morning that we make most of the gruesome discoveries. The most annoying thing is once they are dead he has no interest, so its not even as though he eats them, its just like leaving us a gift!

Many people do keep their cats in at night as this is apparently the time they are most likely to get caught on the road. Please do get a litter tray and don't expect your cat to hold themselves, it isn't healthy for any animal (including humans) to be forced to 'hold on' on a regular basis.

If you are going to start a family you may wish to use a hooded litter tray with a little 'cat flap' on the front so that you know your baby can't access the litter; some cats take a while to get used to the door so you may need to leave it off at first. How much smell you get from a tray depends on what you feed the cat, what litter you use and how often you scoop!

walwin

shomk wrote: »

Thanks, we dont have a cat flap - he comes in and out through the window (like a cat burgular!!). We cant fit a cat flap as we have a completey glass door so we cant afford to replace it for this reason at the moment and we have no where else to put the cat flap.

We let him come and go at all times (which often leaves us very cold) as he does his toilet business outside.

Would anyone recommed keeping him in at night and using a litter tray instead. It is in the morning that we make most of the gruesome discoveries. The most annoying thing is once they are dead he has no interest, so its not even as though he eats them, its just like leaving us a gift!

I don't have a cat flap but I won't leave a window open because Winnie really needs policing too.

She can come in and go out as much as she likes when we are there to open the door for her but overnight she's kept in. She has a litter tray which she uses if she needs to but she rarely uses it apart from when we had a foot of snow and she was loathe to go out in it and when she did go out she didn't seem to want to go to the loo in the snow and more than once came back inside and went straight to the litter tray

bouncydog1

The Pet Porte cat flaps and any others can be fitted into glass doors - you need somebody skilled with a glass cutter to cut the hole so there will be a cost involved, but the pet porte will stop other cats coming in as well as it only reads your cats microchip.

I guess that there might be a time when the cat can get through with small items but a rat might be a bit too big!