Dog killed a massive rat in our garden!

zaksmum

Let the dogs out last night for their last wee and Jack shot forwards, grabbed something in his mouth, shook it and dropped it at my feet.

I was horrified to see it was a MASSIVE rat!!!!

Fortunately Jack had killed it, but it was just covered in moving fleas!

I got the dogs inside immediately and put their flea drops on which were due a couple of days from now. Shovelled up the rat, triple bagged it and put it in the bin - the binmen came this morning so it's gone now.

The rat didn't have time to put up a fight or bite Jack, and he's up to date on all his vaccinations - but is there anything I need to do to make sure he's ok? He must've got the rat's blood in his mouth, though he's fine this morning.

Should I call the council to tell them about the rat? I do want my dogs to be safe in their own garden!

krlyr

Fleas are often species specific so I wouldn't worry too much about the dogs getting fleas off a rat.
His vaccinations won't really make a difference, there's not much transferred from rats. One thing that is a possibility is Weil's disease, but not all rats are infected (and many other wild animals can carry it too - foxes, hedgehogs, it's caught from cattle too). Are you near any streams, rivers, etc? This is where wild animals tend to pick up Weil's disease, as it's spread by urine (so water can get contaminated). I'm not even sure the dogs could pick it up via rat blood.
Personally I wouldn't contact the council. It might be a one off, but the rat poison they put down is likely to be more of a risk to your dogs - if they were to find a poisoned rat and eat it, they could be poisoned themselves. I would just have a strict good practice of not doing anything to encourage rats near the house/garden - no rubbish bags left loose, if you have any pet rabbits or anything then make sure rats can't access their food/hay/hutch, stop feeding the birds in your garden, speak to neighbours if they put food out and ask them to either stop or change to a different method of feeding (e.g. no scattering food all over the garden, use feeders hung in trees with the dishes underneath that catch spillage, etc. Also cut back any overgrown plants to minimise hiding places. Rats want an easy life, remove the resources available (food, water and shelter) and they will move elsewhere.

GreenQueen

We've had a couple of situations with cats where we weren't sure whether we needed to do anything, and we've found our vets very good for giving free advice over the phone - may be worth giving them a ring.

zzzLazyDaisy

I live near open countryside and at certain times of the year my cat brings in lots of baby and young rats as presents (fortunately these days he does kill them first....)

The only time he has suffered any obvious harm is when he has been bitten (though he does scrap with other cats too, so it might not even have been a rat). Anyway, he invariably gets an abcess at the wound site and that is often the first I know about the bite, so it is worth keeping an eye open for a few days to make sure there is nothing cooking.

elsien

I wish mine would be a bit more proactive on the rodent front.
I've had a mouse in the kitchen, and silly sod just stood there looking slightly baffled as it scurried between her legs. She's a terrier for goodness sake, there has to be an instinct in that stupid shaped head somewhere!

On the garden front, I've regularly had rats in mine. They come through from next door having lots of bird food all over the place, and next door but one being abandoned and so a ratty paradise. I've persuaded him not to put so much in the back yard on trays as the rats were balancing on the fence between us to get to it, but that's as far as he's willing to go. They were also nesting in my compost bin so now I don't put any veggie peelings in, and I chuck water in and turn it over regularly to make life uncomfortable for them.
Council man did come and put poison down (safe for me as mutt doesn't go in the back garden) but they still come through and he said that while next door are basically giving them an open invite, there's not much else I can do. And I think now they are mainly passing through rather than living in my garden which makes me feel slightly better.
All I can do now is keep telling next door when I've seen rats (which hasn't been that often of late, thank goodness) and keep trying to persuade him to use feeders, as krlyr suggests.

Absinthe_2

Rats are common around here, and huge (country), but luckily there are a lot of cat owners, plus my dog hates them. I've never worried too much, about him killing them, as is his natural instinct. I would be checking for infection though if had been bitten, just in case. No point taking him to the vets, unless obviously infected.

krlyr

elsien wrote: »

All I can do now is keep telling next door when I've seen rats (which hasn't been that often of late, thank goodness) and keep trying to persuade him to use feeders, as krlyr suggests.

I think Environmental Health will be able to do something about your neighbour if it's a big issue.

shazz5555

I had rats in my garden last year, I called the council, they came out for free and put poison down, said it should not harm dogs/cats, as long as its not left in full view/easy access
.

zaksmum

I rang the council, they're sending someone out next week, said the dogs won't be affected by whatever they put down.

I have an alleyway at the back of my garden where the usual idiots just chuck black bin bags out well ahead of collection day...the cats rip them open and the rats have a feast!

Never saw a rat as big as this one though!