They're gonna need bigger cats.
Posted on 05/16/2021 6:49:32 PM PDT by Beave Meister
HAHA! Good for your kitty, she sounds brave and smart!
They need to hire that German guy with the flute.
They're gonna need bigger cats.
This is a problem? (Joke!!!)
More seriously, my daughter's female cat -- pretty average size but slightly plump after being neutered -- would, when younger, despite being well fed, kill adult gray squirrels, which typically run about twice the weight of an adult rat. Granted there may have been something wrong with the victims -- age, injury, disease, etc. This cat and a stray (but not feral) Tom that sometimes hangs around here will kill most smaller prey they can catch, including rats up to 2x large mouse size, moles maybe 3x, but, they do not, that we know of, kill adult rats.
The best cure we have for the bigger rats is to make sure any food source (feed for my daughter's chickens being the only real "culprit") is out in an open area, and only daytimes, as much as possible. Then I can pick rats off with my pellet rifle.
We also recently raised 5 Buckeye hens, and some of them will chase small rats and, on occasion, a cat. (Actually, the cats are afraid of even chicks!) I don't know if the Buckeyes catch / kill many rats -- they do not seem fast enough -- but they seem to be suppressing them more than the cats. This did not happen before, even with chickens with coloration much like a hawk or eagle. So, I think it may be the aggression toward the rats when the rats are young: The rats "learn" that, and then avoid the Buckeyes thereafter.
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