It is really ironic that you would psot this topic as our cat had to show what a great hunter he was and brought us a half dead rat, right up on the patio this past Sunday. We were having a little party for our son and we had 14 family members over and "me big hunter" shows up with his rat. Man that rat had a long tail. It msut have been what you described as a Norway rat as it was brown and the head was more like a squirel than a mouse.
I was not very happy with the outcome. Of course the rat wasn't dead, the cat brought it up under the patio table we were seated at and drops it out of it's mouth and is starting to play with the rat. My brother in law decides that the rat is suffering so he seperates the cat for the rat and lets the rat go free right at the end of the patio.
Everybody is screaming and now the cat is looking and acting guilty like he is doing something wrong. This cat (which we inherited with the house) has brough us a snake, several birds, a rabbit and now this is his second rat. Always he wans to bring them in the house, we dont' let him do that but we praise him for his good hunting as catching rats is something I surely do want him to continue to do. Our cat eats allt he animals it kills, right in front of us.
I am still ticked off about my brother in law letting that "poor" rat go. I almost feel like bringing a rat over to his house next time we visit and letting it go right off of his patio and see if he like it. He is a real, real nice guy and in 32 year of knowing him this is the first time I have ever been in disagreement with him. I have never found any evidence of rats being in the house or the basement, which is where the cat stays at night. I do put out poison after i heard them in the sealed attic and I know the cat can't get up there. I am sure we got some with the poison because man oh man did it stink for about 10 days 2 weeks.
So we jsut had our own rat "experience" 2 days ago and I stumble upon your post. It is nice to know we are not the only people with rats. I ever see them though, only twice the 2 rats the cat brought us.
