Rats can be far more aggressive and courageous than modern domestic cats

The anti-cat brigade find any way to criticise domestic and feral cats. They condemn the cat for not even being able to perform their ancient historical role: to get rid of rats. Well back in those far flung days before Ancient Rome, the domestic cat was semi-feral and more like today’s African wildcat. They were able to cope with rats and snakes.

Courageous rat
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Courageous rat sees off cat and dog. Screenshot.

But the tables have turned. The rats have become more resilient and aggressive and the cats have become more domesticated and incapable of truly squaring up to brave urban rats. It must be to do with domestication. The cats have become soft and the tough life of survival for the rat has sharpened them up.

The video

Please (1) give it time to load – it may be slow and (2) please turn on the sound by clicking on the sound icon at bottom right of the video so you can hear this courageous rat…

https://www.facebook.com/DailyMail/videos/410243519854462/
 
This extraordinary video from Thailand tells the story. A large rat bravely faces a dog and a cat acting in tandem. The rat is far more aggressive and plucky than either the cat or dog. The dog is playing more than attacking and the cat is watching with interest but gets out of the way when the rat approaches.

Useful links
Anxiety - reduce it
FULL Maine Coon guide - lots of pages
Children and cats - important

It is the way the rat squeaks and charges at the dog, who is many times larger, which is so impressive. It is about character.

I have seen several videos of feral and domestic cats being nonplussed and frankly scared of rats. So grudgingly I have to conceded that domestic cats are not that good and sometimes thoroughly bad at getting rid of rats.

That’s not to say that often the presence of domestic cats helps to deter the presence of rats. That’s my assessment. So there is some use for domestic cats are rat catchers. Not so much ‘rat catchers’ more rat deterrents (sometimes).

Nowadays mice and voles are more the manageable size of prey for modern domestic cats. They can deal with mice nicely, thank you very much. It’s those damn warrior rats which are frankly terrifying.

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Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.

Michael Broad

Hi, I'm a 74-year-old retired solicitor (attorney in the US). Before qualifying I worked in many jobs including professional photography. I love nature, cats and all animals. I am concerned about their welfare. If you want to read more click here.

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