Study Confirms Cats Aren't That Into Catching Rats
We've long been told that cats can help tamp down rat populationslet's face it, who wouldn't want a Ninja force of cats to combat vermin? However, a new study from Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution has shattered conventional wisdom, positing that cats actually don't catch that many rats.
Ecologist Michael Parsons, a visiting professor at Fordham University, spent time with colleagues observing the behavior of rats and cats at a rat-infested Brooklyn recycling facility. (Nice work if you can get it.) The study concludes that "feral cats (Felis catus) are predators that cause widespread loss of native wildlife in urban ecosystems. Despite these risks, cats are commonly released as control agents for city rats (Rattus spp.). Cats can influence their prey directly by killing or indirectly through changes to feeding or space-use. However, cats prefer defenseless prey, and there are no data suggesting that cats influence large (>300 g) urban rats."
In other words, cats don't really want to expend much energy chasing after and fighting with rats, which are more of a pain to catch and kill. Plus they are rats!
Parsons had actually been researching rat behavior when he made the discovery. According to Scientific American, this was his initial reaction to noticing the cats at the recycling facility: "As a behavioral ecologist, I was like, Lets get rid of the cats so we can do our rat research.'" But then he realized, "We dont know what the rats will do around the cats," which quickly became,
http://gothamist.com/2018/09/28/news_flash_cats_meh_rats.php
rickford66
(5,524 posts)We lived in a rural area with an old barn nearby. These cats would drag up a dead rat, fairly large, and eat it over two days. These were cats that came in at night and were otherwise well fed by us. They did the same with grown rabbits.
Merlot
(9,696 posts)Rats know there is a preditor around and go elsewhere, so cats really don't have to do the work of catching the rats.
It is hard to picture a cat catching a big rat. My cats are small, 8 - 11 pounds. Mice and small birds are the usual prey, with a few lizards for good measure.
Bayard
(22,110 posts)They are relentless. The Great Pyr's have stopped the possum's from coming around, just by being here.
My cats are into the easy stuff, usually bringing me shrews.
Liberty Belle
(9,535 posts)It probably depends on how large and how hungry the individual cat is.
SharonAnn
(13,777 posts)The killing bite. Its the one where their jaws close on the backbone and crushes the prey. Without learning that, they might just play with the prey.
With that knowledge they will kill the prey, perhaps after playing with them.
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)....will bother hunting rats. Most will chase them to play, but dont expect them to kill unless you are starving your cat.
Le Gaucher
(1,547 posts)Wolf Frankula
(3,601 posts)They naturally eat mice, but rats are an acquired taste.
Wolf