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BimbleKitty t1_j1pfc3r wrote

I thought they were happy to use them as they kept vermin down, especially important in farming communities

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Rear-gunner OP t1_j1pisty wrote

As a former cat owner, I can tell you that cats, contrary to popular belief, are not much good at killing rats.

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avoere t1_j1po9ha wrote

Your cat was probably a spoilt indoor cat, not a barn cat.

Though barn cat's generally don't pick a fight with adult rats, they will eat their young.

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joalheagney t1_j1pp6ml wrote

My childhood cat (a little calico) used to hunt adult rabbits and snakes. According to my mum, you'd see this rabbit or snake corpse coming up the road with a cat tail just visible behind it. "Look what I caught."

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eveban t1_j1r6x53 wrote

We have a barn cat who has definitely helped our field rat & mouse issues. He was a feral cat my son brought home a couple years ago. I've tried to convince him house living is nice but he wants no part of it (I brought him in during the awful cold we just had and he screamed his displeasure for 2 days straight).

My only complaint is when he leaves the corpses of his kills on my porch and the dog finds them before I do. Nothing like seeing your dog toss a dead rat around like a favorite toy. So gross. But we haven't had any signs of rats and fewer mice in the house since he's been around so I'll deal with the dead bodies I guess.

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Pompen534 t1_j1pltro wrote

Do you really believe that your pet cat and a cat that lived in some village 600 or more years ago behave the same?

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tchotchony t1_j1podnc wrote

If treated the same, yes. Cats haven't changed all that much. And they survive well enough on their own as strays that they quickly become a pest when not controlled.

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Pompen534 t1_j1polmh wrote

True, but almost no pets back then were treated as we treat them now. I doubt most people could afford pets whose only purpose was to bring comfort.

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tchotchony t1_j1pq97h wrote

A substantial amount of people were farmers/lived close to nature though. It's just... pet food wasn't a thing, in the best case you might toss some meat leftovers (though I suppose those would mostly go to the dogs and pigs). Cats roamed and are pretty capable of keeping themselves fed when they're healthy. I doubt it's as much a question of people keeping cats than cats staying around sources of easy food (vermin)/warmth/scritches behind their ears. You didn't need to be able to afford cats, they can take care of themselves.

Same as with your pet cat. If it's a freeroam, it'll hunt anyway regardless if you feed it or not. My previous cat was semi-freeroam (couldn't get out the connected backyards) and at one point he took the neighbours' rabbits home. Over a 3 meter/10 foot wall. Mind you, he was well-fed and lacked for nothing. My current is indoors only, she attacks anything on 4 legs on sight. Including the neighbour's German Shepherd. Hunting instinct is big in cats and never went out of them.

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Rear-gunner OP t1_j1q3b15 wrote

When you look at the rat catchers of the modern era, they prefer dogs to cats for rat hunting.

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NewestAlt1234 t1_j1rkly2 wrote

Well yeah DUH, wtf! Obviously it's easier for a modern ratcatcher to use dogs, especially terriers

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RobertMcCheese t1_j1qeick wrote

If you have rats, dogs are way better at controlling them. Your hulking barn tom will do ok with rats, but rats will mess up a regular cat but good.

Most of your rats were going to be in your fields, not inside your dwelling. Regardless, ratting is the whole point in breeding dogs like a Jack Russell, a dachshund and the like.

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Royally-Forked-Up t1_j1r8aee wrote

As a former cat owner, I can tell you they certainly can be. My spoiled indoor cat was a murderous bastard who regularly snuck out. He brought home full grown crows, rats, squirrels and a whole goat of mice and smaller birds. He was never trained, he just hunted on instinct and he was faster than greased lightning so we couldn’t keep him inside. His mom was similar, although she stuck to smaller critters, and his son is scared of spiders.

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BimbleKitty t1_j1pmrvh wrote

It depends, my former cats and friends cats varied from playing with mice to taking on badgers and foxes. The panther owned by my ex bf parents would tackle anything on his territory. My old ginger was big enough to take on rats and even stole next doors canary and brought it into my kitchen to slaughter in the night.

I said vermin..rats, mice, insects, snakes..

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