evolutionista t1_itqsvbn wrote on October 25, 2022 at 4:59 PM

Reply to comment by ortsed in Rat hunting with dogs in DC? by webbmoncure

It's not actually. Cats don't typically like to hunt rats. They will sometimes, but they prefer smaller prey like songbirds, frogs, and so on. So they end up doing a lot of collateral damage to the actual nice ecosystem of animals we like having around (even if you aren't all that fussed about birds and frogs, they do eat mosquitos and such). And they don't make much of a dent in the actual rat problem. Putting in cats in to fight rats is kind of like fighting fire with fire... you're just adding another invasive critter to the ecosystem and making it even more rat-friendly by doing so...

IcyWillow1193 t1_itr2cpx wrote on October 25, 2022 at 5:59 PM

This is anti-cat mythology. I've lived on alleys with cat colonies, and there were plenty of cat-killed rats (they liked to bite the heads off) and very few live rats.

Sienna57 t1_itr52zi wrote on October 25, 2022 at 6:17 PM

Also plenty of dead smaller animals. It’s well documented the negative impacts of feral cats on populations of wild animals. I’m sure they kill rats too and the presence of cats would encourage them to be more furtive but isn’t going to make a dent in populations.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.10073

diaymujer t1_its8fn3 wrote on October 25, 2022 at 10:35 PM

Sure, if you can get a whole cat colony. But a single cat against the rat colonies we have going in DC? The cat isn’t going to want to go near it. Rats coming out of the woodwork following construction in our alley sent the alley cat packing.