Cat caught rat - need I be worried?

bobjim

Hi,
Our 9 month old cat brought a rat into us overnight, don't know if he killed the rat or found it dead but he presented it to us anyway! No sign of injury on the rat but it's quite large so I doubt if he killed it himself.

Anyway, my concern is whether I need to clean the cat and/or be careful handling him for a few days given that rats could be carrying all kinds of germs? My wife is freaked and I need to reassure her!

Cheers,
bobjim

mymo

He's probably just learning to hunt, you'd be surprised how big the prey can be(my sister in law had a 3 legged cat who brought home rabbits).
I wouldn't be overly worried about germs on the cat, I would be careful of disposing the evidence(I use rubber gloves), and clean the area well.
Put a bell on his collar it may stop him hunting as much, keep him in a dawn and dusk as these are times they seem to catch most stuff.

Graces7

Please don't worry.

Good for him!

One of ours killed a large and aggressive rat that had been living in the roof space a long while.. There was blood everywhere....

We cleaned up the flloor with bleach is all.

morganafay

I wouldn't really worry too much. My cats used to always catch rats, but I couldn't go around cleaning them all the time.

I agree just don't touch the rat, wear gloves, and clean the floor where it was.

TooManyDogs

My dog catches rats and like the others say I wouldn't worry too much. Having said that I dont let mine lick me for a few hours after because I remember what was last in their mouth!

imnu

So long as the rat had not been poisoned then I wouldn't worry too much. Even then the amount of blood consumed with anticoagulants in it would need to be pretty high