it can be kitten tiem nao?

[RodentHQ]

So, at her request, my mom got a kitten for her birthday yesterday. She is so cute! My mom named her Ginger.





While we're on the topic, does anyone have any tips for introducing rats and cats? I don't expect them to be best friends, I just would like to be able to trust her if when I'm out with the ratties. She is quite a sassy thing, so I'm worried she might try to "play" with my girls. O_o

[Sun of Samsa]

She's a sweetie! Happy birthday to your mom 

Rats and cats don't work out for me. Not from the rats' perspective... but from the cats. The cats are terrified of them. My females will lunge and chase after them if they get too close. My males, on the other hand, will sniff the cats and turn away as if there's no danger. But because my females bite, my cats are afraid of all of them. Once during a cage cleaning, Fitzroy pulled a full tuft of hair out of Jack's flank (Jack is the cat in my avatar, when he was a cute wittle kitten!). That was my carelessness, but now I'm not worried about the rats becoming cat toys!

[Pumpkinseed]

my cat used to love my rats. Shed just sit there and stare at them all day.. sometims stick her paw in the cage. that has sometimes negatigve effects but yeah.

[Zooy]

She looks like my Morgan and Luna! Holy crap!
Hopefully she isn't a little terror like mine though.

One thing with the rats and the kitten obviously, monitor them real close. When Morgan was little she climbed the cage and was bit, didn't stop her from doing it again.  ours always have supervised visits, one on one side and one on the other with the camera.

[rayvenwolffe]

My cats and rats don't bother each other. My rats are in a cage in the living room, and the cats have free run of the house. We've never yet had a problem. The biggest thing we did was set the cage up first with no rats in it (Of course, we had established cats first then got the rats). When the cats were bored of hte new furniture, once we put the rats in we had no problem. It's just Kitty TV now. Of course, two of our cats have cerebellar hypoplasia and can't really jump, or even walk that stabally, but our rescued alley cat doesn't even jump up to the rat cage.

It all depends on the prey drive/playfulness of the cat.

[Pumpkinseed]

My previous cat ( whom my grandmother has stolen O.O) lol Was introduced to rats when she was old enough to hold her head up (she was feral and alone and I bottle fed her) and shes always loved them. Never been afraid of them. Always watned to play.. I brought home some bitey fosters once.. in a bunny cage thing with the 1 inch bars.. and she just stuck her paw in there and laid down and like.. pet them. that was funny. lol

[ScoutGotBig]

Despite the predator/prey issue - errrm.  I have chickens for cats and mine live in terror of those evil caged things that bite (aka rats).  Ok, ONE rat bit ONE cat many years ago and the said rat is long gone and the said cat has recently passed from old age.  So why does EVERY cat in the family fear EVERY rat, I do not know.

[Heather]

Two of my cats have been bit by rats (they long passed away) but my boy kitty will FLEE in TERROR if Momma gets down on the floor and is running around (usually after him.. maybe that's why he's scared LOL). My other cat doesn't even get close enough to the cage and if one is running around she just turns away and goes downstairs. Waverli, however, tries to be big n tuff but once the rats are running towards he she freaks- jumps in the air, puffs her hair and runs away. I've never had a problem with cats trying to hurt rats.. always the other way around. Now my dog I think would hurt the rats simply because he's never been bit and he's not been exposed to them hardly at all to understand they are not pests (like the moles he hates in the backyard). I imagine once bitten thru the bars of the cage he'd leave them alone forever.

[furmama]

5 of my 6 cats are pretty much horrifed of the my rats lol. I don't know why, none of my ratties have ever bitten them. My oldest is an outdoor kitty though, and I haven't even let her get near the rats, because I know what she'll do.
Funny story, I woke up at 5 am last night and came to the kitchen for some water. I was horrifed to see the rats had somehow popped their cage door open, and Fiona was running all around the living room floor! I looked up and saw the 5 cats looking HORRIFED at her LOL.

[whtnyte]

"WOW! Yoos iz BIG wattie, what de feed you makes yoo so big???"