meghan

For anyone who missed my other post, "Maggie" is my newly rescued, first
rattie, single girl who is 9 months old and probably didn't have much human
interaction before. She will get a sister rat soon, but for now...

She is slowly warming up to me, which is so great, but I have 5 cats and I
think she is very scared of them. Her cage is up on top of the tv stand in
the living room, so she's fairly high off the floor, but she has gone "nose
to nose" with the cats through the bars of her cage, and runs to her "tube"
to hide after such an interaction.

Last night she spent the night in our walk-in closet (in her cage of course)
and was definitely up running around, eating & drinking and doing normal
rattie things. But when I bring her back out into the living room she hides
in that tube and will not come out, except for the occasional Cheerio
through the bars. She's probably doing some sleeping, but everytime I look,
her eyes are wide open and she's just hiding in there.

Ok, here's the question: should she stay out in the living room, to get
used to where she's going to be living, and get used to the cats smell, or
should she be kept in a quiet room for now, without the cats, and
unfortunately not getting much people action either? The cats are not all
over her cage - just curious now and then. I worry about her going
neurotic, because she's alone, in a smallish cage with not much going on all
day.

Meghan

meghan

Ha Ha I guess the joke is on me. Right after I posted this message, Maggie
came out of her tube and has been out all morning, lounging on a towel and
occasionally snacking. She just must have been really overwhelmed at all
the changes in the past week - poor thing!

Meghan

rosemary

Get rid of the cats.

Rosemary

j&s bouchard

Right now, I would keep her in one room only but the room that has the most
human interaction and most noise. Not loud noise but daily living noise. As
for the cats, she may get used to them. I have a few rats that were scared
in the beginning but after being around the cats all the time, they got used
to them. My rats will even try and grab the cat's tail to drag into the
cage. The cat however is not too pleased. lol
I would keep her cage high, and secure so the cats can't knock it down or
knock it over. Also, getting her a companion as soon as possible will do her
a world of good I believe in her fright against the cat.

--
Joanne
Mom to 12 rats
http://community.webshots.com/user/joanneb70

kate

The strange thing is when my guys get a fright by the cat instead of running
and hiding they just stand perfectly still....like stage fright !!!! I hate
that soo much that the Cat usually gets its ass kicked outside...)

j&s bouchard

Oh yes, my sister's girls used to get like that... and then their breathing
is horrible.

--
Joanne
Mom to 12 rats
http://community.webshots.com/user/joanneb70

msjdoolittle

Contray to popular opinion, rat and cats CAN get along. My rats will touch
noses with the cats through the cage, eat, and bathe with the cats watching.
It's a matter of what the rats and cats become acustom to as their
surrouindings.

That said, I would NOT let rats out to see if they could play with the
cats.. Although my first rat, Matilda, wasn't afraid of cats and would
chase them. The cats were used to rodents fleeing from them, not pursuing.
And... here's another instance of supervised friendship...
http://community.webshots.com/photo/123433839/174922218WwdKVD Hope you
enjoy the picture

Maggie will get used to the cats. If you restrict the cats exposure to her,
then she will be an object of desire, a target of attention. As Maggie has
a place to hide if she becomes frightened, she will retreat there and watch
the cats. After awhile she will find they can't get to her in her cage and
she will not be as frightened... and the cats will not be as intent on
getting at her. She will be just another member of the family, one that
cannot come out to play.

Julia
The Rat Pack .. and the rest of her zoo

We have two Ratties, Tara and Willow, aswell as two cats, Pixie and
Caramel. Pixie is about 10 and has hunted in the past but Caramel is
a kitten and i don't think that he has ever hunted. We had the
Ratties out lastnight and Caramel showed no signs of wanting a snack
apart from licking Tara's nose.
It was highly amusing but i don't want to incourage the behaviour as
i am not wan'ting any accidents.

-h-