Study Confirms Cats Aren't That Into Catching Rats

[Calista241]

We've long been told that cats can help tamp down rat populations—let's face it, who wouldn't want a Ninja force of cats to combat vermin? However, a new study from Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution has shattered conventional wisdom, positing that cats actually don't catch that many rats.

Ecologist Michael Parsons, a visiting professor at Fordham University, spent time with colleagues observing the behavior of rats and cats at a rat-infested Brooklyn recycling facility. (Nice work if you can get it.) The study concludes that "feral cats (Felis catus) are predators that cause widespread loss of native wildlife in urban ecosystems. Despite these risks, cats are commonly released as control agents for city rats (Rattus spp.). Cats can influence their prey directly by killing or indirectly through changes to feeding or space-use. However, cats prefer defenseless prey, and there are no data suggesting that cats influence large (>300 g) urban rats."

In other words, cats don't really want to expend much energy chasing after and fighting with rats, which are more of a pain to catch and kill. Plus they are rats!

Parsons had actually been researching rat behavior when he made the discovery. According to Scientific American, this was his initial reaction to noticing the cats at the recycling facility: "As a behavioral ecologist, I was like, ‘Let’s get rid of the cats so we can do our rat research.'" But then he realized, "We don’t know what the rats will do around the cats," which quickly became,

http://gothamist.com/2018/09/28/news_flash_cats_meh_rats.php

[rickford66]

1. We had a couple cats who caught and ate them.

We lived in a rural area with an old barn nearby. These cats would drag up a dead rat, fairly large, and eat it over two days. These were cats that came in at night and were otherwise well fed by us. They did the same with grown rabbits.

[Merlot]

2. I've understood that the mere presence of cats makes the rats leave

Rats know there is a preditor around and go elsewhere, so cats really don't have to do the work of catching the rats.

It is hard to picture a cat catching a big rat. My cats are small, 8 - 11 pounds. Mice and small birds are the usual prey, with a few lizards for good measure.

[Bayard]

3. Bring in a herd of Dachshunds

They are relentless. The Great Pyr's have stopped the possum's from coming around, just by being here.

My cats are into the easy stuff, usually bringing me shrews.

[Liberty Belle]

4. My neighbor had a cat that slept on our roof and caught rats all the time.

It probably depends on how large and how hungry the individual cat is.

[SharonAnn]

5. If taken from their feral mother too young, the might not have learned

The “killing bite”. It’s the one where their jaws close on the backbone and crushes the prey. Without learning that, they might just play with the prey.
With that knowledge they will kill the prey, perhaps after playing with them.

[RhodeIslandOne]

6. Only hungry cats that lived a time in the wild....

....will bother hunting rats. Most will chase them to play, but don’t expect them to kill unless you are starving your cat.

[Le Gaucher]

7. You mean Tom and Jerry is not based in reality?

[Wolf Frankula]

8. In My Experience Cats have to be trained to catch rats.

They naturally eat mice, but rats are an acquired taste.

Wolf