[TheRascalKing]

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if anybody who has both rats and cats can give me any advice.
Last weekend, my wife and I rescued a sick kitten(6-8 weeks) and our rats aren't taking it very well. Even though they're completely separate(the rats are in the living room, the kitten's in the Bathroom and bedroom) the rats have been skittish since we brought her home. They no longer come to the cage door when it's open or come out for free range time and while they're in they're cage they won't play. They just hide in their nest box and only come out to eat and drink.
When we tried to take a couple of them out for free range they just burrowed into the innards of our couch where we can't reach them and didn't come out for a whole day.
Now, we don't plan on keeping kitten forever, but until we can re-home her does anyone have any advice to help our ratties be less scared.
Also, perhaps some advice on getting scared rats out of couches.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Nibbler]

make sure u wash ur hands before going near ur rats and change clothes as well as the cat sent would be all over u

 

[rachelauren]

I have two cats, and they roam the house while my rats are in my room. Every animal is different, but I just let my cats saunter around and look in the cages. They're easily amused, so they sit and stare for a little while, which gives my rats time to adjust to their presence and come to the sides of the cage and look themselves. I just keep an eye on my cats, to make sure they keep their distance (my eldest cat had a habit of jumping on top of my bird cage and scaring the living daylights out of my birds). When introducing them to my dogs, I just walked around with them on my shoulder

This worked for me but there is a possibility your rats just won't warm up to a cat. But give it time. Let the rats see the kitten, sit with her near their cage, put them on your shoulder and walk around the house. Also, try giving the kitten a bath, if you haven't already. I'm not sure where or how you rescued her, but smell is a big thing with animals and if she doesn't smell right, that might add to the stress.

 

[Elliriyanna]

My Rat ran right up to my cat like what are you? My kitten is 12 weeks old and has been around rodents since her rescue so she just walked away. they smell a predator in their house its going to scare them is there a way to keep them from smeeling each other?

 

[rachelauren]

No, there's not. Animals have a keen sense of smell, and can smell things even when we can't. My dogs can smell another dog on me, even if I was only around it for a few minutes. Your animals will be able to smell each other, regardless. You can wash things, but it will return if you kitten sits or stands or rubs up against them. They will just get used to certain scents and recognize its owners after some time around each other.

 

[a1231212]

I'd definetely try what was mentioned above (try to remove as much scent as possible). And all animals are different, we only have 1 girl right now and she doesn't mind the cats, but usually won't go near them.

Our last 4 rats have actually interacted alot with the cats. Somehow our cats have never hurt any of our animals (which is strange because one of them has brought countless mice and small birds into the house); at first they will show interest in a new pet in the house, but within days will pass by it or sleep by it without looking twice. In fact they actually tend to get annoyed by them (they HATE the chickens, our chickies want to play with the cats while the cats want to lay out in the yard, and they start meowing and occasionally hissing at the chickens when they peck at them, its actually very amusing!)

Best of Luck