Freckles Finds a Dead Rat!

Early this morning I was with the boys in the back yard and I threw the tennis ball into a far corner. Freckles went after it then stopped and started sniffing an object in the grass. I saw that it was one of those "Oh boy, something to roll in" kind of sniffs so I immediately called him back. When I went over to see for myself I discovered a very large dead rat. This thing had a body about 6 inches long and a tail to match. I looked closely and saw some blood on its fur just behind its front legs so I am guessing it was killed by a cat last night.
I am concerned that if it was poisoned then there may be more showing up. I will have to monitor the boys real close because I don't want them messing with a poisoned rat.
This afternoon I plan to do a through search around the yard to see if there are any more.
Hopefully this was just a random incident. I don't live near any woods and have never before run across a rat this big in our neighborhood.
Now that I'm at work I realized I should have taken it to the health department rather than tossing it in the garbage which will be collected this morning. If I find another one I will call that department.

 

Wow a dead rat! I would have freaked out!!! Once my girls found a dead crow, i think they ate most of it, cause when i found it there wasnt much left. I bagged it and threw it away, that was the worst, i hated every moment! Dead things freak me out!

 

Ewwwwe, yuck! I saw a rat this weekend that was nesting under my lawn tractor. Maybe I shouldn't chase those feral cats off so soon, huh?

 

oh yuck, we have wood rats, I havnt seen one, but my husband says they are almost as big as our cat.
You never know it could have been someones pet, that they let go.

honeybear

 

Definatly do a thorough check of the yard. A few eyars ago Aspin got into decon and when I look back she gave tiny little warning signs that I failed to see (tiny drops of blood I didn't see, a little sore on her tounge that didn't close up). It was almost too late when I figured out what was going on. She was literally bleeding out internally. 6 months, dozens of vitamin k pills, and lots of sleepless nights for me and she was fine again. I'm glad your boys are ok and Freckles didn't eat it. I find it interesting their fasination in dead things.lol

 

haha. me too. my friend's dog ate a baby rabbit last week the poor thing was hiding under the kennel (the kennels propped up on bricks) and the dog was going crazy. she moved the kennel and forgot to put the dog back inside before she did it, and this poor baby rabbit comes running out of there, and her dog caught it. my friend didn't wait around to see if she ate it, but there were no signs of digging later, and no dead little rabbits laying around.

 

Rat poison is nasty and will cause the rat to bleed internally. If a rat consumes poison might not be evident for a few days! Definitely over the next while do a walk through of your yard before letting the boys out. Might be a good idea talk to your neighbours to inquire if anyone is having a rat problem and if they are using poison. At the very least if a neighbour has pets you can warn them. I think the amt of poison a rat must eat to be lethal is small (depending on product), not sure if amount is enough to be lethal to a dog or if a dog would have to consume many rats.

Rats need a continuous food source and if not found they will move on. Ask neighbours if they have any food sources outside - rats seem to love dog food.