# I think the rats can smell the cat



## Valitra (Jun 27, 2012)

OMG I've never seen animals so quiet before! X_X

So my best buddy is moving today and he asked me to take his cat in last night. I'm the only person he knows around who lives close enough and who is not also moving, and he needs me to babysit him until tonight.
Now the cat looks totally traumatized and probably thinks his owners ditched him, the poor thing has refused to eat or drink since last night and he won't come out from the food pantry he's hiding in. He does not make a single sound and he won't even take the cat treats he will usually do anything to get his paws on. 

The cat has not once set foot in my room where my rats are cause he heard them make noises last night and got scared of them. The rats, on the other hand, have been acting quite different since the cat came in. They were both kinda scared by my several visitors last night and my friend barely got to get a glimpse at them.
Loki has not once tried escaping his cage now (he usually throws a fit and does everything to escape when I close the doors), and both rats have been glued to the highest level of their cage (while they usually hang out on the bottom floor). They have not even greeted me or asked to come out this morning and are still both so unusually quiet...

Can they smell the cat even though he only stays in the other room? Can they sense the ''danger'' even though they've never encountered a cat before? ???
Can they like, get traumatized by all this?


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

rats have incredible smell, stronger then a human's and I want to say stronger then a bloodhound (not 100% sure) so they can smell the cat. If your rats haven't been exposed to other animals they will sense new animals as predators and might start acting weird. Normally if they are exposed to them young they like them (my rats are always trying to give kisses to my cat when she's by their cage) or are more open to new animals. They shouldn't be tramatized, actually, sounds like the cat is more traumatized by it then your rats are. you can maybe try to show the rats the cat (in a safe manor) to let them understand what it is they're smelling, might calm them down if they know it can't hurt them.


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## Keelyrawr (Mar 7, 2012)

Absolutely. My rats become so completely motionless if they smell my cat on me. If the cat walks into my room (Always monitor him), They burrow and hide under their bedding until he's gone. It's pitiful. They definitely know he's a predator. I would have introduced them young but my cat is a natural born mouser and I just couldn't take the chance. :-(


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## Flashygrrl (Feb 8, 2012)

If the cat is only staying till tonight I personally see no reason to try and introduce them, especially since they already are so freaked out from having a cat in the house and extra especially since they've been sick.


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## elliriyanna (Jul 27, 2011)

If its not your cat I wouldn't truth ... OT I kinda find it funny your rats are afraid of cats lol I got my boys when they were 1 one beats up the cat the other ignores her and my baby girl likes to try to climb on her meanwhile my cat is deathly afraid of rats


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

For sure your ratties smell the cat.


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## Electricgeek (Jun 26, 2012)

Even if they don't know what that strange new smell is, rats are naturally very neophobic. Hard to suppress millions of years of evolution that has kept their wild cousins alive.


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## Valitra (Jun 27, 2012)

I figured their smell was much better than ours but I did not know it was comparable to that of a dog! 

Sorry for the late reply, I spent the day helping my friend move out. Then we moved his sister, so 2 moving in one day and they both live on 4th floors (moving from old buildings with no elevators... to "new'' old building with not elevators). X_x
There is not an inch of my body that is not horribly sore right now. 
I also woke up late cause after that exhausting day the cat kept me up all night. He's gotten less terrified now and started exploring as well as leaping on all the furniture and throwing all the stuff on the floor. Yes he's still here, until this afternoon that is. 
He had started getting into my room and the rats did not seem to like this so I kicked him out since the boy's myco is flaring up badly again. They seem to be less scared than they were yesterday though. I managed to get them to play under my blankets for almost 2 hours last night and they seemed to have forgotten the cat's presence, and suddenly acted like I had been gone a whole week and had really really missed me. I also realized just how much I had actually missed them and was happy to play with and cuddle with them. 
I'm still anxious for the cat's owner to come and get him though, I hope the predator smell won't linger too long and that my boys will understand he's gone.

Tomorrow's vet visit seems light years away right now and I'm going to seriously murder the new vet if he doesn't let me take home some sort of antibiotic that I can friggin give them myself instead of just struggling to get quicker appointments when the rats suddenly get worst X_X. Their appointment for their next doxy shot with the first vet is on the 4th still.


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