# Are rats instinctively afraid of cats?



## Dan203 (Jul 10, 2014)

I've mentioned on here before how brave and inquisitive Buddy is, but tonight something weird happened. We had Buddy out of his cage, he was running around, playing, being himself. Then a friend of ours came over. At the moment she walked in he had just climbed to the top of his cage so she went over to see him and he climbed right up on her shoulder. But at that moment he froze and suddenly started acting like he was terrified. He continued to act scared the whole time she was here and when she left he went back into his cage and went to sleep, still shunning us. The only thing we can think of is our friend is a big cat lady. She has like 5. So she likely smelled like cats. Is it possible that Buddy smelled them on her and freaked out? The only other thing I can think of is he's not feeling well from the antibiotics he's on, but the timing seems suspect for that.


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## Mrs.Brisby (Jan 4, 2014)

Rats exhibit Neophobia (a fear of the new). It's what makes them so hard to kill in the wild! Generally they are afraid of anything that isn't familiar to them.


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## Dan203 (Jul 10, 2014)

It was weird because from day one he's always been super friendly with us, and my niece and nephew where over here the other day and he was super friendly with them too. This the first time I've ever seen him act scared, ever. Honestly it freaked me out a little. I keep checking on him to make sure he's ok.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Some rats do have an extreme reaction to predators smell. If they've been brought up around cats or ferrets they don't seem to get it but ive had the odd rat in agroup properly freak out around cat smell, and the full group can become quiet and withdrawn in a place that smells strongly of preditors if they aremt used to it


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## LaurelAmo (May 27, 2014)

I wouldn't be surprised. Mine completely freeze up if my cat gets too close to the cage. She doesn't try to bug them (of course, I try to keep her away from the cage as much as possible) but somehow they still know that cat = danger. They stay like that even after she's gone. I can pet them, poke them, offer them treats and they won't move unless I try to pick them up and then they bolt to a hiding place. After a few minutes they'll start taking treats again but only actually eat them if I talk louder than they chew. It's very strange. Usually they just end up going to sleep and forget all about it.


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## Dan203 (Jul 10, 2014)

He's still acting weird. I tried to let him out to play just now, which at this time of night he's usually very hyper, and he just ran back into the cage, went over to his little couch and buried his head in the corner like he does when he's sleeping. I'm a little worried. I swear he was fine until the moment he got on her shoulder, now he's acting strange. The only other thing that happened around that time is right before that I had given a tiny little piece of a french fry. But again the timing of the whole thing is weird. He was fine until the moment he got on her shoulder so it seems unlikely it was something he ate or some sort of illness. I don't know. If he's still acting strange tomorrow I may have to take him to the vet just to be sure he's ok.


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## Dan203 (Jul 10, 2014)

Well he seems back to normal this morning. That was so weird. Not sure we're going to be able to let her play with them when she comes over next time.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

You have a choice, either ask her to change her top layer before handling him, or ask her for an old blanket from her cats. Put that near there cage and give him time to get used to it. He may be nervous for a few weeks but he will not to fear it.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Fuzzy Rat never had issues with cat or dog smells on people, but it might explain why Max is tweaky about strangers, she likes some and shuns others. There were always feral cats around the parks we took Fuzzy Rat too, and again maybe that's why Max doesn't like those parks much...

But to give you an idea of how sensitive rats can be... One day Fuzzy Rat was terrified and wouldn't go on the ground for no reason we could see, she hung out on my shoulder. It was very very unusual for her... 15 minutes later from across the parking lot and fox came out of the tall grass... it was at least 75 yards away... Apparently foxes don't smell like dogs or cats and even at such a great distance Fuzzy Rat was aware of it's presence and was instinctively afraid.

I can't say if wearing a different shirt will mitigate the smell on your cat lady friend.


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## Dan203 (Jul 10, 2014)

She said she put on clean clothes and showered right before she came over, but who knows. It was such a strange thing. Buddy was happy go lucky like usual, then as soon as she picked him up he started acting weird and continued to act weird the whole night even after she was gone. He's been around other people before and never done that, so I don't think it was just her presence. But I guess it could have been something else like her perfume (she wears a lot) or her voice. Maybe something reminded him of a traumatic event from before we got him?

In any case he's back to normal again, so no worries. We'll just have to be a little more cautious about her picking him up straight away when she comes over next time.


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## Dan203 (Jul 10, 2014)

Wow, so this happened again! Same friend comes over. She doesn't purposely go anywhere near Buddy. He comes over to her and jumps up on her leg. A few seconds later he back down slowly and starts acting all freaked out again. He's been acting weird all night since.

I don't know if it's her cats, her perfume, or just her voice, but something about her freaks him out good. It's so weird, because with everyone else he's his normal happy go lucky self, but twice now she's cime over and both times freaked him out.

One thing I just thought of... I know some animals can smell disease. I wonder if maybe she's got something he can smell? Are rats known to be able to smell a specific disease?


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## Mrs.Brisby (Jan 4, 2014)

Gambian pouched rats are used to detect tuberculosis. I doubt your friend has tuberculosis though lol. Is she a loud person? I have a friend who's very loud and energetic and all my pets and just animals in general aren't too fond of her.


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## Dan203 (Jul 10, 2014)

No she's not loud. Shes a 60 year old smoker, so she has a gravely voice, but she's not particularly loud. She does have kind of a shrill laugh though.


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## Cyrix (May 2, 2014)

Do rats actually have a good sense of smell? Ours don't seem to detect food right below their noses until they look at it. I've watched them walk right over fresh treats without noticing them if they aren't looking at the ground.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

The smoke smell could turn him away. Its not really a plesent smell. Unless you smoke a lot, that could be a weird smell to him, and its a strong smell. Perfume could be as well. I have issues with both of those and my nose isn't anywhere near as strong as animals noses.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

As an avid animal lover, I have to admit...my clean clothes still have hair or smell on them. Only if I clean them outside my house do they truly become animal free. So freshly showered and clothed means nothing.


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