Several days ago, my wife said she saw something in our bird feeder that she thought might be a rat, but she wasn’t sure. Yesterday she saw it again and called me over to look at it. it was definitely a rat enjoying our bird food. I didn’t have my phone, so I didn’t get a photo of it at the time.
It ran away and returned sometime later. This time our neighbor’s cat Frankie saw it and forced it off the feeder and into the bush below. We cheered Frankie on, but rather than go after it, she just stood there waiting for it to come out.
After a minute or two I decided to go out and try to scare the rat into the waiting jaws of Frankie. Instead, I scared Frankie in one direction and the rat in the other.
Needless to say, Rose was not happy about the situation. She wanted me to get rid of the bird feeder. I understood. I didn’t want to encourage rats to come to our house, but I do feel bad that the cats will no longer enjoy seeing the birds and squirrels. In addition, Rose and I will miss seeing the family of cardinals that came by several times a day. Now I have to figure out what to do with the big bag of bird seed I just bought.
Bad Cat Chris 
Ugh, I had one floating in my pool yesterday.
Floating or swimming?
Darn! That’s a shame…….bird feeders are great entertainment for us and our cats but rats – nobody wants that. Our feeder is at the back of the property at the woods line with the yard. Deer, squirrels, birds, chipmunks, groundhogs – but even if a rat did get a share of what falls from the feeders at least they wouldn’t come all the way up to the house (I hope!).
Hugs, Pam
Any chance it was somebody’s pet rat that escaped?
If it’s not squirrels…it’s rats. But you sure don’t want to encourage rats by your house.