Yeah, I know this looks bad, but let me explain. See, at first I was going to catch the rat, because that’s why you keep me around here, and I get that, but I then I remembered reading about that guy — what’s his name, the Pied Piper? — and I figure let’s try something different, because you know I’m always trying to expand my skill set, and so I start humming a little tune — la dee daa — and lead the rat out of town so it’s not as messy and you’re not buying a word of this, are you?
I think this town needs a new mouser, Gigi the cat lady.
Rat could be rabid. But either way kitty is having a baaad day.
Story: my grandparents had a deli for 40 years in Stamford, CT. They had rats in the basement in the 30s or 40s. You had to throw an empty barrel down the stairs before you (not me!) went down. All they kept down there were sealed barrels of pickles. Somebody told them to get a cat. They did. Cat refused to go down into the basement!!! Finally, no one went down. They subsequently moved and the whole block was torn down. Smart cat!!
I wonder if rats get that same virus that mice get that makes them unafraid of cats??
Toxoplasmosis: Yes, rats can get it. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-parasite-that-makes-a-rat-love-a-cat-86515093/
Thanks for the info! (Come to think of it, maybe it was rats I heard about in the first place, not mice.)
You really need a terrier for rats. A grown rat is pretty aggressive.
Reminds me of the scene in Aristocats where Roquefort is following the cats on their way to save Duchess and the kittens. Then the guy drinking absinthe at the cafe sees the parade and pours out his bottle of booze. Both that and this video are too funny.
Tag! You’re it!
Eeeekkk! I’m with kitty.
I’m with kitty on this one. Rattus norvegicus is no joke; so little so that I can’t find this video funny, let alone “hilarious”. I’m too frightened for that poor cat.
Where is this place? I can never go there, given my terror of small to medium rodents (guinea pigs are okay).
Now I have seen everything, by the way.
I want to know how the person videoing this knew it was going to happen!
Excellent question. It CAN’T have been a setup, can it? How would one arrange this? (Okay, put the cat in the doorway. Okay, release the rat.) It also seems unlikely to be one of those things that happens every day (you see it twice, have a camera ready the third time) — I doubt that cat will ever go near a rat again. But absent a setup, yeah, how did they know?
Excellent speculation about both rabies and toxoplasmosis. I assume one would have to autopsy/biopsy the rat to find out.
Me too!
Could be a healthy but badass rat. There is video of cats chasing deer and even chasing a bear up a tree. I believe that because we had a cat who would have chased a bear off his portion of the world any day. Maybe he has a rat equivalent. If that rat came at me, I’d keep out of its way– I don’t want rat bites.
And yeah, I did wonder why somebody was filming a blank street before this started happening– thought it was a security camera until it followed the action so well.
Duckie, Julie, Rhea, since we all wondered, I clicked the video to go to Youtube to see if there was any information in the video description (or if the identity of the poster would reveal anything). The description is mostly a long-winded, sensationalized narration of the video, but it does say the following (whether we believe it or not):
“The hilarious footage was filmed in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg on November 5. … The person who recorded the footage said: ‘I was on my way to the pool and I saw a rat running up the steep street. Then the rat crossed the street. ‘I continued my way and when I made my way across the street, I turned around and saw the cat on the right. Seconds later I had the phone out and filmed.’ ”
Maybe plausible, maybe not. The Youtube account seems to be mostly this sort of over-hyped wildlife encounter. I never know what to think anymore, with so many people staging stunts. Maybe it was just what the video-taker said. He or she had already seen the rat, then saw the cat, and figured if the CAT saw the rat, something interesting might happen.
BTW, Rhea, a face-palming red panda may be the best avatar I’ve ever seen. Good find.