Rats.....help

[josaphine32]

One of my dogs has been hyper all week and every time i have tried to go through the middle gate to get out of the main gate she has gone mad, on closer expection I notice I have a rat whole, I think its in next doors drains and has burrowed a whole through....... Now can anyone tell me if i contact the council as this house belongs to them would they just put poison down or would they offer me a trap, I have 7 cats 4 dogs and do not want poison put down and i believe it to be wrong to kill it but i want to find a better solution. any advice will be good also can roland rat do any harm to my cats.
many thanks

[IWillRule]

How about you tell the people who's house it is or try and get the rat yourself or use one of those humane cages.

I don't agree with animal death or cruelty either - good on you!

[ganesh]

I think you need a pest controller if you want to get rid of it without poison. Ring one up and talk to them and ask how much. And yes rats can harm the cats. One of my cats had a terrible abscess which I think was from a rat bite (we'd seen one in the garden the day before.) And not to alarm you,but i think my previous cat died because of one. She had a wound on her head from a fight (the rat died) and she then got some kind of blood infection. She was very old but nevertheless,be very careful and try to get rid of it.

[josaphine32]

sorry to hear about your cat Ganesh, I know the rats a big bu@@er as the whole is quite large, Poison is so not an option as one of my cats is one years old and he plays with dead offerings all the time until i remove it and the dogs (Terriers) eat them on the odd occasion if idont get there quick enough , And i can see this poor rat coming out poisoned and the cat or dog getting hold of it while it is full of poison.....I couldnt poison it but will on monday see if i can hire a humain trap for the little blighter

[ganesh]

Don't blame you, I don't like rats because of my cat but i wouldn't want to poison it,or even kill it, I'd just want to get rid of it somehow. Maybe there's a humane trap for rats,I used to catch mice this way.Hope you catch it,good luck!