Hi, Tweets,

I've not really been following this thread, but I do have some ideas,
though perhaps someone else has already put them out.

Folks who don't know cats think that cats will kill rats. A large cat may,
but really, cats are mousers. Some of the city rats I've seen were large
enough to give any cat a real battle.
My brother in law has a ferret that killed a pair of squirrels that had
taken up residence in mom in laws attic. I"m certain they'd take on a rat.

However, the best biological control for rats is a dog. Rat terriers were
bred for killing rats, hence the name. They are absolute terrors on rats. I
hope the dog show people don't take a shine to rat terriers, as they'll breed
the rat killing right out of them. Another breed that's great on rats is the
Jack Russell terrier. That's the breed of dog you see on "Frasier". Jack
Russells have the misconception that they're Rottweilers. They will tackle
anything.

Finally, my grandmother had a dachshund. He gave me my very first lesson in
animal behaviour. (I must have been six or so...) I was teasing him, and he
bit me. I definitely had it coming, mind you, but I went running and crying
to Grama about her dog. These days she'd probably be jailed for child neglect
or abuse, but not back then. She said, "If you were tormenting him, you got
what you had coming." She was right....
Fritzi, the dachshund, would kill any rat that dared show it's nose in my
gramas turf.

I think I'd rather try dogs or ferrets before I'd put out poison.

Michelle