Is drowning a rat such a big deal?
I mean, you dont actually have to watch. If you want to make it quicker (though not necessarily more humane) perhaps use boiling water, which would also address any rat flea hazard?
Having said that I’ve never actually drowned a rat, but I had a research assistant lab job (UK Medical Research Council) where I was required at 2-weekly intervals, to put them in a box with a painfully hot tin floor (makes the veins in thier tails dilate), painful enough to make them fight to get on top of each other, then cut the end of thier tails off and collect the blood. After the first time they knew what was coming and were not very cooperative.
Very badly designed and almost certainly illegal protocol. Should have turned the bastards in but it was my first job out of university and I didn’t dare. At the end of the experiment I had to gas them all with CO2 from dry ice (which also tended to freeze them). I quit before the next series.
I’d suspect if the OP can’t face drowning a rat then he probably can’t face capture and release either. I certainly couldn’t, but I’m afraid of rats now, and cautious of the diseases they carry.
Edit: CO2 is probably too inconvenient. CO, perhaps from a car or scooter exhaust, might be a possibility but may not be all that humane. Chloroform or ether (if available) might also be possibilities but you’d have to be careful not to knock yourself out and/or blow yourself up. If you want I can enquire of some lab supply contacts.
Perhaps, if your cat is fat (hard evidence of overfeeding, I’d say) you could put poison bait inside a steel tube that your cat can’t access, but a rat could. Rats are very good at getting through narrow spaces.
Re cats are grazers, so leftover food isn’t evidence of overfeeding…er…bullshit, at least as a universal generalisation. I had to “look after” a spoilt cat that would “only eat Whiskas”. Surprising how quickly she wolfed down cheapo co-op yellow-can stuff when moderate amounts of that were all that was on offer. There were perhaps a couple of days of resistance, but if the food wasn’t eaten in half an hour it got thrown away. They learn quick.
Also became quite good at “hunting”. I used to leave the window open and a table lamp on and she’d knock big fat moths out of the air one after the other and crunch them down. Entertainment and (probably parasite-free) nutrition.
Its possible your fat cat could be given a similar makeover, but you probably aren’t up for that, and I’d hesitate to encourage a pet to eat rats since there are probably health hazards involved.
Re another cat, you now have a fat spoilt cat, and rats. Mystic Ed predicts, unless you change your cat management protocols, you would then have two fat spoilt cats, and twice as many rats.
An established ratter, that takes pride in its work and isn’t just in it for the meat, might resist spoiling. Cats seem to vary a lot in that respect.
Back home I’d suggest borrowing a Jack Russel, but Taiwanese dogs seem to be all bark and no bite.
Sorry if that sounds racist. :s
