This probably doesn’t belong in General questions so-
If a housecat and a ferret were put in the same room together, with no exits, who would win? Why?
Anyone who has seen this gets extra points?
My daughter hosts this card at her place. I’ve seen them go at it. The cat ends up chasing the ferret away. The ferret does have a bit of growing to do. But I think the cat will always have the advantage though with that disemboweling move. And the ferret has no biting power either.
People actually do this?
I’m going to go with the housecat especially if it’s the agressive type.
START, their just house pets! I was speaking metaphorically. But if push came to shove, yeah a cat would take it.
And go to bed already!
Your right…I just can’t help it I am going to be so messed up next week.
2 weeks with nothing urgent to do like school really messes up your sleep schedule anyway back to the topic at hand. I forgot people keep ferrets as pets, I knew that just never met anybody with a ferret. I’ve met a few people with pigs before.
The ferret won, the only time it happened in my house. We tried introducing my youngish, timid cat to my boyfriend’s mature ferret, and ended up prying the ferret’s jaws off my poor kitty’s eyeball. They were shut in separate rooms for the rest of the visit, and never met again.
M.
Depends on the ferret and cat in question. Ferrets tend to play harder than cats because they have tougher skin than cats/humans/dogs, and rough-house with other ferrets, so they need some decent training in what’s acceptable vs. what’s painful. Cats have sharper claws and a larger bodymass, plus they’re more likely to lash out at a “strange” animal than a ferret is, typically - though if the other animal is a rodent in either case, it’s a tossup what a cat or ferret will do.
I’ve seen a ferret latch onto the ear of a fully-clawed but timid cat, leaving the cat whining pitifully to be released. I’ve also seen ferrets scare typically pissy-tempered cats into running in terror, just by deciding to “play chase” with the cats, while the cats fled, apparently yelling “What is that thing?!” the whole time. Then again, my inlaws have a cat who’s taken (literally!) chunks of flesh out of people who dared interpret nuzzling and purring as “please pet me more.” I wouldn’t trust that cat near my mother, much less my ferrets.
I had cats and ferrets for about 5 years. My ferrets were the alpha animals in the house. Yes, kitties are taller but that just means that the ferrets can attack from below. And ferrets have no compunction against grabbing kitty by the ear and trying to drag kitty under the bedroom door. Remember, ferrets are predators and they are lightning-quick.
Cats don’t like a determined attacker. Ferrets will keep going back to play-fight until the cat escapes to the top of the fridge.
Slight hijack: Ferrets will also kill the hell out of any baby opossums that get into your house.
R.I.P.
Zorro, Cassie, Jester & Sarah FerretIsn’t this pretty much the subject of Get Fuzzy for the past two weeks?
The stuff in spoilers is icky and graphic descriptions of the killing tactic of each animal. Don’t read unless you mean it.
When I got a ferret, the vet warned me to be very, very careful when introducing her to my cat. The vet’s opinion was that the ferret was much more likely to damage the cat than vice-versa. If they’re playing, then the cat has the jumping out of the way advantage, but if they’re seriously fighting, a ferret’s killing style is
to grab on under the throat and simply hold on, while the animal (cat, rat, opposum, chicken, whatever) struggles and rips his own jugular out and bleeds to death.
Ferrets have that strong jaw referred to as “locking” (although of course nothing really locks, it’s just strong). A cat out to kill, on the other hand, will try to
use her hind claws to rip open the belly of the other animal, letting it trip on its own intestines and bleed out, or to step on the spine and snap it in two.
Because ferrets are quick and low to the ground, and extremely flexible, it’s hard for the cat to do either of these moves. So in play, the cat wins, often by running away and jumping on something high. In an earnest attempt to kill, my money’s on the ferret.
Oh yeah, forgot about that. In that case, the ferret will win because of having a superior intellect - hell having an intellect at all. He won’t fall for the “decoy Smacky” routine except by pretending to as part of a ruse.
Huh. When Zoe killed field mice, she would just use her jaws to chomp them. Of course mice are too small for the hind leg tactic you mention. Still I think if a cat got the drop on a ferret, it would stand a good chance.
A feral cat is a completely differant prospect to a house cat.
Feral cats hide tends to be like leather, one I have in my house which I now own took the vet several attempts to get the vaccination needle into his hide, tough as old boots he is.
I’d imagine he’d be very well capable of looking after himself against a ferret.
Pretty much. But since Bucky apparently loses fights to dust bunnies, it’s not a particulary good reference.
And what is it with cats and possums? I’ve only ever seen cats just keep their distance looking kinda confused. Anybody ever seen a cat go after one?
Ferret Herder, can ferrets “pull their punches?” I mentioned my daughter’s ferret’s weak bite. When I play with him does he know it’s just play?
Not me. A couple weeks back I let my cat in out of the cold on my way out the door, and noticed a Possum sneaking off into the underbrush. I suspect it scared my cat, because she ran in when I opened the door. I chastised the cat and asked her why she, the big mean pysho-kitty, would run away from something she could probably kill. As usualy, all I get was a “Meow”.
Maybe they think it’s the grandaddy of all those mice they ate come to get 'em!
As a sidenote to ferret v. cat my flatmate’s family lived in a rural area and had a semi-feral cat (effectively a farmcat), which was known to hunt and kill weasels, when there weren’t enough rabbits available. The cat weighed 12lbs to 14lbs.
Apparently they had a surprise finding his larder hidden behind a cooker in one of the sheds (weasel, weasel, rabbit, rabbit, stoat, rabbit…) all neatly lined up.
Considering the size disparity between female and male ferrets, I don’t think the cat would have had any problems with a female.
I warned you! But did you listen to me? Oh, no, you knew it all, didn’t you? Oh, it’s just a harmless little bunny, isn’t it?
[/Tim]