# Is this a rat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298 "2021-06-15T02:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/1 "2021-06-15T02:53:23Z")
Cat just delivered this to me, but it looks “off” for a rat to me. Face too blunt. Tail and ears maybe not right. Body seems short. [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/MGttai9.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/uO7s0Yh) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/2 "2021-06-15T02:55:27Z")
A vole? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/3 "2021-06-15T02:57:27Z")
Not a rat. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/4 "2021-06-15T03:02:17Z")
I think so, but I can not see the tail. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/5 "2021-06-15T03:07:48Z")
More photos in the link. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/6 "2021-06-15T03:08:33Z")
If you click on it you can see the tail in the other photos. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/7 "2021-06-15T03:08:46Z")
I concur then, Vole. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/8 "2021-06-15T03:15:52Z")
Yep, looks like. First one I’ve ever seen here, I think. Much bigger than the usual shrews the cats bring home. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/9 "2021-06-15T04:28:03Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > {…} Much bigger than the usual shrews the cats bring home. Don’t you hate that, I mean could they mix it up a little? How about a nice trollop or a fishwife for a change? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/10 "2021-06-15T05:13:49Z")
Hispid Cotton Rat ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/11 "2021-06-15T11:56:27Z")
A fat rat. Good Kitty! ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/12 "2021-06-15T12:04:13Z")
Voles are much smaller than rats. They are related to hamsters and are similar size. It isn’t a Norway rat (most common type of city rat). They have pointier noses and are quite large. It could be a pack rat, Neotoma species. There are many native pack rat species. There are so many rodent species that one would need to know your location and be a bit of a rodentologist to know exactly what your cat brought in. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/13 "2021-06-15T12:09:12Z")
Have you tried asking your cat? ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/14 "2021-06-15T12:54:27Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Hispid Cotton Rat I think this nailed it, though I don’t know about the specific variety. They are referred to simply as _cotton rats_ by us unwashwed 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/15 "2021-06-15T15:23:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Have you tried asking your cat? Too polite to talk with her mouth full. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/16 "2021-06-15T15:45:51Z")
That’s a change, then: When I was growing up with cats, I became quite familiar with the sound of a cat talking with her mouth full. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/17 "2021-06-17T23:43:37Z")
Definitely not a rat as most of us understand the term. Looks like a vole to me. But it would be good to know the location. Did you take this picture in North America? Can you be more specific as to where? BTW, the character “Rat” in the English children’s novel “The Wind in the Willows” is actually not a rat of the kind we all know (that is, either a Brown Rat - _Rattus norvegicus_ or a Black Rat - _Rattus rattus_) - he is actually a European Water Vole. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/18 "2021-06-17T23:47:46Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > Can you be more specific as to where? Anderson County South Carolina, which is in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, bordering with Georgia. (I _could_ give GPS coordinates, but that’s probably more specific than necessary. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/19 "2021-06-17T23:55:07Z")
Going from the picture, I think it _could_ be a Meadow Vole (_Microtus pennsylvanicus_). ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298/20 "2021-06-18T00:55:10Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Anderson County South Carolina I’m doubling down on Cotton Rat then. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-rat/944298.md?page=2)