"Rats the size of cats"

The first one is a very big rat, but it’s maybe the size of a half-grown kitten. The head and body are only a couple of inches longer than the woman’s hand. The second does not seem extraordinarily large, and is nowhere near the size of even a small cat.

Another good sized rat

Sizeable and dangerous!

A cat is really not all the large in most cases. A pet rat is little more than a hamster in size. But I have seen large rats in the really big city and in the news concerning the rat population in the really big city. Rats like to eat. I have also seen huge rats in the local county park where the food source would be nature plus picnickers plus trash cans tipped over. Trash cans are not an insignificant source of food. People throw pizza and home garbage in them.

I’ve seen really big rats in Boston.

Again, “I have seen big rats” doesn’t provide any substantive support for the allegation that wild Rattus rats reach the size of cats.

My grandfather claims to have seen rats the size of cats during his service in Korea, sometimes crawling over him as he slept. I don’t know if these are actual rats, or some other rodent native to Korea.

Actually, an acquaintance of mine once encountered some unusually-sized rodents.

I’ve bought a bazillion fresh and frozen rats to feed my snakes over the last 30+ years. The last 20 or so years I always try to get the biggest available. Sometimes the place I get them from has extra larges. They are huge. Nowhere near as large as cats. The biggest were about as big as a really fat fox squirrel. If anyone would want to breed an extra large rat it would be the snake food breeders.
I believe a lot of people that aren’t that familiar with the two species could mistake a possum for a rat. They turn up in a lot of the same places. Possums get as big or bigger than cats.

Rattus rattus and* rattus norvegicus *aren’t going to get as big as a cat. *Rattus phantasticum *is the giant species found in NYC.

All right, someone named Inigo Montoya probably gets a free pass on Princess Bride quotes.

This thread intrigued me, so I went looking and found [this:

](Rats: About Rattus Invictus)

I have seen some big rats in DC. While not as big as cats, they still make a pretty deep thunk when hit with a beer bottle.

Depends on the cats.

http://www.google.com/search?q=smallest+cat+in+the+world&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=814&sei=MGT6TqSRMcmHgwe01sChAg

Given that that’s from an article on a body building site that claims the rate got that size by eating protein supplements, I’m betting it’s a hoax.

Most of those are either kittens or photoshopped, or in one case a lizard.

Dogs and mines have also historically gone the other way.

You don’t say? I thought there was no such thing!

You never heard of a lizard cat? :stuck_out_tongue:

Now where did I put that poodle…?

I am no expert in this.

But these rats were exception.My dad had seen one scaring a cat on one occasion.( cats were no big sized either)

Most were regular sized ones, typical to tapioca farms.

A friend’s friend is landmine detection expert and he would rather work with rats than with dogs, I’m told.