Rats.

Literally. We have them in the house. I know this because Ruka has dispatched 3 nice sized ones--2 upstairs in our bathrooms and one down in the dining room. What I can't figure out is where they're living. We have a storeroom full of food and no sign of the nasty buggers there or anywhere else. What we get instead is a mournful yowling in the middle of the night that announces the latest fatality.


I'm left wondering if the cat's pace is sufficient to eliminate the rats. Rats are, by all accounts, very intelligent. And Ruka is very, very, very good at what he does. Will they realize that and pick up and leave? Or am I going to have to be more involved than simply dragging myself out of bed to shut the cat up and then badgering Mark to puh-leaze get rid of the carcass before the cat disembowels it all over the room (which, sad to say, I have personal experience with and which is a lot harder to clean up).

And finally, am I supposed to be relieved that the cat is taking his job seriously? Or sincerely bothered that he's brought a potentially disgusting problem to my attention?

It's not often a person would feel the need to update a blog entry a few hours after it was written. Make that a few hours and 2 more dead rats after it was written. Seriously, I heard this terrible growling noise. First I thought someone was snoring. Nope. Then I was sure it was the dogs and had a complete burglar flashback panic attack, until I saw them snoozing under the tree. THEN, I saw the cat. He was growling that loudly over his latest prize/victim. It was another biggie. I could not get him to drop it and the idea of cleaning up shredded rat tomorrow morning was too disgusting to contemplate. I had to finally wake Mark up because the it was a race--the cat eating and Mark whacking him with a stick.

One rat = eww.
Two rats = ewwww yuck.
Three rats = where are these things coming from?!
Four + rats = OMG what is happening and why is my skin crawling?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the plus side I have a completely amazing cat. He's not messing around. He's past amateur status and is definitely on the pro circuit now.

No, forget it. There can't be a plus side to large rats.