Or heaven forbid a belly full of babies.

YIKES!!! If we lived closer to each other, I'd loan you my dogs. Daisy is a small beagle, but has killed 4 full grown rabbits in my yard. Lola is a beagle/shepherd/something else mix and is also an avid hunter. I guarantee Mr. or Mrs. Rat would be dispatched pronto.

O weed, I wish too. Maybe I will contact the humane society see if I can rent me an ex-feral cat for the day!!

Aahhhh ha ha ha. I know the feeling. 3 dogs and 2 cats at my house. All completely useless.

Well, why hunt when you're not hungry. Lock the critters up and set out some rat traps or call pest control pronto.

We put down traps. Fortunately I had also opened the back door to the room and we think the critter went outside that door. Nobody has touched the bait we put down. HOWEVER, just to be safe Im going out to get some African Violets. Rats will eat them so if I find leaves and stems missing, I will know it is still in the house.

If that rat came with a load of firewood, it may not have been a Norwegian rat, but a California wood-rat (Mazer, you live near Tahoe, don't you?) Woodrats live in the brush around my place and often move into my wood-pile. They *are* rats, but vegetarians, they stash bits of food-stuff: leaves and seeds, and build huge mounds, but are generally harmless.
I don't think they like to live in houses.

Ick factor. I could even live with a pet rat but the ones that dart and scurry would freak me out.

Roxy dog got a mouse outside and brought it in. It was a fine line between praise and horror.

Hopefully it did run out the back door. When we bought our house, it was infested with rats - we caught 21 in the first two weeks we owned it (no, we were NOT living there yet!). It took about 6 more months to be sure that we won that battle, and continued to trap them in the garage for much longer than that.

Years ago we heard a tussle out in the backyard bamboo. We opened the back door just in time to let the rat in, followed by our shiba in full-on attack mode. What a scene; kids screaming, parents yelling, dog knocking things off of shelves - now it is funny when we think about it.

We had to throw a blanket over the dog to save our home from destruction and set out traps. Thinking it was gone after a few days of ignored traps, we let my daughter go back in her room. A piercing scream one night let us know it was still in residence, happily sitting up on her stereo. Luckily, peanut butter on a rat trap got it the next day.

Maybe it's a good thing your dogs and cat are broken. When Cody was on the hunt he would eat through cabinets, drywall, carpet, etc until he caught his prey. I was always getting "gifts" of eviscerated rats, mice, lizards, birds even a baby opossum on the back porch.

There's nothing creepier than thinking a rat is loose in the house!

Yikes! I feel for you -- hope you get the critter. Our Freecycle here is constantly giving away pet rats and I just don't get it. I guess some people can call anything a 'pet' but I sure can't.

WHOOOOOOHOOOOO. R.I.P.
We pulled up the inside bait traps since we were worried about the chihuahuas getting into the bait. I live near San Francisco (use to live in Tahoe) and when I was a kid we use to throw rocks at the Norway rats we saw along the bay. Wood rats look much different, and roof rats are much smaller. This rat was huge (a determining factor in identifying them) and I confident about my ID.
PS - Anyone who does not want to put down bait, go get yourself some African Violets, rats love em. In my last apartment they actually fought over the leaves (blood all over the wall next to the plant) and since then I have always had a plant in my place. I went out today to pick up 2 plants and then when I got back I checked the traps and sure enough, the one outside by the garden shed had the corpse in it. Of course I am now teaching the animals what a rat is.

Hooray! I'm glad you caught him.

I live in the SF east bay area. We have roof rats that get quite large in our neighborhood. Especially the grandpa males.

One of my cats likes hanging out in the garage so I put him and a bowl of his food out there. Now I'm finding at least two dead rats a week. They are attracted to the scent of the cat food so Angus nails them when they come close.

These rats have even been coming out in the daylight hours feeding from the neighbors bird feeders. The rats are hungry now due to the lack of vegetation and they have even started eating my cactus, which I find surprising.

Can I borrow your cat next time we find a rat????