Shudder...

What exactly is the proper PPE for getting a rat out of the house?

Well, today it was socks, sweat pants, and leather fireplace gloves.

This afternoon, Pom kept looking under one of the hall tables. Finally, I got Jennifer to help me move it, and as it moved, a rat ran out from underneath. Pom had somehow snuck a live one into the house.

Thus ensued the chase. It began in the sitting room, and went back and forth between us behind one of the love seats. Then it got past us and went into the library. Luckily it didn't get behind the six foot tall bookshelves.

However it did get past us again and made it into the media room. And into the couch.

It took refuge in one of the arms, and we tipped the couch forward and had it trapped there. I ran for the gloves, and a pair of scissors. I cut a little length of the fabric of what would be the bottom of the couch, and holding the flashlight in one gloved hand, I reached in after the rat with the other (also wearing a glove). After three misses, two of which I felt the tail slip through the glove (-2 to DX rolls anyway due to thickness), and a third where it jump onto the glove and peeked out before I yelled and it dropped back inside, I got a good grab on it body.

Through the glove, I could feel it breathing and possibly even feel its heartbeat. I kept a strong grip on it, and could not bring myself to crush it in my hand. So I took it outside (we had all the doors open in the hopes of driving it out, originally) and threw it as far as I could into the bushes.

Then the adrenaline wore off, and Jennifer about broke down. And the mighty hunters celebrate with a Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat for her and #4 of my remaining Guinness 250s. Pom is outside and doesn't drink beer.

I think I may go curl into a ball now.

Rats

Sunday while I was with my parents for Mother's Day, Jennifer sent me a picture of a rat that Pom had caught and brought in to show her.

That makes 6 in about 2 years. Not counting the live lizard she brought in that one time.

The first she left for us on the mat outside the front door, but since we don't use that door much, we didn't find it for a while, and it settled into one of the gaps in the mat (it's rubber, but shaped like wrought iron)

The second she brought to us the day after I cleaned up the first. That one she had in the garage, and even though it was dead, she was holding it between her paws and rubbing on either side of her face.

The third was the one she brought in late at night when I called in her. I was glad I saw the tail dangling from her mouth, so I got her to drop it in the foyer.

The fourth she left for us in the very center of the garage the night we went to see the new Star Trek movie.

The fifth was another she brought in.

And now this one, the sixth.

Now, I'm pretty sure they're rats from the size of their tails which have been between 9 and 12 inches long.

I took pictures of this one in the bag Jennifer put it into when she cleaned it up. The body was a little curled up, but from its hip to the tip of the tail was the length of a gallon Ziploc bag.

A Mighty Huntress is Our Pom

All right, below is a picture of the rat that my cat Pom caught last Thursday. We didn't see it until Friday morning (about 1:00 AM) when we got back from seeing Star Trek. It was very neatly placed in the very center of the garage where it would be between our two cars.

She's a good cat, our Pom. You'll note that the rat would be almost 8 inches long if it we straightened, and the tail is at least that long as well. Pom might just be 15 inches from her shoudlers to the base of her tail, and about 12 inches tall at the shoulder.

We are all very impressed.