Has your cat ever caught a bat?

[whatsonemore]

I just went outside and found my Jack Russell Terrier messing with a dead bat.  I know she didn't catch it and I also know she will take away whatever the cats catch if she's able to. 

I know bats carry diseases and am a little concerned if it just fell out of the sky.  It was a little too decomposed/dried up and had dog chew injuries to it, so I couldn't tell for sure what had happened to it.

I know I have some fierce hunters in my house.  Twice the kittens have come back with birds they've caught AT NIGHT and one of my older cats brought a flying squirrel she'd caught once into the house.

My mind would be eased if anyone else has had a cat that has taken down a bat.

 

[basschick]

is your pet up to date on his rabies shots?  i'd definitely contact my vet and ask for guidance on this one.

 

[Norachan]

One of my cats caught and ate a bat a few weeks ago. All I found were the wings and the head. However, there is no rabies in this country. I know bats carry rabies so I would be a little concerned if I were in a country where it's more common.

Are your pets all up-to-date on their rabies shots? If not, now would be a good time to go to the vet for a booster.

 

[whatsonemore]

Wow, Norachan, that's pretty wild. I've seen a couple of bats around here, but they are usually up high darting around or diving over the pond, which could have been when a cat could have gotten them, since I know they do stalk the pond by the number of frogs they've brought into the house. I remember a contractor telling me one time (before I had cats) that they had a cat that had caught a hummingbird. I was amazed. Now that I have cats, nothing really amazes me anymore. Especially after Sissy brought in that flying squirrel. A squirrel that can climb AND fly and she was able to catch it? I didn't even know I had any around here. I was so upset she got it, I took it away from her and tried to save it, but it ended up dying.

Anyway, I did some checking and apparently less than 1% of bats carry rabies and the cats are all up on shots and the JRT is still new, but a pup, so I'm hoping whoever dumped her got her her puppy shots, but I'm not really concerned about it since it's so rare and the bat was more like a bat chip with no liquid left in its body when she got ahold of it.

So, despite the movie "Cujo", which traumatized me as a child, along with "Old Yeller", rabies really isn't the scary, bat carrying disease we have been lead to believe it is. Other animals are much more likely to transmit it. Now that I think about it....JAWS probably had it, as that movie also traumatized me enough that even fresh water spooks me. lol

 

[bodester413]

One of my childhood friends had a cat that caught bats all the time. They lived in an old brick building downtown that had a huge upper floor that wasn't renovated. The cat would go up there and hunt bats and pigeons. I've never seen anything jump as high as that cat did when it would go after a bat. It was unbelievable.

 

[whatsonemore]

Yea, I can definitely see it happening with the right (good hunter) cat in an enclosed space where they're nesting or hanging or whatever, but I never dreamed one from the wild out in the open could get caught.  I'm not even sure a cat got ahold of it, but I have seen the young cats just randomly jump very high up in the air over butterflies and other bugs they try to catch, so I guess anything is possible with a determined and stealthy cat.  

I've only seen a couple of bats in the area at any given time, which I'd actually like more of, to help with mosquitoes, so I'm not particularly happy about this death, but hopefully it just died of old age and I won't be finding or losing any more.

 

[happybird]

We have a bat colony living in the (blocked off) chimney of our rental house, and possibly the attic, so we get a stray bat or two in the house every few weeks. The end of June was awful. I think everyone setting off fireworks had the bats all confused and scared, the poor guys. We had 6 wander inside during the week of the 4th. They just legalized home fireworks in WVA this year, so people were going nuts for weeks.

My cat Wheezie kept making friends with the bats (she is ridiculous), so after reading about the less than 1% rabies statistic, I ended up being more worried about injuries to their fragile wings than my cats. We have a whole protocol now for ushering the cats into the bathroom and bedroom and encouraging the bats to fly out the kitchen window. I don't want anyone get bitten on the nose while inspecting a new bat friend or any of the bats to get hurt. Pooper (who is also ridiculous) is terrified of the noises they make, so she is very quick to run and hide in the bathroom. I really can't decide if my cats are weirdos or just cat-like. I'm leaning towards weirdos. :lol3:

I did learn something disturbing while doing my bat research: North American bat populations are at risk now from a highly contagious, rapidly spreading disease called white-nose syndrome (because it leaves white fungus spots on the bat's face, nose and other hairless parts of the body). The disease is being inadvertently spread by spelunkers tracking infected guano out of caves on their shoes and equipment. When I can, I've been checking the faces and bodies of our little visitors, and luckily, they all have appeared to be of healthy weight and fungus-free. The fungus is not always visible, though, and usually spreads between bats while they are grouped together, hibernating or roosting. This epidemic is going to eventually wipe out a large percentage of the bat population, which will have an enormous impact on agriculture.

I really like bats, especially now after researching them and personally meeting a bunch of the little guys. This white-nose syndrome has me very worried.

 

[bodester413]

 
Yea, I can definitely see it happening with the right (good hunter) cat in an enclosed space where they're nesting or hanging or whatever, but I never dreamed one from the wild out in the open could get caught.  I'm not even sure a cat got ahold of it, but I have seen the young cats just randomly jump very high up in the air over butterflies and other bugs they try to catch, so I guess anything is possible with a determined and stealthy cat.  

I've only seen a couple of bats in the area at any given time, which I'd actually like more of, to help with mosquitoes, so I'm not particularly happy about this death, but hopefully it just died of old age and I won't be finding or losing any more

Exactly. This place was like a huge cave upstairs. Exposed beams stacks of boxes and tall machinery that the cat could climb on and wait. Made it much easier.

Yeah, to catch one outside would be much harder. Whenever I've seen them outside they're always flying higher up by the street lights.