Outdoorfunblonde, we had a cat, 'Tinsel', because it reminded us of Christmas tinsel for the tree. She brought a huge rat to the back door one morning. Really surprised my wife. The rat was probably a forth as large as the cat. We had seen the cat catch mice several times, but never killed them. She would hold them in her mouth so that only the tail was sticking out. She would turn it loose and run after it again and again until it got away. Never knew her to kill one. Still wonder if she killed the rat or found it dead. It was a fresh kill.
Speaking of surprises, one night I was awaken by something at the head of the bed, apparently climbing up the curtain. I didn't want to wake my wife. She would have freaked out. My first thought was a rat. I slowly reached down and picked up one of my big work boots. Then this huge 'rat' was crawling across the pillow and trying to get under the cover with me! I didn't want to mess up the bed, so I shoved it off the bed, and onto the floor. Just as I was about to bring the boot down on it, I flipped on the light. To my surprise, it was my daughter's hamster! (That would have been a disaster, if I had killed her pet!) Evidently the hamster got the latch unhooked and got out of the cage. A few days later we had to change the latch with different type because it got out a couple more times.
