Recently, Flossie’s taken to charging out of the back door at certain times of the day.
There are a lot of cats in the neighbourhood although I don’t think one would venture into our garden with Flossie around.
But there’s definitely something going on out there. Flossie rushes out, huffing and puffing as she races up and down the boundaries. And she spends a lot of time foraging around behind a particuarly large bush and emerges, with muddy paws, looking perplexed.
So, I guessed we might have a feline visitor or perhaps a hedgehog.
However, I was wrong.
One early evening as I stood watching the rain, the mystery was solved. A huge rat scuttled across the garden and along the fence line towards the house. I tried not to shriek. Thank goodness the back door was closed.
I thought it would be a good idea to send Flossie out. She was up for it. I opened the door, she shot out like a rocket and ran straight over to the wrong side of the garden. The rat had gone behind one of my planters and disappeared. Flossie dashed around authoritatively and I hoped it would mean that the visitor would feel unwelcome.
The next day I decided I needed to be brave and look in my shed, to check that a family of rats hadn’t set up residence. I sent Flossie in first and I acted as back up. She wandered around and didn’t seem at all interested so I deduced that we had the all clear.
We checked around the rest of the garden looking for signs. There were none. Perhaps Mr Rat was just passing through. However, I know the general consensus is that you are never more than a few feet away from a rat. And, where there is one rat, there will be more.
I’m not sure what we are going to do if we see another one, but we are on our guard.
As published in the Bath Chronicle, 23 September 2021
Suzy Pope is a certified copywriter and newspaper columnist specialising in pets, business and lifestyle. If you would like help with a writing project, please get in touch.
