Cats eradicated as pets in New Zealand

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54 am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the spread
of the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that
were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into
their victims literally injecting them with the disease.
Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that
crosses the species barrier from rats to humans.
Fortunately, most diseases do not. In the 18th century, cats
may have easily saved millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those
kinds of very intelligent questions. I think that if they did,
all newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague
from Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be present
in any host that would accommodate it, including humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...c_ct_plague%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could
have vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. And
it was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably
carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were
regular passengers on merchant ships". People could spread the
disease, too. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic
plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the
lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague, This
form of the disease is highly communicable as the bacteria can be
transmitted in droplets emitted when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. If you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats; rather,
the emphasis is on rats and fleas. Regardless, whoever or whatever
caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor health, famine
and poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different theories
concerning the etiology of the plague. It's not even positively
known if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact, the bubonic
plague, but historical descriptions of the disease tend to support
this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short
time. I did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in
college many years ago, and I never came across any suggestion that
cats (or dogs) were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly bacterium
after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks,
rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that
brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...bubonic-plague

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Rats are more common than you think. The last two homes I have owned had at
least one rat during my stay there. (not counting myself, that is) The first
I killed with a rat trap. The second one tore the High Voltage leads out of
my car to use for a nest, and the car missfired on one cylinder so I had to
bring it to the dealer who found the rats damage and repaired it. And this
in a house full of cats. When cats are well fed, they are pretty well
harmless to other animals.

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 12:48:39 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54 am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the spread
of the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that
were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into
their victims literally injecting them with the disease.
Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that
crosses the species barrier from rats to humans.
Fortunately, most diseases do not. In the 18th century, cats
may have easily saved millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those
kinds of very intelligent questions. I think that if they did,
all newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague
from Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be present
in any host that would accommodate it, including humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...c_ct_plague%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could
have vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. And
it was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably
carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were
regular passengers on merchant ships". People could spread the
disease, too. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic
plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the
lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague, This
form of the disease is highly communicable as the bacteria can be
transmitted in droplets emitted when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. If you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats; rather,
the emphasis is on rats and fleas. Regardless, whoever or whatever
caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor health, famine
and poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different theories
concerning the etiology of the plague. It's not even positively
known if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact, the bubonic
plague, but historical descriptions of the disease tend to support
this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short
time. I did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in
college many years ago, and I never came across any suggestion that
cats (or dogs) were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly bacterium
after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks,
rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that
brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...bubonic-plague

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Rats are more common than you think. The last two homes I have owned had at
least one rat during my stay there. (not counting myself, that is) The first
I killed with a rat trap. The second one tore the High Voltage leads out of
my car to use for a nest, and the car missfired on one cylinder so I had to
bring it to the dealer who found the rats damage and repaired it. And this
in a house full of cats. When cats are well fed, they are pretty well
harmless to other animals.

I had a rat in my living space. Saw it once or twice. Put poison down
and then I started to smell something funky. Had my workman look
around - and he found it dead under the refrigerator.

--

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54*am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the spread of
the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that were
very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into their
victims literally injecting them with the disease. Death could
be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that crosses
the species barrier from rats to humans. Fortunately, most
diseases do not. In the 18th century, cats may have easily saved
millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those kinds of
very intelligent questions. I think that if they did, all
newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague from
Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be present in any
host that would accommodate it, including humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...c_ct_plague%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could have
vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. *It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. *And it
was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably carried
by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular
passengers on merchant ships". * People could spread the disease, too.
Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic plague in some cases.
The plague is also known to spread to the lungs and become the disease
known as the pneumonic plague, This form of the disease is highly
communicable as the bacteria can be transmitted in droplets emitted
when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. *If you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats; rather,
the emphasis is on rats and fleas. *Regardless, whoever or whatever
caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor health, famine and
poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different theories
concerning the etiology of the plague. *It's not even positively known
if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact, the bubonic plague,
but historical descriptions of the disease tend to support this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short time. I
did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in college many
years ago, and I never came across any suggestion that cats (or dogs)
were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly bacterium
after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks,
rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that
brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...bubonic-plague

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Every once in a while a case of plague shows up in California. It was
usually caused by fleas on squirrels.

--
JD

"Osama Bin Laden is dead and GM is alive."--VP Joseph Biden

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 12:48:39 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54 am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the spread
of the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that
were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into
their victims literally injecting them with the disease.
Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that
crosses the species barrier from rats to humans.
Fortunately, most diseases do not. In the 18th century, cats
may have easily saved millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those
kinds of very intelligent questions. I think that if they did,
all newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague
from Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be present
in any host that would accommodate it, including humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...c_ct_plague%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could
have vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. And
it was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably
carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were
regular passengers on merchant ships". People could spread the
disease, too. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic
plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the
lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague, This
form of the disease is highly communicable as the bacteria can be
transmitted in droplets emitted when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. If you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats; rather,
the emphasis is on rats and fleas. Regardless, whoever or whatever
caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor health, famine
and poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different theories
concerning the etiology of the plague. It's not even positively
known if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact, the bubonic
plague, but historical descriptions of the disease tend to support
this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short
time. I did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in
college many years ago, and I never came across any suggestion that
cats (or dogs) were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly bacterium
after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks,
rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that
brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...bubonic-plague

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Rats are more common than you think. The last two homes I have owned had at
least one rat during my stay there. (not counting myself, that is) The first
I killed with a rat trap. The second one tore the High Voltage leads out of
my car to use for a nest, and the car missfired on one cylinder so I had to
bring it to the dealer who found the rats damage and repaired it. And this
in a house full of cats. When cats are well fed, they are pretty well
harmless to other animals.

I had a rat in my living space. Saw it once or twice. Put poison down
and then I started to smell something funky. Had my workman look
around - and he found it dead under the refrigerator.

Rats are a big problem in southern California. Surprisingly, a lot of
the problem are in wealthier areas, with lots of trees, which is how the
rats gain access to homes.

--
JD

"Osama Bin Laden is dead and GM is alive."--VP Joseph Biden

On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:55:18 -0800, Jeanne Douglas
wrote:

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 12:48:39 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54 am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the spread
of the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that
were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into
their victims literally injecting them with the disease.
Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that
crosses the species barrier from rats to humans.
Fortunately, most diseases do not. In the 18th century, cats
may have easily saved millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those
kinds of very intelligent questions. I think that if they did,
all newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague
from Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be present
in any host that would accommodate it, including humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...c_ct_plague%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could
have vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. And
it was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably
carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were
regular passengers on merchant ships". People could spread the
disease, too. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic
plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the
lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague, This
form of the disease is highly communicable as the bacteria can be
transmitted in droplets emitted when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. If you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats; rather,
the emphasis is on rats and fleas. Regardless, whoever or whatever
caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor health, famine
and poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different theories
concerning the etiology of the plague. It's not even positively
known if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact, the bubonic
plague, but historical descriptions of the disease tend to support
this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short
time. I did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in
college many years ago, and I never came across any suggestion that
cats (or dogs) were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly bacterium
after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks,
rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that
brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...bubonic-plague

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Rats are more common than you think. The last two homes I have owned had at
least one rat during my stay there. (not counting myself, that is) The first
I killed with a rat trap. The second one tore the High Voltage leads out of
my car to use for a nest, and the car missfired on one cylinder so I had to
bring it to the dealer who found the rats damage and repaired it. And this
in a house full of cats. When cats are well fed, they are pretty well
harmless to other animals.

I had a rat in my living space. Saw it once or twice. Put poison down
and then I started to smell something funky. Had my workman look
around - and he found it dead under the refrigerator.

Rats are a big problem in southern California. Surprisingly, a lot of
the problem are in wealthier areas, with lots of trees, which is how the
rats gain access to homes.

I'm in Baja, California, south of southern California. I think my
problem was that I was leaving my door open for some fresh ocean air.
My master bedroom is on the first floor and has its own small kitchen
and bathroom. I thought I saw it a couple of time but wasn't certain,
then, I was lying in bed watching TV one night, and I saw this large
furry creature grinning at me with its sharp, pointed teeth. It
scared me out of bed, but it ran away, and I couldn't find it.

I have an enclosed porch now, so it would be difficult for any to gain
access - not to forget my two cats. I didn't even have one when this
happened several years ago.

--

Jeanne Douglas wrote:
In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54 am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the
spread of the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that
were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into
their victims literally injecting them with the disease.
Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that
crosses the species barrier from rats to humans.
Fortunately, most diseases do not. In the 18th century,
cats may have easily saved millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those
kinds of very intelligent questions. I think that if they
did, all newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague
from Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be
present in any host that would accommodate it, including
humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...c_ct_plague%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could
have vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. And
it was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably
carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were
regular passengers on merchant ships". People could spread the
disease, too. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic
plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the
lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague, This
form of the disease is highly communicable as the bacteria can be
transmitted in droplets emitted when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. If you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats;
rather, the emphasis is on rats and fleas. Regardless, whoever or
whatever caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor
health, famine and poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different
theories concerning the etiology of the plague. It's not even
positively known if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact,
the bubonic plague, but historical descriptions of the disease
tend to support this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short
time. I did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in
college many years ago, and I never came across any suggestion
that cats (or dogs) were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly
bacterium after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs,
chipmunks, rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of
plague. Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs
that brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...bubonic-plague

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Every once in a while a case of plague shows up in California. It was
usually caused by fleas on squirrels.

.....Or by whatever species of flea that infests liberals....:^)

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 15:41:00 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Jeanne Douglas wrote:
In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54 am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the
spread of the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that
were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into
their victims literally injecting them with the disease.
Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that
crosses the species barrier from rats to humans.
Fortunately, most diseases do not. In the 18th century,
cats may have easily saved millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those
kinds of very intelligent questions. I think that if they
did, all newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague
from Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be
present in any host that would accommodate it, including
humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...c_ct_plague%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could
have vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. And
it was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably
carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were
regular passengers on merchant ships". People could spread the
disease, too. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic
plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the
lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague, This
form of the disease is highly communicable as the bacteria can be
transmitted in droplets emitted when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. If you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats;
rather, the emphasis is on rats and fleas. Regardless, whoever or
whatever caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor
health, famine and poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different
theories concerning the etiology of the plague. It's not even
positively known if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact,
the bubonic plague, but historical descriptions of the disease
tend to support this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short
time. I did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in
college many years ago, and I never came across any suggestion
that cats (or dogs) were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly
bacterium after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs,
chipmunks, rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of
plague. Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs
that brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...bubonic-plague

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Every once in a while a case of plague shows up in California. It was
usually caused by fleas on squirrels.

....Or by whatever species of flea that infests liberals....:^)

"Man is condemned to fleadom."
- Jean-Paul Scratch

--

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:55:18 -0800, Jeanne Douglas
wrote:

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 12:48:39 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54 am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the spread
of the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that
were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into
their victims literally injecting them with the disease.
Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that
crosses the species barrier from rats to humans.
Fortunately, most diseases do not. In the 18th century, cats
may have easily saved millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those
kinds of very intelligent questions. I think that if they did,
all newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague
from Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be present
in any host that would accommodate it, including humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...ic/c_ct_plague
%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could
have vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. And
it was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably
carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were
regular passengers on merchant ships". People could spread the
disease, too. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic
plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the
lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague, This
form of the disease is highly communicable as the bacteria can be
transmitted in droplets emitted when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. If you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats; rather,
the emphasis is on rats and fleas. Regardless, whoever or whatever
caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor health, famine
and poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different theories
concerning the etiology of the plague. It's not even positively
known if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact, the bubonic
plague, but historical descriptions of the disease tend to support
this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short
time. I did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in
college many years ago, and I never came across any suggestion that
cats (or dogs) were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly bacterium
after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks,
rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that
brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...bubonic-plague

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Rats are more common than you think. The last two homes I have owned had
at
least one rat during my stay there. (not counting myself, that is) The
first
I killed with a rat trap. The second one tore the High Voltage leads out
of
my car to use for a nest, and the car missfired on one cylinder so I had
to
bring it to the dealer who found the rats damage and repaired it. And
this
in a house full of cats. When cats are well fed, they are pretty well
harmless to other animals.

I had a rat in my living space. Saw it once or twice. Put poison down
and then I started to smell something funky. Had my workman look
around - and he found it dead under the refrigerator.

Rats are a big problem in southern California. Surprisingly, a lot of
the problem are in wealthier areas, with lots of trees, which is how the
rats gain access to homes.

I'm in Baja, California, south of southern California. I think my
problem was that I was leaving my door open for some fresh ocean air.
My master bedroom is on the first floor and has its own small kitchen
and bathroom. I thought I saw it a couple of time but wasn't certain,
then, I was lying in bed watching TV one night, and I saw this large
furry creature grinning at me with its sharp, pointed teeth. It
scared me out of bed, but it ran away, and I couldn't find it.

I have an enclosed porch now, so it would be difficult for any to gain
access - not to forget my two cats. I didn't even have one when this
happened several years ago.

The cats are the important factor, since rats can get through holes so
small that it would seem impossible.

The LAPD has been gathering feral cats and moving them to the areas
around police stations, which no longer have the rat problems they had
before.

--
JD

"Osama Bin Laden is dead and GM is alive."--VP Joseph Biden

On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:33:32 -0800, Jeanne Douglas
wrote:

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:55:18 -0800, Jeanne Douglas
wrote:

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 12:48:39 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54 am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the spread
of the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that
were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into
their victims literally injecting them with the disease.
Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that
crosses the species barrier from rats to humans.
Fortunately, most diseases do not. In the 18th century, cats
may have easily saved millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those
kinds of very intelligent questions. I think that if they did,
all newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague
from Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be present
in any host that would accommodate it, including humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...ic/c_ct_plague
%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could
have vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. And
it was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably
carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were
regular passengers on merchant ships". People could spread the
disease, too. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic
plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the
lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague, This
form of the disease is highly communicable as the bacteria can be
transmitted in droplets emitted when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. If you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats; rather,
the emphasis is on rats and fleas. Regardless, whoever or whatever
caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor health, famine
and poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different theories
concerning the etiology of the plague. It's not even positively
known if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact, the bubonic
plague, but historical descriptions of the disease tend to support
this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short
time. I did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in
college many years ago, and I never came across any suggestion that
cats (or dogs) were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly bacterium
after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks,
rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that
brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...bubonic-plague

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Rats are more common than you think. The last two homes I have owned had
at
least one rat during my stay there. (not counting myself, that is) The
first
I killed with a rat trap. The second one tore the High Voltage leads out
of
my car to use for a nest, and the car missfired on one cylinder so I had
to
bring it to the dealer who found the rats damage and repaired it. And
this
in a house full of cats. When cats are well fed, they are pretty well
harmless to other animals.

I had a rat in my living space. Saw it once or twice. Put poison down
and then I started to smell something funky. Had my workman look
around - and he found it dead under the refrigerator.

Rats are a big problem in southern California. Surprisingly, a lot of
the problem are in wealthier areas, with lots of trees, which is how the
rats gain access to homes.

I'm in Baja, California, south of southern California. I think my
problem was that I was leaving my door open for some fresh ocean air.
My master bedroom is on the first floor and has its own small kitchen
and bathroom. I thought I saw it a couple of time but wasn't certain,
then, I was lying in bed watching TV one night, and I saw this large
furry creature grinning at me with its sharp, pointed teeth. It
scared me out of bed, but it ran away, and I couldn't find it.

I have an enclosed porch now, so it would be difficult for any to gain
access - not to forget my two cats. I didn't even have one when this
happened several years ago.

The cats are the important factor, since rats can get through holes so
small that it would seem impossible.

I don't have a lot of experience with these matters; however the beast
I saw was fairly large, and then I saw it dead under my refrigerator.
I know mice can get through unbelieveably small holes, but I think
this one strolled through the open door.

--

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:33:32 -0800, Jeanne Douglas
wrote:

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:55:18 -0800, Jeanne Douglas
wrote:

In article ,
Mack A. Damia wrote:

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 12:48:39 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 10:18:30 -0800 (PST), Father Haskell
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:54 am, Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 01:01:44 -0800, "Bill Graham"

wrote:









Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 12:04:17 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:58:21 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 23:19:20 -0800, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Mack A. Damia wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:51:57 -0500, Clara Semps
wrote:

In the middle Ages, the Black Plague was spread
quickly...
There were several reasons for this. Primarily, the
spread
of the big asian rats carrying the disease.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that
were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into
their victims literally injecting them with the disease.
Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

Yes. The Bubonic plague is one of the few diseases that
crosses the species barrier from rats to humans.
Fortunately, most diseases do not. In the 18th century,
cats
may have easily saved millions of human lives.....

Just wondering out loud........the cats themselves could
have
carried infected fleas; dogs too.

Yes.... And the cats (and dogs) could have also gotten the
plague.... I don't know. News stories seldon answer those
kinds of very intelligent questions. I think that if they
did,
all newscsters woulde have become engineers.....

I believe rats infested with infected fleas carried the plague
from Asia to Europe aboard ships, but the flea could be
present
in any host that would accommodate it, including humans.

Yes. But the question was, did the rats, cats and dogs get the
plague as well as the humans?

Yes.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/...sitic/c_ct_pla
gue
%20

In that case, rats were unnecessary. Common household pets could
have vectored the disease to humans without benefit of rats.....

The details are not clear. It is generally accepted that the rat
carried the fleas who carried the disease from Asia to Europe. And
it was a certain specie of rat. You will read, "it was probably
carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were
regular passengers on merchant ships". People could spread the
disease, too. Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic
plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the
lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague, This
form of the disease is highly communicable as the bacteria can be
transmitted in droplets emitted when coughing or sneezing.

I don't know if cats were susceptible to the bubonic plague. If
you
read accounts of the Black Death, you won't read about cats;
rather,
the emphasis is on rats and fleas. Regardless, whoever or whatever
caught the plague didn't live very long due to poor health, famine
and poor hygiene/sanitation.

Accounts are still sketchy, and their are several different
theories
concerning the etiology of the plague. It's not even positively
known if the great pandemic of 1348 -1350 was, in fact, the
bubonic
plague, but historical descriptions of the disease tend to support
this view.

According to the website I posted, cats were susceptible to
certain
forms of the plague, but they probably expired in a very short
time. I did a lot of research into the Black Death for a paper in
college many years ago, and I never came across any suggestion
that
cats (or dogs) were involved; it was always rats and fleas.

--

Didn't plague originate in Chinese marmots?

Recently. (2009 - 2010)

"According to provincial health authorities in China, a construction
worker has died from bubonic plague this past Tuesday."

"He was rushed to the hospital after developing a high fever and
swollen lymph glands under his left armpit."

"The health authority there says the man acquired the deadly
bacterium
after hunting, cooking and eating an infected marmot."

"Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia
pestis. It is found in animals throughout the world, most commonly
rats but other rodents like ground squirrels, prairie dogs,
chipmunks,
rabbits and voles. Fleas typically serve as the vector of plague.
Human cases have been linked to the domestic cats and dogs that
brought infected fleas into the house."

http://www.examiner.com/article/chin...he-bubonic-pla
gue

(No references given for this. I imagine rare cases of the plague
in
modern times may have involved dogs and cats. Not many homes have
rats running wild these days, but anything that carried and
sustained
the infected flea could be suspect.)

Rats are more common than you think. The last two homes I have owned
had
at
least one rat during my stay there. (not counting myself, that is) The
first
I killed with a rat trap. The second one tore the High Voltage leads
out
of
my car to use for a nest, and the car missfired on one cylinder so I
had
to
bring it to the dealer who found the rats damage and repaired it. And
this
in a house full of cats. When cats are well fed, they are pretty well
harmless to other animals.

I had a rat in my living space. Saw it once or twice. Put poison down
and then I started to smell something funky. Had my workman look
around - and he found it dead under the refrigerator.

Rats are a big problem in southern California. Surprisingly, a lot of
the problem are in wealthier areas, with lots of trees, which is how the
rats gain access to homes.

I'm in Baja, California, south of southern California. I think my
problem was that I was leaving my door open for some fresh ocean air.
My master bedroom is on the first floor and has its own small kitchen
and bathroom. I thought I saw it a couple of time but wasn't certain,
then, I was lying in bed watching TV one night, and I saw this large
furry creature grinning at me with its sharp, pointed teeth. It
scared me out of bed, but it ran away, and I couldn't find it.

I have an enclosed porch now, so it would be difficult for any to gain
access - not to forget my two cats. I didn't even have one when this
happened several years ago.

The cats are the important factor, since rats can get through holes so
small that it would seem impossible.

I don't have a lot of experience with these matters; however the beast
I saw was fairly large, and then I saw it dead under my refrigerator.
I know mice can get through unbelieveably small holes, but I think
this one strolled through the open door.

Definitely wouldn't be surprised.

--
JD

"Osama Bin Laden is dead and GM is alive."--VP Joseph Biden