A dozing Marlborough woman reaching out to pet her three-legged cat found instead a large, aggressive rat in her bed.
The water rat, which had somehow got into Lynne Henderson's motor home at Spring Creek Holiday Park on Tuesday, immediately latched onto the woman's face.
The rat fled when the woman's husband Neil turned on the lights, the Marlborough Express reported.
He managed to shoot it once with an air rifle, causing the unwelcome night-time visitor to make "a hell of a squeal", Mr Henderson said.
Mrs Henderson required hospital treatment for a pierced lip after the incident.
"It was about nine inches long, very round and cuddly ... well, violent, actually," Mr Henderson said.
