My daughter wants a mouse or a rat.

[dowagercountess]

They had them at her animal club and she fell in love. Anyone have one? Will my cat eat it? 

[Kit]

Doesn't EmilieMadison have a rat? Maybe I'm wrong.

[underwaterrhymes]

I've heard rats make excellent pets, actually.

I've never owned one and not with a cat, but from what I understand they are loving and smart animals.

[candyland]

Jan 29, 2015 14:02:09 GMT -5 dowagercountess said:

They had them at her animal club and she fell in love. Anyone have one? Will my cat eat it? 

I'm not sure if the cat would eat it, but I would use that as an excuse not to get a mouse.

[stephm0188]

Rats make great pets, but do better in pairs. They're social and need a buddy or they get depressed.

They're clean, smart, and they don't bite. They're great for kids.

[malibu]

We have a hamster and three cats. One's afraid of her, the other is mildly interested in her, and the third will pay attention if she's scratching in her cage. None of them have gone up where the cage is to check her out though.

I've also heard of rats/mice making excellent pets.

Edit: to add a word I stupidly left out.

[celeste]

Rats are awesome pets. They're smart and friendly.

[Deleted]

Ugh, why did I open this? LOL.

[schitzengiggles]

I had a rat when I was a kid. It was a class pet and at the end of the year, we did a drawing (for those who had parents permission) to determine who would keep it. I won! I never win anything, but I won that rat. Her name was Snickers and she lived about 3 years. She was a great pet :-)

Now, we didn't have cats...but I imagine as long as you keep them separated (rat in secure cage) it would be just fine. If you let the rat out to play with it, just don't have the cat around :-)

[dixienormous]

Rats are amazing pets. Trainable, VERY smart, cuddly, really fantastic for little people. When I taught I had two classroom rats who became my personal rats.

[gottadobe]

Jan 29, 2015 14:07:40 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

Rats make great pets, but do better in pairs. They're social and need a buddy or they get depressed.

They're clean, smart, and they don't bite. They're great for kids.

Don't bite?
We had some that would jump up to the top of their cage to bite you if your hand was resting on it.

Maybe they were just hateful rats.

I'm intrigued by rats as pets.  And house rabbits.

[mrsjuleshs]

My brother had a rat when we were little and she was really cool. She loved people.

DD's mouse just died last year. It lived like 2 1/2 years and he was her favorite thing ever. He rode around on her shoulder all over, even managed to make it out of the house 1 time. They are easy to care for but their cage can be a nightmare.

We have always kept the cats away from the small animals so no problems.

[EmilieMadison]

Rats are so sweeeeeet!! You have to get them in (same sex) pairs, or they get depressed.
They crave human interaction, love to be held/cuddled/played with, you can teach them tricks/games, and they're fairly low maintenance aside from cleaning the cage. I swear, they're like mini-dogs!

[jm1982]

(lurker)

DH and I have had 7 rats over the years (never more than 3 at once). Right now we have one rat (his cagemates have died recently) and one cat. The cat is, if anything, scared of the rats. We had her first, and after we got them, she would approach curiously but cautiously. One of our rattie boys would then always run over to say hi, and she would jump away. She has never taken a swipe at them or tried to eat them, although she has tried to pat at them a few times with a soft paw (claws retracted).

Rats are great critters. Super personable (like little dogs, really!), not smelly as long as you keep the cage clean, don't bite. I'd definitely recommend them rather than mice, which would be stinkier and more prone to biting.

If you get one, though, PLEASE get a pair. Rats get very lonely and tend to have shorter lives when kept alone.

[EmilieMadison]

Jan 29, 2015 14:13:01 GMT -5 gottadobe said:

Jan 29, 2015 14:07:40 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

Rats make great pets, but do better in pairs. They're social and need a buddy or they get depressed.

They're clean, smart, and they don't bite. They're great for kids.

Don't bite?
We had some that would jump up to the top of their cage to bite you if your hand was resting on it.

Maybe they were just hateful rats.

I'm intrigued by rats as pets.  And house rabbits.

Unsocialized rats may bite. But socialized rats very rarely bite. 

[wampuscat]

I had 3 mice as a kid and they did not smell pleasant. I also wasn't the most responsible kid, so I probably wasn't cleaning their cage as often as I should have. They were sweet though.

[dowagercountess]

Jan 29, 2015 14:14:38 GMT -5 mrsjuleshs said:

My brother had a rat when we were little and she was really cool. She loved people.

DD's mouse just died last year. It lived like 2 1/2 years and he was her favorite thing ever. He rode around on her shoulder all over, even managed to make it out of the house 1 time. They are easy to care for but their cage can be a nightmare.

We have always kept the cats away from the small animals so no problems.

Why?

[iamgrace]

I had a rat and she made a lovely pet.

[game blouses]

I've had both, and I actually like hamsters the best. They prefer being solitary and can be really sweet once they are hand trained (males especially). Watching them hoard their stuff is fun too.

[Deleted]

My husband and BIL were never allowed to have pets as kids (other than cats and dogs) so they are making up for lost time as adults.

DH bought pet mice a few years ago and I hated them. They stunk; no matter how much you cleaved their cage they STUNK like urine. Also ours weren't social at all and we couldn't hold them.

BIL had rats and they were awesome. They learned little tricks, they'd rude around in your hoodie hoods and pockets, and were just generally sweet creatures if you got past their tales.

I vote rats, but make your kid clean the cage!

[blueballoon]

Get rats! They are awesome, smart and friendly.

[captainmel]

I have two rats and I love them! River cat is afraid of my rattie girls and they just want to snuggle with him. They're cage trained so they don't go to the bathroom outside of their cage. Cleaning their cage is super easy! I just dump it into a trash bag and wipe it down with natures miracle cage cleaner, add fresh bedding and you're good to go! They are so low maintenance and fun.

I mostly got the rats for Boyfriend but I have seriously come to love them. They're so sweet and snuggly and cute and smart.

[blueballoon]

Jan 29, 2015 14:25:53 GMT -5 googled said:

So...my mom had a small rabbit as a kid (it was a baby and approximately the size of a rat)…her cat pulled it through the wire cage. So keep the cat separate or use an aquarium-like cage or something. I don't know anything about rats, haha.

Don't use an aquarium cage for rats. Their pee is heavy with ammonia. Aquariums don't have enough airflow to remove it, causing lung/breathing problems.

[gottadobe]

How does one litter train a rat?

[litebright]

This thread makes me want a couple of rats. I've always heard they were very smart and good pets.

[luvvy]

I had pet mice when I was a kid.  They were a blast!  We had a 10 gallon fish tank with a metal wire top with a wheel and other play things.  They are hilarious to watch.

[dowagercountess]

Jan 29, 2015 14:48:20 GMT -5 gottadobe said:

How does one litter train a rat?

This is a good question. 

I am going to talk it over with her dad, and see what he thinks, as he feeds our cat etc, while we are out of town. 

[dirtyred]

Rats are great pets.  They're kind of like dogs--smart and affectionate.  I had one as a teen, over my dad's loud objections.  One week after Peanut arrived, my dad would come home from work and say "Where's the rat?  Get the rat out!"  Then Peanut would ride on my dad's shoulder for the rest of the night, even during dinner, when my father would feed him from his plate.  We were able to let him run around on his own; when he got tired he would go upstairs and get in his cage.

Initially you don't want to give them a nesting box as you want to handle them as much as possible when you first get them for socialization.

I wouldn't let the cat near either a mouse or rat when it was out.

[Deleted]

Get her a hamster instead.  Or a guinea pig or bunny.  Your cats will still try to eat all of these, FYI.  My bunny is 5 lbs and my cats stalk him and bop him in the head.  

[dowagercountess]

You all are making me lean toward yes.