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?
One of my cats at the time was a major hunter and would have found a way to open the cage.
Post by indianchica on Jan 29, 2015 15:45:08 GMT -5
Rats are amazing pets. We have two right now and they are super cute. Our cats don't seem bothered by them and neither does our large dog but our little dog tried to chomp on one the other day (no one was hurt but it was scary).
My aunt got me a mouse one year when I was a kid. It apparently was pregnant because not too long later it had 6 babies. We had two cats and then never bothered them.
Post by niemand88f on Jan 29, 2015 17:05:35 GMT -5
I had a mouse unwillingly, a CW brought it to a white elephant exchange and was going to let it go outside in the dead of winter if no one took it. I'll never get another one- it smelled and didn't do much. DH liked the mouse but the cats would have murdered it if we didn't keep him in a separate room. The first week we had it home, we put its cage on a high shelf in our living room while we cleaned the mouse's room. Our really lazy cat jumped probably 5 or 6 feet to land on the shelf to try to get it!
I'd definitely vote for rats, a couple of my friends have them and they seem like really good pets. The mouse was cute to watch, but playing with a mouse mostly consists of giving it stuff to burrow in or explore- I think you could actually play with a rat.
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.
Hamsters can be really mean. Plus, they're nocturnal and will be up all night running in their squeaky wheel.
I LOVED my rats! I had 4 over the course of about 6 years, 3 that were my own and one that I took in for a friend. Mine were super sweet and cuddly, and had very different personalities. One was funny and cantankerous, and one was just pure sweet, and one was goofy. The one I took in for a friend was not a nice rat because they didn't handle her enough.
I can't stress enough that handling them is the key to good rats. We would just let them out to run on the couch when we were sitting down, and we played with them a lot. They loved when we put a blanket over the recliner so they could burrow and tunnel under it.
I miss having them I don't think I could ever get DH to agree though.
Rats are amazing pets. We have two right now and they are super cute. Our cats don't seem bothered by them and neither does our large dog but our little dog tried to chomp on one the other day (no one was hurt but it was scary).
My weenie dog used to try to bite my rat too, that is until my rat reached through the cage and grabbed his tail and bit it. Like, chomped it lol the weenie would always run past the cage after that.
Another vote for rats! We had all the little fuzzy things (many gerbils, hamsters and a guinea pig) growing up and the rats were by far the best. We got "hand raised" rats vs feeder rats so they they were used to people. I know this freaks people out but my rat George used to run up my arm when I put it inthe cage. Then he would burrow in my hair and wrap his tail around my neck. He'd just chill like that while I walked around. It was great!
Socialized rats can be awesome pets. They're very engaging and social.
DS had a rat from his Animal Science class in high school- Isabella was a delight the few times she stayed with us. The himmie never messed with her, but we made sure to supervise them.
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.
Hamsters can be really mean. Plus, they're nocturnal and will be up all night running in their squeaky wheel.
I had a sweet hamster as a kid. Maybe that's unusual? But you're right about them being nocturnal!
I have worked extensively with mice and rats. I think rats would be a much better pet than a mouse. Rats are so personable and fun. If I wasn't banned from owning rodents because of my work, I would have have a few in a heart beat.