I just don't understand people who love these animals. Rats...that even sounds disgusting. And their bald, disgusting tail—it's absolutely terrifying!
Just look at this monster:
What a nightmare, right? And this beast showed up in our apartment at the end of June... We tried everything: bought a cage, food, a water bottle. And yet, it still stayed with us! And even the cat didn't bother this monster!
We had to call in the experts. They said it was a Dumbo rat, a husky color, a female, and had a lifespan of 2-3 years, so we'd have to live side by side with the tailed monster for that time.
Heh, well, you probably realized I'm writing all this with irony, of course. We bought a rat at the pet store, a two-week-old baby. As a gift for my son's 6th birthday. And we fell in love with this little ball of fur at first sight! She's such a cutie. Affectionate, curious, and very tame.
We were thinking about what to call her... We already have Pushka (cat), Nyushka (guinea pig), and let it sound similar - Ksyushka!
Our rat Ksyusha ate like crazy all summer: meat, fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables… She turned out to be a real glutton. I thought she'd get so fat she'd become like a guinea pig. But no, she's quite slender!
When we first bought her, we thought she'd stink; rats have a distinctive odor, even if you clean the cage every day. But how wrong we were! We wash the cage once a week. She's spotlessly clean and has no odor at all. We pick up Ksyusha and can even kiss her! Incidentally, a cat smells even more strongly than this rat. She simply smells like our home; there's not even an animal odor at all. A cat smells like a cat (if you sniff her fur), and a guinea pig smells even stronger—like some kind of hedgehog. And a rat is odorless. That's it. Perhaps this is a characteristic of the breed—Dumbo was bred artificially, a special decorative "mouse"; such rats are not found in the wild.
Ksyusha is now 2.5 months old. She knows her name and comes running to you when you call her. She loves to sit on your shoulders while you walk around the house and do things. She's a social animal, loving interaction and affection. She only goes to the bathroom in her cage; she won't poop on your hands or furniture; she tolerates it.
She loves playing with children. They take her out of her cage, put her on the bed, and lay out her toys: cars, dolls, construction sets, etc. And the rat really plays with them—she sits on the cars and rides them; if they're building a construction set, she studies it carefully, runs through mazes, and sits in a house. It's funny to watch. You'd think she's a small animal, so she should be stupid. But no, the rat is very smart! Even smarter than a cat!
Now, back to the title of this article. Is it really possible not to love such cute animals as rats? I'm not talking about the ones that live outside and carry diseases. I'm talking about pet rats. They require minimal care and are extremely cute! Plus, children learn responsibility—they care for the pet, feed it, play with it, and even clean its cage.
But many of our relatives looked askance at the fact that we had a RAT in the house... they said, "It's a rat!" Okay, cats and dogs... but rat meat in an apartment is too much... And when I was surprised at how someone could have a large dog in a small apartment that smells like a dog, that needs to be walked and washed four times a day, and that likes to make a mess around the house (the dog is not well-behaved), there was always the ready answer: "A dog is man's best friend," but a rat is not.
But we, of course, don't care about others. We've adopted the animals we feel comfortable with. Some people love a huge dog, others keep spiders and snakes, and still others are crazy about rats! To each their own.
I'm certainly no expert on rats. I've only had three, two of which were "Dumbo." Breed matters little in the household. "In Ksyusha's case, she may have had Dumbo ancestors; the shape of her ears resembles them, but the ear set isn't typical. Although that doesn't matter, the most important thing is the rat's personality and your attitude toward her. My daughter got a mixed-breed rat, but she's a very good one. She has Dumbo ears, a Siamese coloring, and curled whiskers. I got her as a Sphynx. She was bald when she was little, but now she has fur, not all over her body, and her tail is smaller than standard. But she's a very kind rat.
Thanks for your comment! You might be right. We weren't given any paperwork when we bought the rat. They just said it was a Dumbo. That's all. And you're spot on, too, as rat breeds don't really matter in everyday life. We got ourselves a beloved pet, and we just eyeballed it; we got the rat we liked. 😉