Pet rat welfare in the United Kingdom: The good, the bad and the ugly

Abstract

Background: To date, despite the substantial literature investigating how rats prefer to be kept in captivity, no research has been conducted to assess the housing, husbandry and health of pet rats. Methods: To better understand the United Kingdom's pet rat population and the welfare issues they face, we conducted an online survey of pet rat owners. The survey included questions about the owner and their opinions about pet rats, and about their rats' health, husbandry and housing. Results: The results, from 677 complete responses, highlighted areas of rat care that were "good", "bad" and "ugly" (i.e. likely to be highly detrimental to welfare). The good was that many rats were provided with a social companion and enrichment; the bad was that we could not be certain whether rats had a sufficiently nutritious diet or sufficient opportunities to explore or adequate nesting substrate; and the ugly included cases of exposure of rats to predator species within the home and a generally high prevalence of disease. Conclusions: We conclude that there is much cause for concern about the welfare of pet rats in the United Kingdom.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Rats as pets: Predictors of adoption and surrender of pet rats (Rattus norvegicus domestica) in British Columbia, Canada

“…Likewise, more than half of the surrendered rats originated from either unplanned litters or commercial pet stores/breeders. A survey study from the UK identified that 50% of the owned-rats were sourced from a breeder and an additional 40% were from a pet shop [37]. However, this study also identified that only a few rats were self-bred [37], which is different from the result we found in our data.…”

“…A survey study from the UK identified that 50% of the owned-rats were sourced from a breeder and an additional 40% were from a pet shop [37]. However, this study also identified that only a few rats were self-bred [37], which is different from the result we found in our data. This discrepancy may be due to the differences in people who responded to a survey about their pet rat compared to those that surrendered them to a shelter.…”

“…The study from the UK revealed that rat owners were more likely to own male than female rats [37]. However, this result was not reflected in our data.…”

“…Even if they show aggressive behaviours, we speculate that most owners might tolerate problems since rats and rabbits are not likely to present an immediate danger or cause serious injuries to adults and children. However, some UK rat owners did report disliking the bad odour of rat cages as well as being concerned about their rat's urine marking when out of the cage [37].…”

Thinking outside the lab: Can studies of pet rats inform pet and laboratory rat welfare?

“…Your experience as a rat owner. Some of the survey data were collected solely for the purpose of a parallel study, which investigated the current state of the pet rat population in the United Kingdom 50 .…”