WHY RATS NEED COMPANY Angela Horn (udty075@kcl.ac.uk) (formerly Angela King) Pet rats are usually kept in groups of two or more animals of the same sex. However, sometimes people keep rats as single pets. A consideration of the social life and welfare needs of pet rats implies that it is far better for them to be kept in pairs than as single rats, and in this essay I shall argue that whilst there is no compelling reason to keep a rat alone, there are many for keeping rats in company. This is a topic which is only touched upon in the literature available on pet rats; of the 3 or 4 books generally available, most simply do not consider the social needs of the rat itself - they cover only practical topics such as feeding and housing, and the welfare needs of the animal are not discussed. Social animals in general ------------------------- Rats are social animals and it is very unnatural for them to live alone - similar to keeping a human in solitary confinement. Unlike Syrian hamsters, which are natural loners, rats live in large family groups in the wild. In captivity, rats are fascinated by others of their own kind and will rarely miss an opportunity to meet another rat - even if it is just to sniff at each other and indulge in a territorial dispute through the bars of a cage. Rats living together play often (even very old rats enjoy playing occasionally at fighting, wrestling and chasing other rats), groom each other (there are parts of a rat's body which it cannot reach to groom itself, eg behind the ears and the back of the neck), provide warmth and security for each other at night, and communicate - sometimes by touch and smell, and sometimes (probably) by sound at frequencies we can't hear. That is not to say that rats kept in company don't fight; they certainly do scrap occasionally, especially when the rats are teenagers (3-6 months). However, this fighting is usually just horseplay and it serves a useful function in providing the rats with exercise and stimulation as they establish a social order in their community; it is a valuable part of their lives. Animals which naturally live in communities usually have established social behaviour patterns which are part of their nature. They can only express this part of their nature fully when with other animals of their own kind which interpret their communications correctly and respond in kind. One theory of social evolution claims that human language evolved from grooming rituals which help social animals to enjoy each othersÕ company and so functio as a harmonious society. It is reasonable to assume that some such social rituals are species-specific; just as we cannot expect a pet rat to respond to our conversation in the same way another human would, no human can enjoy and respond to a ratÕs social rituals as another rat could. Then as a general principle it seems that whenever we keep any social animal alone, we are depriving it of a whole range of experiences which it has evolved to enjoy. No amount of human attention can make up for the company of another rat - just as the company of a dog could not, for most humans, make up for the fact that they never saw another person. The specific welfare needs of rats ---------------------------------- Because rats are much more intelligent than most other pet rodents, they may suffer more from boredom when alone; they certainly tire of simple distractions far sooner than other small pets. Rats which are regularly allowed out of their cages to play are constantly exploring, seeking new adventures and more mischief each day. They crave mental and physical stimulation. When rats are kept together, the possibilities for stimulation are enhanced in every situation. When in the cage, rats can play or groom. When out of the cage, they will often spend periods exploring alone, then meet up with a friend to interact. They appear to learn from each other how to negotiate new obstacles. They sometimes explore new rooms in pairs. They play tag or hide-and-seek together. Female rats in particular are passionate creatures and they enjoy mock-mating with other females when they are in heat; they often pester the other rats into playing this game even when they don't seem to be interested! Their options for entertainment are enhanced in many ways. Rats with company live more full and more active lives than those without it. A single rat just cannot have the same range of experiences as one with companions - it has far fewer ways to spend its time. Fewer options are open to it. Is it acceptable to keep a rat alone if you give it plenty of attention? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Although many rats are lucky enough to get plenty of attention from their owners and playtime out of the cage, no owner can be with a rat 24 hours a day as another rat can. Nor can any owner adjust her daily routine to entirely concide with her ratÕs. Rats do not sleep for 8 hours and wake for 16 like humans; they sleep and wake throughout the day, and are most active during the night and small hours of the morning. If a rat is kept alone, it is forced to spend the best part of its day - the time when it is most playful and energetic and when it would most appreciate company - alone. If rats living together want space, they simply leave each other alone for a while. If they want company, they can have it. Rats living with a companion truly have the best of both worlds. What reason could there be to deprive a rat of these opportunities? Why keep a single rat? Some people argue that a rat kept alone does not have to compete with any other rat for its ownerÕs attention. As an argument for keeping rats alone, this is based on two assumptions: first, that a pet rat would gain more enjoyment from social interaction with a human than it would from another rat, and second, that competition with another rat for this attention would somehow result in each rat being deprived. Both assumptions are flawed. As the first section explained, a human companion simply cannot provide a rat with the social stimulation that he could get from another rat. Human companionship can provide alternative, varied stimulation for pet rats, and a well-socialized pet rat should enjoy spending time with its owner. Surely the best situation for pet rats is to have the attention of both humans and other rats. The two are certainly not mutually exclusive, and anyone who has kept rats in pairs or trios can testify that it is ridiculous to suppose that each rat individual rat is deprived of human attention. It is just as easy to play with two or three rats as it is to play with one. Sometimes both rats will be clambering over their owner at once, whilst at other times one rat will be exploring and the other will be spending time with the owner. When you have very large numbers of rats together you may find that some miss out on individual attention - for example, I have 20 adults at present and a litter of babies, and find it quite exhausting playing with ten mischievous does at once! But two or three rats living together would certainly not exhaust the attentions of any pet owner; they can enjoy the benefits of both rat and human company. Aren't two rats more trouble than one? ------------------------------------- Two rats do not require significantly more upkeep than one. In fact, in some ways two rats are less work than one because you don't need to feel so guilty if one day you can't take them out to play - a single rat lives for his daily moment of freedom, but a well-balanced pair of rats can entertain themselves for the odd day. Bear in mind that, in order to avoid a life of utter boredom, a single rat requires constant attention. If you are prepared to provide this level of care for your pets then it is difficult to seen why anyone would begrudge them the companionship of another rat, as insurance against boredom. The amount of extra care a second rat might require is small in any event, but seems insignificant compared to the potential benefits for each pet. You should not be able to notice any offensive smell from two rats of either sex which are cleaned out weekly. As for space - if a cage is large enough for one rat, it is large enough for two. No rat should ever have to live in a cage with less than two square feet of floorspace, and this should be considered a bare minimum. However, note that this is not two square feet per rat, but two square feet in total. The amount of extra space taken up by a second rat in a cage is negligible compared to the amount of extra stimulation the rats will provide for each other. Won't one rat become more tame than two? ---------------------------------------- Some people deliberately keep a rat alone because they think it will become more attached to them than a pair of rats. This is simply not true. Rats kept in groups will become just as affectionate as single rats, as long as they are played with and handled regularly. It takes little or no more effort to socialize two or three rats than one. In fact, when rats live in groups I have noticed that the shyer animals appear to gain confidence when they see their companions enjoying human company. The whole cage gravitates towards the behaviour of the most confident rat. Anyone who keeps groups of rats as pets will know that they become just as friendly as single rats, with the added bonus that they have a more interesting life. My largest cage is home to 10 female rats, each of which is extremely affectionate. When they come out to play, they climb all over any available human, burrow inside their clothes, and clamber up to sit on top of the head, in the crook of an arm, or on a shoulder - before dashing off to wreak havoc, and then popping back at regular intervals for some more attention. They love human company, yet three of those had never even been handled when bought and started off positively hating humans. Ethical pet ownership --------------------- Some rat books say that it is 'acceptable' to keep a rat alone, even if it does not have aggression problems, because a single rat will not actually die of loneliness, and may indeed enjoy its life very much. But surely, given that the rat is a social animal, the relevant question is why one should want to deprive it of companionship. What possible reason could there be for keeping a rat alone? It will make the rat enjoy its life even more, and will not make it any less tame. Surely we don't want to determine how we keep our pets according to what is merely 'acceptable' - pet owners normally want to give their pets the best life that is practical, not the minimum 'acceptable' care. Pet care should not be a question of 'Ōwhat can I get away with'Õ, and rats are certainly not appropriate pets for people who want a minimal-care pet because they require so much stimulation. If you still need convincing, consider whether you would like to spend most of your life shut in a prison cell, albeit one with home comforts, with no companionship. Of course you would love your trips out of the cell, and be very pleased to see any other creatures at all, even if they were dogs you were fond of rather than other humans. When your visitors were not around, you would have very little to do: no-one to talk to or play with , not even the distraction of watching your room-mate move around. The alternative is to share your cell with a room-mate; you can talk to them, play with them, or cuddle up to them for warmth. You would still enjoy your trips out and be pleased to see the person who gave you attention and playtime. Of course this is anthropomorphization, but it is relevant nonetheless: the relevant characteristics shared by humans and rats in this situation are the ability to be stimulated , and conversely to be bored, and the possession of a social nature. Rats may not be able to reflect on the fact that they are lonely or bored, but that doesn't stop them *being* lonely or bored. One utterly dreadful book on pet rats ('Rats' by susan Fox, published by TFH inaccurate in many respects - reviews are available) actually recommends that rats be a kept alone: Ō 'a single rat may become more devoted to you, because you are the only one with whom it can play'. This proposition is not only inaccurate, but also displays a cavalier attitude towards animal welfare which many people find morally offensive. One might question the ethics of deliberately depriving an animal of contact with its own kind, depriving it of opportunities to play, so that its only release from boredom is at the hands of its owner. Would the same practise be acceptable if applied to children? Would any sane human prevent their child from playing with other children, or ever meeting them, so that it would become more devoted to its parents? Of course a single rat is pleased to see its owner - but when a pair of rats is pleased to see you (as they always are) you know it's because they want to play with you, not because they are desperate for company and stimulation. Who would want a pet which clung to them like a deprived toddler because it was desperately lonely and pathetically grateful for any attention it got? I do not advocate animal rights, but surely a concern for animal *welfare* requires owners to consider the social needs of their pets. Harmful effects of keeping rats alone ------------------------------------- Sometimes rats kept alone develop antisocial behaviour patterns. Of course, not all single rats will do this, but it is important to be aware that keeping a rat in such an unnatural situation can have very harmful effects. A friend kept a female rat alone for around six months. Although affectionate to her owner, the rat became progressively more neurotic and possessive: any humans or other animals approaching her owner were threatened with attack. When two new female rats were introduced as companions this doe returned to her normal, friendly state; the aggressive and neurotic behaviour ceased very quickly. During January 1996, four people told me (totally unprompted) that they find bucks kept alone sometimes become introverted and withdrawn, and occasionally bad-tempered as well. Sometimes, the problem is of the opposite sort: One of my rats had to live alone until recently because he was very aggressive towards other males (and was not introduced to them when young - he was a teenager when he came to me); it was upsetting to see him sitting, staring out of the cage with nothing to do. He came out to play often, but spent the rest of the time just waiting for his next trip out. Whenever I got up in the middle of the night, Diefy would be lying on his top shelf staring vacantly out of the cage. Eventually he became hard to handle because he would get so excited whenever he came out of the cage; he was so keen to meet other rats that he would race around, trying to break into other cages to either fight or mate with the inhabitants. He calmed down noticeably when given an old, infertile female as a companion. Unfortunately it was too late for his bad behaviour to disappear entirely and so he had to be neutered. It appears that his problems resulted from a combination of his having been kept alone and having high levels of male hormones which caused aggression; I \ strongly suspect that if he had been introduced to companions at an early age, neutering would have been unnecessary. Can my rat be introduced to a companion? ---------------------------------------- Sometimes solitary confinement has to be imposed on very aggressive rats, or those with contagious diseases, which would be a danger to others. In particular, an adult male rat which is frequently used for stud and lives with females will not usually accept the company of another male. (Note that many breeders successfully use male rats at stud and still keep them with other males, by putting them with females for only a few hours to mate. In this way the rats arenever separated from their male companions for long, and so reintroductions are usually simple.) In these circumstances, the owner has little alternative to keeping the rat alone. But most rats are not a danger to others, and would greatly benefit from the companionship of another rat. It is easiest to introduce rats when they are BOTH young - preferably under 10 weeks, as at this stage they will not have established a hierarchy of dominance and so little or no fighting will occur in the introductory process. As rats get older the likelihood of fighting will increase, although this does not mean that they cannot be introduced. It is easy to introduce most female rats, even if they are older than 6 months or a year. It will take a week or two for most rats introduced as older adults (6 months plus) to settle down and there will be some fighting at first, but this is not something to worry about - after a couple of weeks they will be very happy together. Almost all rats will live happily with others; the few exceptions (like my boy) are some males who were not introduced to their cage mates at an early age AND are very aggressive. Males can often be introduced to younger males as adults, although it can take some time - ask around any group of experienced rat keepers for the best way to do this. I have compiled a file of tips on introducing rats which people have passed on to me, and can email this to you on request. Conclusion ---------- The main principle behind these arguments is that a social animal should never be kept alone without good reason, because social animals enjoy the company of others. Providing the companionship of another of its own kind is an easy way for an owner to give her pet a more fulfilling life. A social animal living alone leads a less full life than it otherwise might. Opportunities are lost which can never, for each individual animal, be replaced. This is doubly important for rats because they are so intelligent and easily bored; the best toy for a rat is another rat. The arguments above do not mean that you should immediately rush out and buy a companion for your single rat; you may feel (particularly if your rat is male) that your adult single rat would not accept a companion now. If your rat is middle-aged, you would need to buy two new rats so that one is not left alone when the older rat dies. In these cases it may well be best simply to carry on giving your rat lots of attention. If your rat has never had a companion, it does not know what it is missing. However, you may be able to improve the welfare of other pet rats by explaining to people who work in the pet care industry and prospective rat owners why rats benefit so much from company. Many people who work with animals are deeply concerned for their welfare and are keen to do whatever they can to make their animals happier; ensuring that pet rats have company is one simple way in which this can be achieved. Angela Horn (formerly King) From: GROVE::UDTY075 "Angela Horn" 27-JAN-1997 17:27:32.27 To: udty075 CC: Subj: Re: The Best Pet? Rats : Sorry to bang on about this, but it really is important. Please, please, : never get 'a' rat; they can get really, really miserable when kept in : solitary confinement. Happy animals make better pets. Rats are very : different to Syrian (Golden) hamsters - they need the company of their : own kind. It doesn't matter how much you play with then, or how big : the cage is; they need another rat to play with, to groom them, to : sleep in a big heap with, to communicate with, and just for companionship : all the way through the night when no humans are about and the rat is alone, : or during the day when you're at work or school. As a testimonial, I wanted to add that I've seen this in action... Peri and Tegan have been together for about a year, and recently Peri has undergone two operations (one for an abscess under her jaw, the other to remove a mammary tumor the size of a walnut), and had to be kept in her own cage for a week for recovery. When she was healed up (from the abscess - she's still reuperating from the tumor) and I put her back in the same cage as Tegan, whenever Peri would stop moving, Tegan would come over and drape herself over Peri's back, as if to say, "You're not leaving me again!!!" Since they've been split up this second time, Tegan seems very edgy and not as cuddly as she was before. Two are just as easy to keep as one, and they are much, much happier that way. Tirya (and Tegan and Peri) -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The / Tirya \ Kungaloosh! | | Gryphon's / tirya@wwa.com \ A.C. 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