Rats can be very cool! I at one time, had 4 rats as pets, 2 hooded, one brown, one beige. At the same time that I had these rats I also had 6 cats residing in the house. When it was time to clean the rat cage we would take them out of their really big cage ( a converted jewlery display case) and put them on the couch. While we cleaned their cage out the cats would come around sniffing. Each cat would slowly crawl up to the couch to sniff the rats one at a time.. when the rats got curious and came up to sniff a cats face the cats would dart away terrified. We though it was hilarous! as much as they were curious they were afraid of the rats. Never once did they try to pounce or eat. Too cute. I miss the rats. The down side to owning rodents, they dont last very long so u end up with tears and heartache very soon after getting used to them!