# Exotic pet owners beware – pet rats, guniea pigs and other rodents may harbour d



## RatBastard (Mar 23, 2011)

WOW, I just came across the story and figured I would share it. Kind of worrisome if you ask me. Please post your responses and let me know what you all think. Please dont comment unless you take the time to read the whole article. I am a ratty owner myself and this scares me.
http://www.pestcontrol-perth.com/rodents/pet-rats-may-harbour-deadly-fever/


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

That's a pest control site  lol Cats and dogs, which no one questions because they are "normal" pets actually carry far more zoonotic diseases than rats, many of which are quite serious and can be deadly. I did not read the article but I assume it is about rat bite fever? If so, it is so rare that you have far better chances of being struck by lightning, and if you do catch it, it is treatable in most cases (like with any disease, those with immune problems and children are more susceptible).


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## RatBastard (Mar 23, 2011)

Yea I know but thats why I said to read the article, its not that long. They are not saying that rats aren't normal pets, quite the opposite and they also touch on the cat and dog issue. The statistics of the study are small as you stated it is easier to get hit by lightening but all of us should be aware considering we all get scratches, urine and saliva on us all the time when we play with our rats, it isnt just from bites and most cases go unreported. All though I dont beleive it the story in this article says the girl sais she was never scratched or bitten but only played with and cleaned the rats cage. Read the article


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

I didn't not read the article because it is "too long." Many of us don't like to click on links that look less than legit. Also, I've already researched RBF from valid scientific journals so I doubt it has anything new to me in it.

I didn't say that site said rats aren't normal pets, I said RBF gets an disproportional amount of press because it is rats, which is important to keep in mind. People also panic a lot more about rat diseases. I mentioned how rare it is to assure you because you said you are scared. It seemed like you might not know since most people don't feel afraid for the diseases their cats, dogs, etc can give them.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Rat bite fever is VERY rare. I wouldn't worry, especially as they couldn't spell "guniea" pigs correctly LOLOLOL


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

lilspaz68 said:


> Rat bite fever is VERY rare. I wouldn't worry, especially as they couldn't spell "guniea" pigs correctly LOLOLOL


maybe it's a new species? guniea pigs LOL


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## Ratfever (May 6, 2011)

RBF is very rare and I would hardly ever freak out over a pet rat biting me, and I've never been bitten by my ratties, as I've never given them a reason to. I'd worry more about a dog, then I ever would a rat.

The reason rats have such a bad rep is that they were said to carry plague, when truly it was the mites and fleas that were infected, and these creatures could be harbored by any hairy creature. The issue was that human's lived terribly then, and were often around rats... Sorry to go a bit off topic, but I hate to see ratties catching all the hate over diseases when they are in fact very clean animals.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

wasn't even brown norway rats that carried it, it was black city rats which are a completely different species :


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## wheeljack (Mar 17, 2011)

All animals are capable of transmitting diseases to humans.
When that animal is an exotic it tends to get blown way out of proportion because so much of the populace is afraid of many exotic pets. Parrot fever from birds, rat bite fever from rats, tularemia from rabbits and salmonella from herps--actual documented infections are far lower than all these inflammatory articles would have you believe.

The particular link referenced was discussed on another site and no one was able to find a single reputable source corroborating his possible 1 in 10 fatality number.

Just be sensible handling ANY animal and you'll be fine. If you get a scratch or bite, clean it. Clean your hands after cleaning out the cage before you eat and follow other basic tenants of hygiene and unless you have an issue with your immune system you'll likely never have an issue.

fwiw: I've owned rats, cats and dogs for the last 20 years. 
0 cases of catching anything from dogs
0 cases of catching anything from the rats
Multiple cases of catching ringworm from the cats


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## HuncaMunca (Dec 29, 2010)

I completely agree with the other statements above. I remember reading something quite recently about how sleeping with your dogs or cats could kill you. It was beyond ridiculous, the very few instances they referenced were so extreme it was laughable. Like a toddler sleeping with a flea infested cat, and a woman letting her dog lick an open wound on her foot while she slept.

I read the article, and alot of it was old news to me. Taking regular sanitary precautions should be enough, I've never felt any animal I've had to be a disease threat. But I should also add that I'm very pro-germ, few microbes scare me off lol.


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## RatBastard (Mar 23, 2011)

Thanks for all of the replies! The thing that worried me the most was the fact it comes from th saliva and urine. Whenever I play with my ratties they are always scratching me when they climb on my hands. They sleep in their litter pans sometimes, have urine and feces under their nails and then I get scratched, I do wash my hands but not until Im done playing with them. They never have bitten me or even showed any sign of wanting to bite, they will take food from my fingers and just touch down enough to know whats food and whats finger. They like when I hold my hand over their head and pet their sides with my thumb, they like to lick the inside of my hand while I do this and now Im worried about the saliva. I have also had my ratties sneeze right in my face and felt the particles hit my mouth, eyes , and face! YUK!! But I love them. Thanks for the re assuring posts although I am hypochondriac they help. I will also look into the spelling of guinea pig too, I can see where an article can lose credibility because of mis spellings.


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## sorraia (Nov 10, 2007)

The chances of getting sick from a PET are extremely small. 

I am a field biologist, I work outside in dirt all day, handle wild animals (that are not vaccinated and are living outside in all the muck and yuck), and haven't even gotten sick from them. Any person is infinitely more likely to get sick from a wild animal than a pet.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

Hahha, I read it- totally laughable.

I've been bitten, and HARD, by my pet rats. I have had both tame and wild mice draw blood on me and have has blood drawn by the claws of a rooster- covered in feces. I didn't get sick from any of these incidents. I also share food with my rats, even letting them drink off the same straws as I do. The risk is low or I would have gotten sick by now.

The chances of getting ill from rat bites, especially pet rats, is low. They are quite safe to have as pets. As someone else pointed out- exotics get a bad rap. I've kept plenty of herps and -le gasp- been bitten by them. I did not get salmonella. I've had blood drawn by parrots, and did not get parrot fever. I kept a starlig as a pet and did not get sick from it, and he died because my mother believed the neighbor who said I would. I've also had rabbits, and never got sick.

I have however had my life threatened by a bacterial infection from the saliva of a cat. The infection had overwhelmed my hand and started up my wrist by the time I got to the hospital, and was in danger of getting into my blood stream. I am still alive, thanks to intravenous antibiotics, a mild surgery, and some very large pills, and I managed to keep my hand in one peice. 

Seriously, even if by some weird happening you got sick, modern medicine could probably fix it just as easily as they did my cat bite.


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## halfmoon (Mar 29, 2010)

I handle all three of my rats on a daily basis. I've had rats for about a year and a half now, and I've not gotten sick once from them. They always scratch me with their claws when they're climbing all over me and I've been bitten pretty good (down to the bone) twice. They're boys, so I'm sure you know they're not the cleanest. : I'm immunocompromised, so I think if I haven't caught anything yet then there's probably less chance of a healthy person catching it.


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## bassrox75 (Jun 6, 2011)

soo while we're on the topic of cats and dogs carrying diseases...
my friends cat escaped one day and when i went to grab him and put him back in the house the cat flipped out and the result was a pretty decent puncture wound on the back of my had from a bite. in under 24 hours the wound became incredibly infected and of course after visiting the doctor i was given a tetanus shot, a heavy dose of antibiotics (in shot form) and also two a day heavy duty antibiotics for around 10-12 days. any animal that is capable of biting can cause problems of some sort. just sayin'...


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

bassrox75 said:


> soo while we're on the topic of cats and dogs carrying diseases...
> my friends cat escaped one day and when i went to grab him and put him back in the house the cat flipped out and the result was a pretty decent puncture wound on the back of my had from a bite. in under 24 hours the wound became incredibly infected and of course after visiting the doctor i was given a tetanus shot, a heavy dose of antibiotics (in shot form) and also two a day heavy duty antibiotics for around 10-12 days. any animal that is capable of biting can cause problems of some sort. just sayin'...


That includes humans, humans have some nasty mouth germs. And an infected wound is not a disease, you can get an infected wound from ANYTHING, a cat, a human, a rusty nail, a NOT rusty nail LOL


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

the "dirtiest mouths" are cats and humans...they can cause real nasty infections. Rats are nowhere near that.


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## A.ngelF.eathers (Jul 6, 2011)

I was snorting when I found out it's a pest-control site.

This made me chuckle and roll my eyes: 

"A disease associated with squalor could be on the increase in suburban homes because more people are keeping rodents as pets, warns an Australian microbiologist."

I stopped there.
Because I'm done with people in general associating rats with squalor.


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