When I was in high school, I enrolled in a vocational agriculture program which is an agriculture science and technology program broken up into sections such as aquaculture, plant science, agriculture technology and animal science. I, naturally, with my interest in veterinary medicine at the time, leaned more towards the animal science portion of the program.

This program is how I discovered rats as more than the animals you find roaming around in sewers and empty train stations. As part of our class, we conducted an experiment about how different kinds of animal food affected a rat’s growth within a matter of weeks. As an animal lover, being presented this little black and white hooded rat not much bigger than the size of my thumb was both exhilarating and terrifying. I was now responsible for this little being, this little life who couldn’t take care of itself. After only moments with my little rat, I named her Precious because that’s exactly what she was.

As the experiment went on, our class watched our little rats grow and I believe we all learned a new appreciation for the under appreciated animal. By the end of the experiment, we were given the option to leave our rats in the vocational agriculture building or to take them home. Surprisingly when I went home and told my mom about the experiment and asked if I could bring Precious home, she was on board 100 percent. Sure, she had her mixed feelings about bringing a rat into her home, but I told her she needed to experience Precious like I had every day in our class for her to understand how amazing rats are as pets.

The first day Precious was home, my mom was hooked. She held Precious, at that point she was the length of a hand, and could see why I named her as such. I didn’t know if it happened with all pet rats, but Precious had this way of holding onto your fingers and licking them. My mom called them little kisses and I knew Precious had stolen her heart just as she had mine.

Rats get a bad reputation just because they’re identified as rodents and how they’re stereotyped as such. But if you stop looking at them as rodents and look at them as a pet, just like you would a cat or dog, anyone would be able to love them just as much.

I had grown up with many pets: cats, dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, chinchillas - you name it and it probably made it’s way into my house. But I must say, having a rat was something I had never experienced with any other pet before. Precious was always happy to have me pick her up and place her on my shoulder and that’s where she would stay as long as I wanted her to; whether I was just walking downstairs to get a glass of water, or if I was sitting in bed reading a book. Precious had a way of nesting herself on my shoulder and contently staying there no matter what I did. And never once was Precious vicious towards my mother, or me; she’d never bitten either of us, even when we were feeding her Cheerios as snacks.

Unfortunately, Precious died of a tumor growth in her belly, which is common for rats, which is why their lifespan is only about two to three years, though if they don’t get a tumor, they can last much longer. I was surprised how upset I got when she died, I cried for days anytime I thought about her.

My mother, believe it or not, was more affected than I was. When I moved away to Maine for college, she felt lonely without me and then without Precious. So to my surprise, when she FaceTimed me one day, she was in a pet store and asked me to help her pick out two new rats that she was going to take home. I hadn’t known the impact Precious had on our family until I realized things just weren’t the same without having a rat around.

So before you say that rats are gross and that they wouldn’t make a good pet, go see one in a pet store. Hold it close to you and see how quickly you’ll fall in love!