To think pet rats don't belong in coffee shops?

[Rowena191]

I was a bit gobsmacked today in the queue in a coffee shop. The young woman in front of me was wearing a baby sling and out crawled a pet rat, which ran up and down her arm and had a good sniff about. It didn't poo, wee, bite anyone or run on the counter tops. But all the same I felt creeped out. Rats are not what I am expecting in an establishment serving food. I didn't say anything as frankly I was too shocked.

Was I being unreasonable and pet rats are fine? (I do think pet rats are fine if kept in your own home.) Should I have said something to her? Should I have complained to the manager? Plenty of people bring in dogs after all.

Ones that run around in sewers etc yeah. But in a cage at home, surely waaaay cleaner than any dog!

No pets or any pet that is in control of their owner.

Loads of people are scared of dogs but they are expected to just get over it...

A rat on the floor in a cafe will get the cafe into trouble, and they will be closed down until it is sorted.
A rat on someone's shoulder? Not the same?
I find it hard to understand TBH.
Dogs need to get out for walks, they need socialising, and a well rounded and happy dog is used to places like cafes.
Rats don't need to be out and about at all.

Easy solution to the problem - allow pet cats in as well 😃

More hygienic than a dog, and I love rats, but no I don't think either animal should be in food establishments.

I quite like pet rats, but they do wee constantly so aren't hygienic at all.

If I were the rat owner I'd not have taken it at all for fear of it getting hurt.

Also, was there a baby in the sling or was it for the rat?!

DGM used to have a neighbour about 30 years ago that wore a slightly odd looking leather collar on all her outfits. Or at least that's what DGM thought until the day she was behind her in the post office and the 'collar' untucked it's head from under its wing and was revealed to be a massive fruit bat!

that is so random 😂

But I suppose technically a pet rat is cleaner than a dog - and I have a dog. If you allow one, I don't know on what ground you'd ban the other.

Some people don't like rats, some people are scared by dogs.

It doesn't look great for the coffee shop to have a sign banning rodents, it could be misunderstood easily

I'd prefer not to have any pets in coffee shops, cafes etc

but rats aren't dirty. they are very clean animals. Also friendly, intelligent, loyal and very loving. I had rats for years and they make amazing pets.

They just don't belong in cafes.

They also aren't incontinent. Mice are (had them too.) Rats aren't. They can even be litter trained.

Then take it to the woods. Not a cafe for humans, where many of us don't want to encounter your dog.

It wouldn’t bother me but understand it might other people. So YANBU in my eyes

I don't think people should take any animal, other than themselves, into a food place, or any shop. It's very attention-seeking, and selfish.

I totally can believe this happened. I knew a guy who took his pet snake out and about, including on the school run (the school did have words with him and he stopped), and in cafes. He was a total exhibitionist. So I can totally see people taking rats and whatever into a shop/cafe. Not as bad as dogs, which are way worse to me (allergies, plus they are more bitey, and smell worse than rats).

Some cafes allow dogs, so someone taking their dog there is doing nothing wrong.
My dog goes in cafes with me... mainly when we are on holiday as you can't leave them in the accommodation. And a cafe tends to be the end of our walk. She literally just sleeps under the table. If a dog sleeping under a table offends someone so much, especially when the dog is allowed to do so, then the person offended by that is the one with the problem.

My point was that rats are different as a rat in a cafe would normally close the place down.

if you dislike or don't want to see dogs, you don't need to go a "dog-friendly" cafe, it's not difficult.

Sadly it increasingly is - they are everywhere these days.

You care nothing for those of us with allergies? Selfish.

They carry more zoonotic diseases and are more likely to pass them on than dogs (what with the weeing/pooing everywhere)

i heard of an elderly couple both hospitalised with leptospirosis after rescuing a stray rat

This.

So many people hate dogs on Mumsnet. It seems to be a thing here that isn’t reflected in normal life (well not here which is quite rural, everyone is used to and tolerates dogs here).

Your health conditions are yours to manage.
If you go into a dog friendly place, and moan about dogs, then you are the selfish one.

Yuck, i hate rats. One of ds's friends called to the door once with his two pet rats in his arms. I didn't let him in.

I had rats, mice and guinea pigs as a child. They lived in palatial pens, courtesy of my long-suffering father. One guinea pig used to ride around with me on my bicycle, He was in the basket, which was covered by one of my mother's net stockings.
Later in life, I had a lovely pet rat, that someone had abandoned. He used to accompany me in the forward pocket of my sailing smock.

Now I have The Devil Cat, so no more rodents!

I smell a rat with the OP, as they not come back 😄

Id far rather a pet rat than dogs in a cafe. It didn't touch anything so what harm was done?

Just wouldn't bother me as long as the rat didn't look distressed in any way .

The last time I was in aldi I saw a man with a parrot on his shoulder, whats the point of bringing it, why couldn't he leave it at home? Another day a met a man with a hawk on his arm, in a housing estate! I assume he was taking it somewhere to exercise it.