Brooklyn Cat Cafe Employs Rats To Care For Kittens - General

[video=youtube;PAs_-zXvpYo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAs_-zXvpYo[/video] On the one hand, this is cool and cute as fuck. On the other hand, I learnt about kitty cancer. :frown:

I wonder if the rats just think of the cats as other, larger rats, and vice-versa, or if they actually realize the difference between them

I really want to get a fancy rat. Everyone keeps saying that they only live 2 years to put me off but goddamnit they're adorable.

[QUOTE=Rixxz2;52607615]I wonder if the rats just think of the cats as other, larger rats, and vice-versa, or if they actually realize the difference between them[/QUOTE] I imagine that, due to the way they're raised, it doesn't end up mattering. In nature, the "division" is (presumably) commonplace. But in controlled environments, where the young are allowed to interact with different animals, the hostility isn't really there. There are plenty of examples of this beyond the Brooklyn cat cafe. There have been dogs raised as cats, cats raised as dogs, a momma cat who raised a squirrel, and the list goes on. But one notable example is a certain trio living in the Noah's Ark Sanctuary. A lion, a tiger, and a bear, once kept by a drug dealer in Atlanta back when they were cubs. To this day, they live together in the same enclosure, still the best of friends. It all goes to show that family isn't in the genes: when the mind is young and pliant enough, family is in the memes, the ideas we have and the connections we make. At such a young age, differences don't get in the way of connections since we aren't really wired that way yet. And thus love, the most transcendent of memes, wins out.

[QUOTE=Weirdness;52607892]I really want to get a fancy rat. Everyone keeps saying that they only live 2 years to put me off but goddamnit they're adorable.[/QUOTE] Yeah, that's the only reason I haven't gotten one. That's just too short for me.

[QUOTE=ironman17;52607945]I imagine that, due to the way they're raised, it doesn't end up mattering. In nature, the "division" is (presumably) commonplace. But in controlled environments, where the young are allowed to interact with different animals, the hostility isn't really there. There are plenty of examples of this beyond the Brooklyn cat cafe. There have been dogs raised as cats, cats raised as dogs, a momma cat who raised a squirrel, and the list goes on. [B]But one notable example is a certain trio living in the Noah's Ark Sanctuary. A lion, a tiger, and a bear, once kept by a drug dealer in Atlanta back when they were cubs. To this day, they live together in the same enclosure, still the best of friends. [/B] It all goes to show that family isn't in the genes: when the mind is young and pliant enough, family is in the memes, the ideas we have and the connections we make. At such a young age, differences don't get in the way of connections since we aren't really wired that way yet. And thus love, the most transcendent of memes, wins out.[/QUOTE] Tiger passed away less than a year ago.:( My gf and I volunteered at that sanctuary earlier this year. The other two still aren't quite over the death of their brother.

rats are amazing chubby babies that are as smart as friggin' dogs but they live such short lives because of their selection shadow the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long :<

[QUOTE=Rixxz2;52607615]I wonder if the rats just think of the cats as other, larger rats, and vice-versa, or if they actually realize the difference between them[/QUOTE] Rats are actually very, very intelligent. They can form bonds with not only each other, but other humans very easily. They have a very, very strong sense of empathy. There have been lab tests where one rat was set "free" outside of an enclosure of another rat, and more often than not, they would try and free the other one, even at their own peril. More recent tests with rats and other animals they've raised together show the same behavior. [editline]24th August 2017[/editline] Rats are absolutely wonderful little animals, but don't think mice are the same way whatsoever. They are completely different in both behavior and intelligence. Mice suck, rats are cool.

If rats weren't totally banned in my province, I'd adopt a couple in a hearbeat

Yeah, pet rats are awesome. My friend from up north and her two sisters have had tons of the little critters over the years. They just got three more a few months ago, and the youngest sister posts photos on Facebook every once in a while.

[QUOTE=Weirdness;52607892]I really want to get a fancy rat. Everyone keeps saying that they only live 2 years to put me off but goddamnit they're adorable.[/QUOTE] Depends hugely on the variety, my mom used to keep pet rats and two of them lived to just over 5 years, one was a Rex and the other was a Satin, both had lovely fur, especially the Rex, hers was really soft because that variety lacks something described as guard hairs, which tend to make the fur coats more rough feeling. Really social animals and hilariously smart, they used to keep letting themselves out of their cage because they figured out how the little metal clip works very quickly, since then they were basically left to just roam around with the cage just being the litter tray essentially. [editline]24th August 2017[/editline] Thing I find that puts people off domesticated rats is the stigma that they're dirty animals, when they're really not (no worse than a cat or a dog) and their tails.

[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;52608395]Rats are actually very, very intelligent. They can form bonds with not only each other, but other humans very easily. They have a very, very strong sense of empathy. There have been lab tests where one rat was set "free" outside of an enclosure of another rat, and more often than not, they would try and free the other one, even at their own peril. More recent tests with rats and other animals they've raised together show the same behavior. [editline]24th August 2017[/editline] Rats are absolutely wonderful little animals, but don't think mice are the same way whatsoever. They are completely different in both behavior and intelligence. Mice suck, rats are cool.[/QUOTE] They also like being tickled and even seem capable of some form of laughter.

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;52608835]They also like being tickled and even seem capable of some form of laughter.[/QUOTE] [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-84UJpYFRM"]Context.[/URL]

Though sadly, I suspect you wouldn't have as nice a response if you tried to tickle a Skaven. ...then again, I suspect that no-one in Warhammer Fantasy has ever attempted to tickle a Skaven, so we don't know for sure. For all we know, that would be the key to recruiting juvenile Skaven into an army of Order.

[QUOTE=ironman17;52609915]Though sadly, I suspect you wouldn't have as nice a response if you tried to tickle a Skaven. ...then again, I suspect that no-one in Warhammer Fantasy has ever attempted to tickle a Skaven, so we don't know for sure. For all we know, that would be the key to recruiting juvenile Skaven into an army of Order.[/QUOTE] They're usually too busy tickling each other... with daggers.