are rats incontinent?

Question

Me and my other half want a pet rat but he says that they "can't control themselves". Is this true or is he imagining things?

Answer 1

"Can't control themselves" is open to interpretation, but usually spoken by those people who find rats disgusting. Some people have even gone so far as to drum up the myth that rats don't even have bladders. Most certainly untrue as rats get bladder infections, bladder calculi, bladder stones, and bladder cancer
http://ratguide.com/mt/mt-search.cgi?search=bladder

The medical definition of incontinence
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003142.htm
only pertains to the rat if it is very old, in which case they get the same kind of incontinence as the old dog, or the old cat.
http://www.animed.org/dogs_urinary_incontinence.htm
Or there is a birth defect, or health problem, involving nerve damage, that leads to incontinence in the rat.

The reason that rats urinate so much has nothing to do with incontinence. The myth of rats not being able to control themselves came about because rats mark their territory with urine and feces as they explore their surroundings. This helps them keep a scent-marked path that they can safely use over and over again. It's a survival throw-back to their wild cousins.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=rat+behavior+marking+territory&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%3ASearch&p=rat+behavior+marking+territory

Rats do have "stress urination/defecation". This is the new rat who's new owners complain about them pooping and peeing on them when they are first being handled.

Rats also have "submissive urination". When two rats are squabbling, one is pinned down by the more dominant rat and the pinned rat pees in submission.

Kudos to you for doing your homework and asking questions before you get your rats. As with any research on getting pets, if this habit is unpleasant to you, then rats might not be your best choice.

In their favor, rats can be litter-trained. In some cases a well- trained rat can be encouraged to use his/her litterbox just before he/she comes out to play with his/her owner.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=litter+training+rats&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%3ASearch&p=litter+training+rats

I would like to invite you to join my group, Holistarat, where other expert rat-keepers can answer all of your ratty questions.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/holistarat

spazrats
"my life has gone to the rats"

Answer 2

Not imagining things, just getting confused

Incontinence is a lack of sphincter control. Rats are not medically incontinent - they just don't really care where they pee tho! They can actually be litter trained, as can rabbits, and hamsters to a certain extent. You just put all their poos in one place, like away from their food and bed, and they usually get the message. Honest, I've seen it done!

Chalice