{"id":4727,"date":"2026-07-27T15:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T20:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/?p=4727"},"modified":"2026-07-27T15:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T20:31:07","slug":"pet-rats-and-odor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/pet-rats-and-odor\/","title":{"rendered":"Pet Rats And Odor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"cute
A healthy, well-cared-for pet rat rarely emits an unpleasant odor. \u00a9Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wild rats will likely be synonymous with filth and disease until the end of time, but domesticated rats don\u2019t deserve this label. They are different than their wild cousins and are actually very clean animals who don\u2019t carry or spread diseases. Sadly, the general population doesn\u2019t seem to distinguish this difference. Many people assume that anything negative about wild rats must also be true of our pets.<\/p>\n

Misunderstandings like this leave rat lovers having to debunk a lot of myths<\/a>. It also leads to a lot of questions about pet rats and their hygiene. Such as, does being clean and disease-free actually equal smell-free? Well, no, not exactly. I mean, they are still animals, so of course they\u2019re capable of smelling bad sometimes. Heck, we humans even stink up our own habitats. In reality, the answer to this question is much more nuanced, and I have a fair amount to share about rats and their odor.<\/p>\n

Know The Main Odor Sources<\/h3>\n
\"a
A poorly maintained cage can be a major source of odor. \u00a9Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If your rats are stinking up your home, that\u2019s the sign that it\u2019s past time to clean their cage. The cage is always going to be the main culprit when it comes to odors because it also serves as your rats\u2019 toilet. But this is definitely manageable. You just need to set up a system that works for you and stick to a cleaning schedule. In my article, \u201cResolve To Keep Your Rats\u2019 Habitat Cleaner,\u201d<\/a> I give timetables for different levels of cleaning, along with tips for making the process easier and less taxing.<\/p>\n

There are other factors that can worsen the cage\u2019s aroma as well. For instance, the number of rats you have. Two rats stink it up far less quickly than say, five or eight of them (the latter being my highest amount at once). Living in a particularly small home or apartment can make odors seem more pungent, as can overly humid environments. I live in a dry state that sees little rain, but whenever it does rain, scents from all of our pets instantly become much more noticeable.<\/p>\n

Your rats\u2019 gender<\/a> may also have an effect. Boys are notoriously less discriminating than females when it comes to marking their living space. In my experience, boys also are less disciplined at using a litter box. Some males also enjoy \u201cmarinating<\/a>\u201d in their own urine, which is gross. This does not mean that all male rats smell worse or that females are guaranteed to be cleaner, because it really depends on the individual rats. But what it does mean is that some rats may create a little more work for you than others.<\/p>\n

How Pet Rats \u201cDeodorize\u201d<\/h3>\n
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Rats are champions at self-grooming! \u00a9Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sure, rats may mark you or objects in their vicinity, and yes some of them do enjoy \u201cmarinating\u201d, but they are quite the meticulous little groomers<\/a>. They will spend hours, collectively, each day cleaning every one of their nooks and crannies. It\u2019s even common for them to immediately groom themselves after being touched by their owners, as if we<\/em> made them dirty. Their constant cleaning means they rarely need a bath<\/a> and can usually get by with just a wipe down from a damp paper towel or unscented baby wipes. Their tails may need some extra attention<\/a>, however, they are truly terrible about keeping those clean.<\/p>\n

Their obsessive grooming works as a natural deodorizer. In fact, it allows their natural smell<\/a> to shine through. The intact males are known for smelling like warm corn tortillas or tortilla chips, and females and neutered males are usually scented like flowery grape soda. How can you not love that?<\/p>\n

Be Alert For Warning Odors<\/h3>\n
\"white
Once we suspected Kelton had diabetes, I had to test his urine throughout the day with glucose urine strips for pets to see what his numbers were showing. To get a urine sample I had to put him in a small cage with absolutely nothing in it that could absorb the urine. He often slept. \u00a9Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are some body odors that aren\u2019t pleasant, however, and if your rat has one or suddenly develops one, it\u2019s time to get your rat to the vet. The specific smell and where on the body it\u2019s coming from are clues to an underlying health issue that has yet to fully announce itself.<\/p>\n

Here are the warning smells I\u2019m most familiar with:<\/p>\n

A foul, almost rotting odor can be an indication of a bacterial infection, a yeast infection, an abscess, or even cancer. The minute I noticed a rotting scent like this coming from my boy Brinley\u2019s ear, I panicked. I had hoped it would be a treatable infection, but it turned out to be my worst fear, a Zymbal\u2019s gland tumor<\/a>, which is an invasive carcinoma. It was causing an abscess to form and leak into Brinley\u2019s ear canal.<\/p>\n

A sickly, sweet-smelling urine can be a sign of diabetes, especially if there\u2019s a white, calcium-looking residue left after the urine dries. Noticing this smell on my boy Kelton is how I learned rats can get diabetes in the first place.<\/p>\n

Strong or mildly unpleasant odors coming from your rat\u2019s genitals can indicate a urinary tract infection<\/a>, kidney stones, or a vesical proteinaceous plug<\/a> (also known as a penis plug), which can cause a UTI and other serious problems. Age isn\u2019t always a factor, but these problems tend to arise more in elderly rats, especially if they have hind leg degeneration. When my boys turned 2, I always started doing sniff tests on them to check for penis plugs. They have a very specific scent, which I don\u2019t know how to describe, but once you smell it, you\u2019ll always spot it.<\/p>\n

Tracking A Mysterious, Hideous Odor<\/h3>\n
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Poor nutrition can cause pet rats to develop unpleasant body odor, so always feed quality food. \u00a9Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One warning odor deserves a section all its own. I\u2019ve come across it a few times in different pairs of rats that I adopted. The only way I can think of to describe it is as a sort of rancid poop smell, I guess. It is not a normal poop smell at all, but rather, an otherworldly one. Frankly, it\u2019s terrible.<\/p>\n

And this stench doesn\u2019t come from just their feces, it comes from their entire body! It\u2019s almost like it oozes out of their pores. I could never find anything explaining what I was smelling or what was causing it, even my vet was stumped.<\/p>\n

I was suddenly forced to play detective, and I decided to analyze what each of these rats had in common: They were all adopted with cagemates and each one of them smelled like this. Each one arrived at my home with the smell, it didn\u2019t develop later. Each group had been rescued from poor living conditions, some had even been abandoned outdoors. They all had soft, mushy poos. And a bath did absolutely nothing to improve the stink because their fur wasn\u2019t actually dirty.<\/p>\n

I finally surmised that these rats were suffering from gut problems due to malnutrition and neglect. What they needed was a proper diet and something to help heal their gut flora. On top of a good feeding routine, I put them all on Bene-Bac Plus, which is a probiotic and prebiotic supplement designed to help with digestion in pets.<\/p>\n

Within a month or two, every one of these odiferous rats began smelling like their natural aroma of corn tortillas or flowery grape soda, just as they should. Thank goodness, too, because, wow, it was difficult to be around them.<\/p>\n

If you come across an odor like this and your rat has come from some difficult situation, I feel pretty confident it\u2019s a gut issue. But definitely talk to your vet as well to rule out intestinal parasites. Two of my stinkies had those, too, and needed to be on medication to get rid of those. But it wasn\u2019t until they were given the Bene-Bac that their nasty funk went away.<\/p>\n

Comparing Rat Odor And Odors Of Some Other Pets<\/h3>\n
\"dog
Our dog, Juno, is the only dog I’ve ever met who has good breath. \u00a9Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re curious whether rats are less stinky than other pet choices, I think the answer is subjective and, subsequently, depends on the individual asking.<\/p>\n

For instance, I have hyperosmia, which means I\u2019m overly sensitive to smells and keenly aware of the bad ones. I\u2019m what you\u2019d call a \u201csuper smeller.\u201d My husband, who has a terrible sense of smell, says it\u2019s my superpower. I, however, consider it a curse. And there isn\u2019t a pet out there that I don\u2019t find malodorous at times. My deep love for animals and the need to have them in my life is the only reason I\u2019m able to tolerate bringing their unpleasant odors into my home.<\/p>\n

Being able to smell everything makes it difficult for me to judge how others might perceive rat odors compared to those of other pets. So, I\u2019m just going to explain how I\u2019d rank the different animals we\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n

I find cats to be one of the least smelly animals. My son\u2019s cat, Vertigo, has the loveliest scent, despite never being bathed. She just naturally has a clean and fragrant aroma. But when you add her litter box to the equation, then my opinion of cats changes completely. The ammonia in cat urine is utterly overwhelming for me. It causes me excruciating sinus pain and headaches as it builds up in their litter box. For as much as I enjoy cats, I\u2019m not sure I would get another one in the future.<\/p>\n

Aside from being a rat person through and through, I also love dogs. To me, every house should have one. I also appreciate that their toilet area is outside and not in my house. Since our dog, Juno, never has accidents indoors, this gives her an advantage in the \u201cwhich pet smells better\u201d category. But, and this is a huge one for me, I think dog fur generally smells awful. And because I\u2019m not physically up to giving Juno baths regularly, she\u2019s not allowed on the couch or any of my blankets. Plus, I feel an immediate need to wash my hands after petting her. Otherwise, all I smell is \u201cdog.\u201d I\u2019ve never felt this way about rats; their fur doesn\u2019t leave behind a funk.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also never recoiled from the smell of rat breath on my face the way I do with dogs. Bad rat breath is just not a thing, which is great since they like to be up in your face a lot. Thankfully, Juno spends 70% of her day chewing on one of her many, many toys, which keeps her teeth and gums in great condition. She is the first dog we\u2019ve ever had whose breath doesn\u2019t smell like death, so she personally gets a pass on this one. But other dogs don\u2019t!<\/p>\n

The most pungent of all our pets was the ferrets. But they\u2019re related to skunks, so being odiferous is just something you have to accept if you want a pet like that. Oddly enough, I became fairly nose blind to their musky odor. Although, anyone visiting our house did not.<\/p>\n

I would love it if there was an animal who was completely odor-free, but who are we kidding? So, if I had to choose, my preference would be for whatever odor rats come with. And that says a lot when you\u2019re forced to go through life being tortured by your nose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pet rats naturally have minimal odor associated with them, but learn what odors can occur if their environment isn’t maintained or a health issue arises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":4732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rat","category-rat-health"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4727"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4743,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4727\/revisions\/4743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}