Some might consider me eccentric. I have 2 female cats, Georgie (a female tuxedo cat) and Sterling (a gray long-hair). I also have an adorable female beige/white hooded RAT named Valentine. Now people understand cats, but no one understands my love for rats. Poor rats have a bad reputation, ever since the plague, and the movie, "Ben". What some people don't understand is that domestic rats are highly intelligent, sweet little creatures! They are as friendly as can be, and you can even train them to do tricks.
Now, Valentine is just "one of the cats". Georgie is her new BFF. :)
I've had many rats over the years...Minnie, Cricket, Cocoa, Coffee, Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Apple, Kiwi, Velvet, and Valentine. I even rehabilitated a wild rat, named Chocolate. Each rat had a different personality. I loved each one. but Valentine is different...she is a free spirit, and her friendship knows no bounds. Her natural enemy is her best pal. :)
A couple months ago, Velvet, my senior hairless rat, and Valentine lived a happy life together. They would snuggle together, and play all the time. 
Velvet hated the cats, and would try to scare the cats away from getting too close to the cage. He was not about to socialize with anyone except Valentine. He barely tolerated me!
Valentine was different. When Valentine was a tiny little baby, I would take Valentine out and put her on Georgie's back.
Surprisingly, Georgie didn't seem to mind! What I didn't know at the time was that a friendship was being formed between Valentine and Georgie. Georgie would even sleep near the rat cage to be close to Valentine.
When Velvet began getting old and frail, Valentine took to escaping from her cage.
I once woke up in the middle of the night to find her in my bed with me! She would squeeze through the bars of her cage to explore the house and play with my cats, Georgie and Sterling.
When poor Velvet passed away, the escaping became more frequent. Valentine was small at the time, and there was not much that I could do to prevent her from getting out of her cage! I'd have to wait until she could no longer squeeze through!
In just a couple of weeks, Valentine grew bigger, and could no longer fit through the bars. Phew! However, I didn't have the heart to keep her locked up all the time. Now, I let her out to free roam for a few hours every day. That was when the FRIENDSHIP between Georgie and Valentine blossomed!
