neighbors pet rat

Question
My daughter was invited to play at neighbors house this afternoon. The other girl had her two pet rats outside. When my daughtergot home, I discovered multple welts from scratches on her arms, and some puncture marks from claws on her legs. She also told me that one of the rats had urinated on her. She then admitted that she was told that one of  the rats was sick. I cleaned all the marks with hot soapy water, alcolhol, and first aid cream for scratches and cuts. The other girls mother says rats are absolutely safe, no comment. Is this true, or is there anything I should watch out for besides normal animal scratch infection?

Answer
The other girl's mother is correct as far as domesticated "pet" rats do not carry diseases that can be passed onto humans.  So unless your daughter is allergic to fur, I wouln't worry.  Pet rats are socialized and generally don't bite (contrary to popular belief, hamsters and gerbils bites are far more common than rat bites), but their nails are very sharp so minor scratches are part of the territory when playing with them.  You treat them like any other minor cuts, exactly as you did.  Finally, as far as the urination, it's possible that a rat would fully urinate on her if it is a baby rat with undeveloped bladder control or if she held the rat for a while and it just "had to go", but I'm thinking more likely that it was urine marking rather than a full urination.  Rats, especially males, urine mark what they walk on...that is just a fact.  I hope I was able to address your concerns that that you feel more comfortable about letting your daughter play with her friend's pet rats.