Why do Rats Tend to Pee on Food?

We do know now that rats do pee a lot and it could mean a lot of things. Rats pee in order to mark their territories and keep other rats from invading them, although arguable there instances that show that territorial markings are not necessarily being followed as some rats would bypass the urine markings of other rats on a specific area. Rats also pee in order to indicate their liking to other rat of the opposite sex. It would mean that they are attracted to the female rat and would like to engage into reproduction with her. The markings are also a marketing strategy for male rats to show how highly heated they are for reproduction. Females would like male rats that have spiking testosterone levels. On the other hand female rats would be able to tell the males its receptiveness for mating through their urine. The level of hormones being excreted through the urine would indicate the heat level of the female rat's receptiveness. There are a lot of things to consider when you assess the reasons why rats would pee on things. But one would probably still baffle why rats would often pee on their food.

Could it be to mark its ownership on that food? To make it taste better? LOL. We will answer those questions here in the following paragraphs.

Believe it or not, rats pee on their food too. But before you suddenly smear that smug on your face, first you must recall the struggle of rats when choosing what to eat. Rats are everywhere on earth and being omnivorous they have a wide variety of food menu and they could eat a lot as well. They could eat from vegetables, lean meat, and steak to twinkies and Pringles. This ability of rats sets them apart from the eating habits of other animals like koalas and pandas which only eat eucalyptus and bamboo shoots respectively.

With only the keen sense of smell but a bad vision, how on earth will a rat know what to eat and what not? We are all very aware that a mistake in food intake could possibly prove to be fatal. If a rat would eat the toxic leaf or poisoned pellets for bait a rat could rest in peace forever. Therefore, rats would have to be truly extra careful what to put inside their mouths because they know that they can really puke it out. The inability of rats to vomit would make it all the more hazardous to just randomly pick any food to eat.

Rats employ preventive strategies to ensure their safety once picking out the food to eat. For instance if the food they just ate would somehow make them feel sick afterwards, they will make it a point to avoid that food in the future. This admonition would trickle down to the other members of the family. They will also ensure that other rats won't eat that same food. And that is not where they would use their pee to indicate that the food is safe to eat. More often than not, rats pee on their food to indicate its safeness for intake, otherwise, the absence of urine marks would tell other rats that the food amidst them should probably be avoided. Rats are keen to learn from other rats examples. If other rats would find the food edible, they would eat that same food as well. This would not be made possible the urine communication of rats. Young rats would also prefer the scent of their elders on their food before they munch on them right away.