"Students are allowed pet rats... I wonder if we could find a couple to borrow? We could have our own mouse wedding!"
"But rats aren't the same thing, and how would we get them to say vows?"
"Ponies are smaller! Less than fourteen hands. But otherwise the same."
"Oops. I guess I don't actually know anyone with a rat, so it wouldn't have come up? Or something."
"I don't really see the point of rats. Or toads. Cats you can at least pet, and owls are useful too."
"My cousin has a rat. They're pretty cuddly," Alli mentions. "And a lot cleaner and friendlier than you would think a rat is."
"They're not bad at all! You should meet one. You'd like them, they're little and soft."
"Those I'm not scared of, though. Kitties know how to warn you if they're mad."
"Bet rats do too," she shrugs. Then she smiles wryly. "Not a clue how, though, I don't have a rat."
(Normally she'd add whiskers, but... she's not feeling like modifying her face, right now. Maybe later.)
"If you don't know how to read the warning it might as well not be there. And cats are cuter, and purr."
"I don't- Hmm. Ugh. Words, words are hard. I don't know if I can tell they're mad. Not, I don't know how to tell they're mad. I have never seen an angry rat! I could be able to tell, if I saw one. Or not." She pauses. "I almost want to get one now, to see. Promise you'd tell your owls not to eat it?"
"You will have to warn me if you're carrying one around, though, if she just sees a random rat..."