Trial is underway in San Diego in a lawsuit filed against Petco by the family of a young boy who died after being bitten by a pet rat purchased at a Petco store.
The parents of 10-year-old Aiden Pankey claim in their lawsuit that the store sold them a diseased pet.
In court statements, the attorney for Petco said although the company sold an estimated five million pet rats in a two year period there were only 16 claims filed. Those people received treatment and recovered according to the testimony. The attorney went on to describe to the jury the risks of owning pets and the warnings given to customers.
Rat bite fever is extremely rare.
Pankey died in 2013, two weeks after receiving the rat as a gift from his grandmother.
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