Just looking at the picture gives me anxiety. Are they sure a giant hand as big as your body that forced itself upon you to tickle actually elicits a "happy response"?
I'm not sure how to say this, but I often seem to find animals that other people think are ugly or terrible as cute 60% of the time. Mr. Rat may be filthy, disease carrying vermin, however, if you remove that part, then he is quite cute.