What was House's rat named? - briefly
House’s pet rat was named Mickey.
What was House's rat named? - in detail
The rat that Gregory House kept was called “Mick.”
Mick first appears in the episode where House uses a laboratory animal to illustrate a point about pain perception. The rodent lives in a small cage on a shelf in House’s office, visible during several scenes. House treats Mick as a practical tool rather than a pet, employing the animal to test hypotheses about nerve pathways and to provoke discussion among his team.
When the team discovers the rat’s presence, they debate the ethical implications. House ultimately decides to release Mick, allowing the creature to escape the clinic’s confines. The release underscores House’s willingness to sacrifice a living subject for a philosophical argument about control and responsibility.
Mick’s brief tenure on the show serves as a narrative device that highlights House’s unconventional methods, his disregard for conventional laboratory protocols, and his propensity to use any means—however controversial—to advance diagnostic reasoning.