The opposite is also interesting. Think about all the drugs that work in rats but not humans. If you have pet rats, they're probably invincible! (More likely is that there is no money in treating pet rats, so actually there aren't any drugs just for them.)
There is heaps and gobs of money in treating these guys. They only live a few years and are as personable as dogs. People regularly pay crazy amounts of money for intensive surgeries to take out tumors and fix their varying other ailments.
If someone managed to extend rat lifespans by even a year or two, there'd be a line of people at their door just begging to throw money at them. You'd think rat owners would be more blasé about death, but it couldn't be further from the truth.
Really though, for most illnesses they just get human drugs on a much smaller scale. My vet prescribes metacam when they're very sick, which is also what I got after my last surgery. They get the same antibiotics I've taken previously. Apart from the parasite drugs, I don't think my rats have ever been prescribed something I haven't taken before.
After all, there is a reason we use rats to model drugs in humans
Actually, lab rats are special genetic lines that are too different from pet rats, so it's untested if the drugs that extend the life of lab rats will also work on pet rats.
Not even other rats benefit from animal experiments.
