People with 'rat phobia'

I don't know what you call it, but what do you do about relatives or VERRRRYYYYY good friends who have total 'rat phobia' to the point of telling you they will no longer visit in your home if you keep rats? They can't even be in the same room as the rats w/out shaking & their heart racing. I would be willing to put the rats' cage in the garage for their visit but even that's not good enough.

FWIW, these are people that mean A LOT to me -- not just casual friends.....

And, of those people you do encounter with this, do you find it's usually older people, women, and those that grew up on farms/ranches where rats were a constant problem?