Rats have poor vision and rely on their senses. In the realm of vision, a human's vision is much better than a rat's. Humans see three colors (blue, green and red) at high saturation levels, while rats probably perceive just a hint of ultraviolets, blues and greens. Our vision is quite sharp; we can see long distances and have good depth perception.
A rat's vision, however, is quite blurry especially more than a few feet away, and its depth perception is poor. In every other domain, however, the rat's senses are far more sensitive than our own! A rat perceives its immediate environment with its whiskers, through its sense of touch.