Ottawa Pet Rat Rescue

Dedicated to the rescue, Rehabilitation and adoption of domesticated rats in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (and surrounding areas). Please adopt - don't shop.

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Hello everyone!

The Ottawa Pet Rat Rescue 2022 calendar is here. As usual, we have compiled some lovely photos for our annual Rescue calendar along with some stories of the rats who currently live at the Rescue or have been adopted through the Rescue. Each calendar is $20 - all of the funds we raise go right back towards vet costs, food, fabric, and bedding to help more rescue rats. If you would like to purchase a calendar for yourself or a rat-loving friend, please message us or send us an email at [email protected] Calendars can be picked up in person near Lee Valley Tools (Pinecrest & Greenbank - Ottawa), near Lansdowne (Ottawa), or in Gloucester (Ottawa). Calendars can also be shipped to your door: Please add $3.65 for shipping within Canada. Please add $7.00 for shipping within the United States (except Alaska)

Please contact us for a quote to ship your calendar anywhere else in the world. You can send us funds in cash, OR E-Transfer to [email protected] OR visit our donate page www.ottawaratrescue.com/donate and use the PayPal button. Thank you so much for your support! We (the humans and especially the ratties) really appreciate it. Sincerely,

Oprats

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So I use fleece as liners for my rat cage but I'm in a rat dedicated server and they swear by using substrate/bedding. They say fleece is not ideal and that bedding is wayyyy better. Is this true?

Sorry about the extremely late reply. Unfortunately we only log into tumblr about once a year!

We are actually the opposite, and generally only use fleece/fabric.

There’s 3 main reasons:

1) Reduced dust. No matter how “dust-free” a bedding is advertised to be, ultimately, particles still fly up in any shavings/pellet type bedding. Fabric is the only bedding that doesn’t have this. With fabric, you have to make sure you change it out frequently. Personally, I would never leave a piece of fabric in a cage more than 3 days. Fleece or Flannel’s capacity to absorb urine is nowhere near paper pellets or paper bedding, so unlike with bedding that you could get away with changing once a week, you need to change out the fleece multiple times a week. As long as you DO switch out the fabric frequently, it’s less irritating to their respiratory systems and thus (in our opinion) the more “ideal” bedding.

2) Litter Training. We have found that when there fabric covering the rest of the cage and only bedding/litter in the litter box it makes it much easier to litter train all of our rats. And once rats are litter trained it makes cleaning so much easier. And the cleaner you can keep the cage, the less likely rats are to get respiratory infections, abscesses, bumblefoot, etc.

3) Less expensive. Since fabric is reusable with washing, as a Rescue it’s simply more economical for us to use fabric instead of repeatedly buying and throwing out litter.

Hope this helps.

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We have two 11 week old female rats. The live in a double critter nation. One girl can be picked up and is more apt to come out of the cage on an arm the second occasionally comes out on a hand but quickly runs back into the cage and HATES to be picked up. We've been trying to build trust - but have read that perhaps we should be forcing the situation or she may grow up to be aggressive. With your experience, we're hoping you could help guide us. They were purchased from a breeder.

Sorry for the extremely late reply as we log into our tumblr account about once a year only.

We never recommend “forcing it”. Remember, socializing your rats should always be a positive experience for the rats themselves, and hopefully positive for you as well. For baby rats who are nervous about being picked up, we recommend talking to them, singing to them, being near them and in contact with them as much as possible. Something like a bonding pouch that you can wear under a shirt while you’re in the house doing other things can be very helpful. I personally prefer to just wear layers or a scarf all year around and get as much skin to skin contact as possible. Take her sister with her so that she doesn’t feel alone and just have her cuddle with you as many hours of the day as possible. Always talk to her gently, offer treats and never force her to be held if it scares her. Naturally, over time, when she has slept in your shirt or cuddled at your neck she will associate your smell and contact with you with positive things such as treats, comfort, warmth and safety.

As a rescue, we ensure to properly socialize all of our rats before finding them a suitable home, so our adopters never have these issues. However, many breeders are more focused on colours, or certain types of fur patterns and may not spend the time or attention to socialize their rats. In some cases, rats are simply not going to be social. That can and DOES happen. If you try doing everything suggested above by spending loads of time with her and she continues to be fearful and stand-offish, you must accept her for who she is and respect her boundaries. If she dislikes being picked up or touched, you must reach an agreement with her so that you can still take her out of the cage for exercise and so you can clean her enclosure. Teaching her to walk into a box, or onto your cloths without being handled directly will be a must. You can easily teach her this by enticing her with her favourite foods.

Hope this helps.

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Just wanted to give a huge shout-out to all of our fosters who dedicate their time, energy and resources to helping us care for the Rescue Rats we've given them.

In particular, we wanted to extend a "Thank You" to Evan, who was brand new to rats, and JUST started fostering for us late last year.

Yet here he is, expertly caring for 3 senior boys. Two of whom need medication twice a day.

The eldest boy, who's estimated to be 2-2.5 years old, will only eat the medication-laced baby food off of Evan's fingers, and so Evan does so patiently, every day, twice a day.

<3

Thank you Evan for taking such great care of Bubba, Phantom and Ghost.

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George (neutered) lives with 3 lady rats. And because THEY fit in the tiny wood house, clearly, HE must fit too.

Who’s gonna tell him?

Photo Credit: Morgane Corcoran

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Meet Lulu and Harvey. Two lone rats, who found love and company with each other. Lulu had recently lost her sister, while Harvey was a lone male transferred to the Rescue from the Brampton SPCA (along with 13 others) who had been part of a seizure. After being neutered and many attempts to introduce Harvey to other rats, we decided what Harvey really needed, were some girlfriends.

After just 2 weeks, Harvey and Lulu are now like two peas in a pod: inseparable.

Rats are extremely social beings. And just like us, they really need a friend. We just have to help them find the right one :)

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What are the benefits of adopting rats versus buying?

There are so many reasons! But here are a few:

1) You’re literally saving a life (or 2, or 3 or 4 lives!). Every rat you adopt from a Rescue or a shelter frees up space so that the Rescue can go out there, and take in another rat who may otherwise be killed.

2) Peace of mind. I can’t speak for every Rescue out there, but for most of us, all of our rats are vet-checked, they are socialized prior to adoption, and they are matched specifically to each adopter and their needs. You’ll be adopting a pet who is at the very least healthy, and sociable. And you’ll know exactly what you’re getting into.

3) Accountability. Again, can’t speak for everyone, but our Rescue guarantees to pay for any vet bills within 30 days of adoption (unless illness is due to injury, or as a direct result of harm Example: being dropped by accident, having a tail stepped on by accident, etc). And on top of that, we will ALWAYS ALWAYS take a rat back. It does not matter if it’s 2 months after adoption, or 2 years after adoption. We WILL take that rat back.

4) Community and Resources. Adopting from arRescue helps you connect with a community of people who are all like-minded in that we understand the importance of cherishing animal lives. It connects you with people who are willing to do what is needed, and beyond, to ensure the health and happiness of the pets they love. And because of that, often people who are part of a rescue community are also extra willing to help each other. By adopting from a rescue, you meet other like-minded people who will help you with rat-sitting, transport, making hammocks, answering questions about health and behaviour, etc. It’s not something to be taken for granted.

5) Finally, I think there is something to be said about the good feeling you get, when you know you’ve given a good home to an animal in need. You can be proud that you helped by adopting. Would you say the same about buying a rat out of a plastic bin at PetSmart?

Hope that helps. These are just some personal opinions about why we believe adopting will always be the better option.

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Hi! Do rats do well with fleece cage liners, or do they prefer bedding to tunnel in? Thanks!

We use fleece or flannel liners for all of our rats. We also give them plenty of scrap paper and pieces of fleece squares so they can build their nests if they wish. For us, this is what works best as it’s the most cost-effective. As long as you use a safe, dust-free bedding, whichever your particular rats prefer will work :)

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Hello Lovely people!

We are excited to reveal this little project one of our foster moms has been working on for the last few months to help us raise funds for the Ottawa Pet Rat Rescue.

Combining her skills as a talented illustrator and her love for rats, Emily has kindly designed and created a set of 7 stickers for us.

Each sticker is based off of an actual rat whom we cared for through the years and we were lucky enough to get an advanced look at these adorable designs which will put a smile on your face.

If you would like to purchase some sticks, visit http://www.ottawaratrescue.com/2017/02/stickers/

Thank you for your support!

OPRATS

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The Ottawa Pet Rat Rescue 2019 calendar is here!

Every year we compile a collection of some of the sweetest, most beautiful rat photos taken by our adopters and submitted by other friends of the Rescue. This year, as usual we have a calendar to share their Rescue stories.

Each calendar is $20 – all of the funds we raise go right back towards vet costs, food, fabric, and bedding to help more rescue rats.

If you would like to purchase a calendar for yourself or a rat-loving friend, please email us at [email protected].

Calendars can be picked up in person near Lee Valley Tools (Ottawa), in Westboro (Ottawa), Downtown (Ottawa), or near South Keys (Ottawa)

Calendars can also be shipped to your door:

Please add $3.35 for shipping within Canada.

Please add $7.35 for shipping within the United States (except Alaska)

For Canada and USA, we will be happy to waive the shipping fee if you purchase 3 or more calendars!

Please contact us for a quote to ship your calendar anywhere else in the world.

You can send us funds in cash,

OR via cheque payable to “Ottawa Pet Rat Rescue”

OR E-Transfer to [email protected]

OR visit our donate page www.ottawaratrescue.com/donate and use the PayPal button.

Thank you so much for your support! We really appreciate it.

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Smudgy faces. <3 

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This concerns me enormously.

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Can I help you?

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There’s always that one sibling...

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We love these sweet boys.

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It’s okay - the holidays make me want to sleep, too!

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Little angel rat Abby.