Spreading the Word

Q: Our humane group is hosting a table at a local pet event. We'd love to have your volunteers come with us to help promote the adoption of pet rodents. Could you join us!

A: Thank you so much for inviting us! Never hesitate to contact us about events. We're happy to do our best to be there, but please understand that a lot of times we can't due to our own adoption events and other things that cram up our calendar. Distance can be an issue (we're in Raleigh, NC) since we don't have funding for travel or hotels so it's entirely up to our volunteers to cover any costs. Again, it never hurts to ask, though!

It's wonderful of you to think of us and I'm happy to suggest a few pamphlets and printables you may want to display.

• AAVS offers cruelty free shopping guides for free or nearly so, or you can print it as a .pdf: http://www.aavs.org/shoppingGuide.php


• The Rat Fan Club has printables on rats as pets and rat care. Here's a good basic one: http://ratfanclub.org/report1.html


• AFRMA has coloring pages for kids (I like to use #2 or #7 since they seem the most rat-like or informational, but you can find a ton there! http://www.afrma.org/kidskorner.htm Take a look at the top of the page. There is a great printable info sheet for kids that can be printed on the back side of the coloring pages to get more information into their hands.

Hope this helps! Thanks so much for spreading the word about adopting small animals instead of buying!

Recipe: Homemade Rat Mix

I get a lot of requests for this recipe. It's the mix I feed my own rats and fosters. I like that I can be certain everything in my rats' mix is human grade and that I can tweak it for each individual as needed. I prefer to feed a mix instead of plain lab block since it allows my rats to pick and choose what they need from an assortment of healthy foods. Since a rat's nutritional needs vary through different life stages, they can adjust what they need as their bodies mandate, something studies have shown rats do quite well when given the option to do so. I've noticed, for example, that older rats will tend to choose foods lower in fat and protein than younger rats do, leaving behind more nuts and seeds than their more youthful counterparts.

This isn't to say there aren't good commercial block diets, though I recommend steering clear of laboratory diets. These are formulated not for the health and longevity of the rat, who will likely be put to death before his or her first year is up, but as a diet that will not interfere with the experiment at hand by being completely without variety. Also, being an organization that exists to promote the welfare and rights of rodents, we prefer to avoid supporting laboratory suppliers, since the companies that produce these lab diets also often produce rats and other animals for laboratory use. We understand that animal testing may not be able to disappear overnight (though I, personally, wish product testing would), but we also feel that we should spend our dollars in the most positive way possible instead of funding the mass breeding and sale of animals. Hence, our foster homes that do choose a pelleted diet choose Oxbow Regal Rat, a block formulated for pet rats, rather than a lab diet such as Harlan Teklad. For a commercially prepared mix, when it's not possible or convenient to mix our own, we like Reggie Rat or Vitakraft (though the latter has more colorants than we consider ideal.)

Paxil and Ether’s Yummystuff for Happy Rats

2 cups Wysong Vegan Dog Food or other lower protein dog food
(around 20% protein max.)

¼ cup nuts or seeds (sunflower seeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds) for boys
½ cup of the above for girls
avoid peanuts…may cause coat problems

1c wheat puffs cereal
1c rice puffs cereal
1 c enriched cereal (cheerios, for example)
Just make sure it contains copper, important for brain function.

1c enriched pasta

Mix it all together in a plastic bag and serve.

Every other day or so they get fresh veggies, fruit, and/or ½ jar baby food (mixed veggies, sweet potato, green beans, or some kind of fruit and grain mixture like apples and oats) You can make it yourself if you want out of leftovers and stuff if you have a food processor. It seems to freeze and thaw well. In the summer I let them have a little bit frozen like “ice cream”

Soy yogurt and/or soy milk in an extra water bottle helps prevent tumors. Just don’t overdo since it’s high in protein. Enriched rice milk is a good treat, too.

Paxil and Ether also get a teensy bit of ferretvite as a treat from time to time.

(Paxil and Ether passed on a few years ago and are greatly missed. My current girls, Kitty, Spider, and Fuz enjoy the recipe that was created for their predecessors to this day. :))

Starting a Rescue Group

Q: I have been thinking about starting a rat rescue in my area in the future and could really use some advice on how to go about getting started. If you have any suggestions or advice, it would be greatly appreciated!



A: Your question is one I get rather frequently. Some people go for it, some don't, others try it out and find it's not for them (you have to be willing to do *all* of the work yourself in the beginning), but some really succeed and do a ton of good work for animals. Our sister group,
Carolina Pet Rescue kinda sprouted out of 3R and now they're bigger than we are. :)


First thing I have to suggest is to work for another rescue or shelter for at least a year if at all possible. You may have done this already and if so, skip to the next paragraph. I know that rat rescues can be hard to find, but dogs and cats need help too (and rabbit rescues are usually desperate for help). Getting an administrative volunteer position just to test the waters is a good idea. See how they run their group, what it feels like to be a foster as well as what it feels like
to be in the "office" (not usually an actual building--most rescues don't have that kind of money) organizing which animal goes where. It's really important to do both jobs since they can unfortunately end up with a lot of friction between them. You have to know what it feels like on both sides. When I started 3R, I modeled it after a rescue I really respected and admired (Independent Animal Rescue) where I had worked for a year or two, doing intake database work, helping with adoption applications, stuff like that.


The most important thing is developing good relationships with area vets, shelters, other rescues, and animal control. These are your best pals when it comes to rescue. Introduce yourself politely when you attend animal education and fun events in the area. Make appointments to visit the small animal vets (if you don't know them all already). You'll
practically live in their waiting room from now on. Ask any medical questions you have and ask for a quick tour of the facility. One thing you may want to ask, not to be morbid--but because you should really not be surprised by anything when the time comes, is what methods of
euthanasia they employ for rats and whether or not you will be allowed to be with them during the process. It's not a happy thought, but it's a lot easier to find out now than when you're holding an animal who is sick and in pain. You also might want to ask if they have much
experience spaying and neutering rats. Don't ask for discounts--if they possibly can, they will give you a discount, but asking is callous and devalues the work they do. If they don't offer now, maybe they will once they know your rescue better and/or get enough referrals from your
rescue to make it financially possible to offer a lower rate. Vet equipment and medications cost them a lot of money that they really can't just give away if they want to have enough money left to feed their own animals. :) Then there's the cost of keeping a sterile environment for surgery (you'd be amazed how many people it takes to keep a vet office sparkling!) This is something I've gone on and on about before and you probably already know all of this, but I
wanted to mention it just in case.


The other key to starting up a rescue is to avoid
gotta-have-rats-gotta-have-em-now syndrome. You could work day and night, split yourself into a hundred separate people, develop the power to fly and still not be able to help the majority of rodents out there. Know your limits and don't dive in too fast. Start with just a couple of cages and work on getting those rats adopted before getting more. It's easy to want to hop on Craigs' List and contact every person dumping their rats and hand out your address so they can drop them off, but that is going to turn bad very quickly. When you rescue, you don't have to work very hard to find rats in need. They are everywhere and the people dumping them *will* find you. I'm not saying you should never help out a free to a good home ad-ed animal get a chance at a better life, only that it's really important to start small. One reason for this is that in order to
keep going you *need* to have some successes among all the crazy bad things you will likely see and hear. In the beginning it's easy to feel galvanized and energetic, but you'll thank me later when you're happily still rescuing in six years instead of being in desperate need for a
bail out because you just can't take it mentally anymore. It may sound silly to some people, but I honestly think rescuers have to have all the strength of a cop or fire fighter to do what we do over the long term. Making sure you adopt out one animal before taking in another will not only keep your workload reasonable, those adoptions will also be the successes that keep you sane on the bad days. Good luck and thanks for having the heart to want to help!