by Stephanie Cameron

Stephanie Cameron is a volunteer with Rattie Ratz Rescue in the bay area of California. Each month KRL will be featuring a column from Rattie Ratz.

Today we look back on five adopted sisters who are living the type of life that every volunteer at Rattie Ratz Rescue hopes for. A life of joy, love, and fun with their family – with a healthy dose of spoiling mixed in! Rattie Ratz is a Non-Profit in Northern California dedicated the rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of domestic pet rats. The ultimate goal at Rattie Ratz is to find safe and loving homes for each animal that passes through the organization, and the five sisters featured here have done just that.

The girls were part of an accidental litter that was surrendered to the rescue last summer. The babies were healthy and friendly, and after their mandatory quarantine, they were ready for the Rattie Ratz volunteers to find them their forever homes. Unsurprisingly, the babies were popular with adopters and it didn’t take long until they were all reserved. Five of the girls from this group went to Heather Hoffman and her family in July 2023.

Heather’s then 16-year-old became the proud parent of five new fur babies, and Heather became a doting Nana. Heather explains how: “By the spring of 2022, we had already experienced the heartache of losing our three boy rats in quick succession, but the original duo, Garlic and Bread, were going surprisingly strong, though they were clearly in their twilight time. Our then 16-year-old rat parent mused ‘I think we need some joy back in the cage, it’s been a lot of sadness recently.’ I admit I didn’t think too hard before reaching out to Rattie Ratz!

A litter of five little girls was shortly available, and suddenly the two-story cage became a duplex, as the elderly girls were not especially interested in these bouncy, inquisitive, adventuresome toddlers! Fortunately the new babies (Maple, Timbit, Sesame, Cookie, and Nadja), as much as they wanted to pester their big sisters, seemed happy to entertain each other, and the cage certainly became extremely joyful again. Although we opted to mostly keep Garlic and Bread in their own ‘retirement’ area to keep everyone safe and sound, some supervised meet and greet time went pretty well.”

As time went on, the resident seniors crossed the rainbow bridge, and the rattie duplex became a single unit once again. Although Heather and her family will always miss the ratties that came before, having an active mischief of five sisters helps soothe the soul and offers a much-needed distraction.

“Although we now only have the five younger girls, the joy in the cage continues! They are the smartest, funniest little things, and highly food-motivated (big surprise). We like to call them the eels, because when they are all crowded into a hide or house together, their heads tend to poke out reminiscent of conger eels. Maple and Timbit are Berkshires, Sesame and Cookie, brown hooded agoutis, and Nadja is our non-twin black hooded. She is also probably the shyest, although all of them have socialized so well to life in our house, and are well used to handling and smooshing with love. The two agoutis are our foodies, and since they are the biggest, they are very good at getting in there for their share! One thing I’ve discovered is that somehow I started offering their food in my hand, maybe just early on to encourage them, but now it’s turned into ‘we prefer to be hand fed by Nana’ – I guess it’s true that grandparent spoiling cuts across species.

We often joke that they are ‘renovating’ every day, because they LOVE to shred up paper and fleece to rearrange their comfy cozy spots – you can hear it throughout the downstairs, and it’s somehow so hilarious to listen to. They are in great health, and we’re so grateful for that; they’ll be turning 2 on April 1, 2025.”

This will be the girls’ second Christmas with the Hoffman family and while the girls may not be quite as rambunctious as when they first came home, they still have a lot more life to live, and a lot more love to give.

This Christmas Eve the ratties will be nestled all snug in their beds while visions of yogis dance in their heads. Far too excited at the thought of Santa Paws, to get any sleep, even if they are in a squishy rat heap! I’m certain Santa has something special planned for them this year, with an extra special treat in their little stockings, all hung in a row.

If you would like to know more about Rattie Ratz Rescue you can visit their Facebook page. If you are interested in adoptable rats or volunteering for Rattie Ratz Rescue you can visit their website: www.rattieratz.com.

If you enjoy mystery novels, check out the Tower District Mysteries by KRL’s own Lorie Lewis Ham–the main character has a pet rat! Learn more on her website.

Check out more animal rescue stories in our Pet Perspective section & watch for more stories from Rattie Ratz every other month. You can also keep up with our pet articles by joining our KRL Facebook group. Advertise in KRL and 10% of your advertising fees can go to Rattie Ratz.