In February of last year, I wrote an article about my personal experience owning rats. It was sort of a memorial piece for my first official mischief (a group of rats) that really solidified my identity as a rat owner. Towards the end of the article, I stated that I was having a hard time bonding with the new boys I rescued because of the heartbreak of losing the last boy of that first mischief.
Rattie Ratz Rescue is a non-profit organization located in the California Bay Area that is dedicated to saving domestic pet rats in need. Rattie Ratz is fully driven by volunteers who donate their time, energy and resources in their common goal to help domestic rats find loving homes.
Most of the adoption stories you hear from Rattie Ratz end right at the beginning of our ratties’ journey in their new families. We heard about Fantasia finding her forever home last year in KRLM. Let’s see how she’s doing, one year later!
While the primary focus of Rattie Ratz Rescue is placing rats in foster care as a precursor to adoption, there is a second program that is just as important but not as well known. Rattie Ratz is a no-kill rescue which means any rats surrendered to the rescue that are deemed unadoptable to the general public still need to find a good home.
For the past few years, I have been bringing my rats to work. People know me as the rat lady and know that I work with Rattie Ratz to help find Bay Area ratties homes. I was traveling abroad a few weeks ago for a business trip and got an incredible message from my coworker, Kharisma.
Bitey was one of my first rats, along with his brother, Pablo. Pablo passed away last year, and I wrote about Bitey’s journey in finding new friends in Disco and Biscuit, who I adopted from Rattie Ratz.
While many who are not familiar with domestic rats may think of them as dangerous and/or dirty, anyone who has experienced rats as pets will know that they make wonderful additions to the family.
KRL believes in supporting animal rescue in its many forms in any way that we can. This week we are interviewing Jaimie about her local rat rescue, Whisker Tickled, located in the Fresno, CA area.
As I began the two hour trek home that pleasant summer afternoon in August, my two newest bundles of fur were settled beside me in two separate travel carriers. I was excited they would be joining our burgeoning family of rescue rats, guinea pigs, and dogs, but I was also filled with a mild sense of trepidation.
Antoine and Bijou are two special boys with a very special role: teaching the next generation how wonderful rats are. Antoine and Bijou are brothers who began life, as do so many of the babies brought to rescues, as part of an “oops” litter. However, they had a lucky start to life--a much different story from what most rescue rats go through. The two beautiful brothers were born into a loving family with children who doted on them every day.
