News

Kesa Rattery – The Fallacy of an “ethical” breeder

Posted on by Rachel Shen
We want to share the following story to help others avoid the pitfall of thinking that "breeders" are in any way better than pet stores. THEY ARE NOT. Here are Bear and Buddy's stories. We were contacted in January by a lady, we will call "Nancy" who desperately needed help with her rats. Nancy tried to do everything right as a first-time rat-keeper: she did tons of research; she invested in a Double Critter Nation; and purchased a mountain of toys and accessories. Nancy also found a lo...
More

WARNING Sendai Virus

Posted on by Kaitlynne-Rae
WARNING Sendai Virus reported. Included cases in Quebec, Canada. Please make sure to properly quarantine and take extra precautions to protect yourself and your furry family. Originally posted by "Rat Nation of Pittsburg" on Facebook SENDAI VIRUS WARNING ALERT: Since last posting our warning about the Sendai virus being confirmed in Cincinnati Ohio, we have been in contact with people who recently informed us of illness in their rats that are showing all the clinical symptoms of Sendai. Her...
More

Update: Spirit

Posted on by Kaitlynne-Rae
On September 25, 2014 we took in a frail, thin, and very sick little girl. Quite honestly, we had fears that she wouldn't make it to October - but had resolved to make whatever time she had left with us as positive, loving, and nurturing as possible. This is Spirit today. She has exceeded all our expectations and has overcome so many obstacles. In the last two months and a bit we've watched her put on healthy weight and learn to trust humans, under the loving and devoted hands of Anita...
More

Spirit

Posted on by Rachel Shen
As a rescue we spend a notable amount of time on Kijiji. This is for a variety of reasons – to intercept people looking into pet rats in order to encourage them to adopt, to identify breeders, and, of course, to identify and rescue rats that are put on Kijiji as a way of discarding them when children have lost interest or the rat has gotten sick. We can’t always save them all. It comes down to operational needs and we are often put in a position where we are at capacity and unable to take in ra...
More

SPCA Rescue Group

Posted on by Kaitlynne-Rae
Over this last weekend a pet store went out of business. The pet store had rats - mostly as feeders, but also sold them as pets. When they closed their doors they had 66 rats - including many who were very, very young. The rats were all together - males and females. The store owner took all these rats and dumped them at the SPCA in Outaouais. They contacted us as they are not equipped to deal with the sheer quantity of small animals. As a result, we have taken in 29 rats - many of which are extr...
More

Glebe PetValu Fundraiser = A Huge Success

Posted on by Kaitlynne-Rae
We just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who made it out to our fundraiser this weekend at PetValu in the Glebe. It was so fantastic to meet so many rat lovers - both old friends and new - and to see so many lovely ratties! The event was a huge success and raised just under $500! This will go a long way towards caring for the animals in our care - it's enough to cover a surgery, and then some.
More

Donations Matter

Posted on by Kaitlynne-Rae
It's sometimes hard to conceptualize how much food, hammocks, fleece, litter, and money (largely for veterinarian care) an animal rescue can go through in a relatively short time. It's also sometimes challenging for us to be able to express just how big of a difference any donation makes. In order to shed some light on this, we'd like to go provide some details on our most common expenses. General Costs Food (per rat, per month)- $10 Hammocks (homemade, but the fabric still adds up) -$10 F...
More

Fosters Needed

Posted on by Kaitlynne-Rae
Could you help a friend transition to a new family? We are happy to note that we are becoming more well known in the Ottawa and surrounding areas for our work rescuing rats. However, with this recognition comes additional calls, emails, and referrals from people who either have or have found rats that are in need of our assistance. This has lead to our resources being stretched thin. We are in need of additional foster homes to give incoming rats a safe place while we help place them in fo...
More

Mascouche Surrender

Posted on by Kaitlynne-Rae
On July 25th, 2014, OPRATs was contacted about 22 rats at risk of being killed by a breeder in Mascouche, near Montreal, who had been reported by local authorities and was being ordered to stop all breeding. We had until July 27th to get those rats out, otherwise, they would be used as feeders. Now, with most of them safely in Ottawa, we have found out that the majority of the females are in fact, pregnant. With no vets in Ottawa who are willing to spay rats, we have been forced to move these...
More

Rescue: River & Sky

Posted on by Kaitlynne-Rae
Today we received a concerning and urgent email. A man had two female rats and was allergic, and if we didn't find a way to take them off his hands by 4pm, he was going to end their lives. He didn't have money for the veterinarian, he explained, so he would have to "do it the old fashioned way". We don't know what "the old fashioned way" is exactly - but we can hazard a couple guesses. None of them pretty or humane. So we went. Before we arrived we were assured they were in good health and...
More

Valleyfield Hoarder Rescue

Posted on by Kaitlynne-Rae
On April 17, 2015 at around 1pm we received a call from a distraught lady named 'Karla'. She had been telephoning for help all morning, but none of the local humane societies or animal shelters in her area of Quebec were able to help her and the 24 rats she had discovered living in a 10 gallon tank in her sister's home. They had not been fed or given water in days and only upon urging, did her sister agree to give them water and some vegetables. One of the shelter staff mentioned that they ha...
More