A TAIL of A New Kind of Rescue Group in Northern Lower Michigan

There is a new animal rescue group in Northern Lower Michigan called Northern Michigan Rat Rescue (NMRR). While the Pet Friends website usually focuses on dogs, cats and horses, I was intrigued by this new group and wanted to learn more. The organization is being run out of Cedar by Erin Dendrinos. She rescues domestic rats and keeps them in a shelter in her home as well as using other foster homes. NMRR does NOT take in feral or wild rats. Wild rats are dangerous and carry diseases that can kill tame rats. They do not domesticate well and their bites leave scars. It is also illegal in most states to transport wild rats off of your own property and release them elsewhere.

Because it's difficult to have an "open" rat shelter to the public because of the many airborne rat illnesses, when a potential adopter is interested in a rat, Erin takes their application and once they are approved, she will deliver the rat to the person's home which also allows her to do a home check. Erin can also meet a potential adopter in a public place that does not sell rodents so that no rats run the risk of getting sick. Most of the adopters will be choosing rats from the website (or the Petfinder site which will be up and running soon). Any adopters who haven't made a decision about which rat they are interested in will be matched for the best possible fit to the adopter's home and personality. Adopters will be given a basic care sheet, links to good resources for questions on rat care, and a small bag of the food to get their new pets started.

Before adopting a rat, people should be aware that rats only have a two year life span on average. In addition to this, they are extremely prone to tumors and other genetic disorders as a product of excessive bad breeding. This sometimes leads to higher yearly vet bills than a person might have for a dog or cat. A lack of standards for breeding in pet stores and the ease of people putting two rats together and making a profit has led to extremely poorly bred rats. They are prone to upper respiratory infections as well and some rats winding up on antibiotics for the entire span of their life to combat the issues they are born with. To add to that, abuse by negligent owners or even well meaning but misinformed owners means that many of the rats that are taken in need to see a vet the second they come through the doors of NMRR.

Rats will be adopted out in same sex pairs only unless an adopter can provide proof that their rat will not be living by his or herself. Rats are pack animals and need companionship. The same sex pairs is to keep people from breeding or from having the misconception that intact animals can "play" together even if they are not housed together. None of the NMRR rats are intended for use in breeding or as feeders. No rats will be adopted singly except to homes that already have rats. This is not something that NMRR will be flexible on. Keeping a rat alone is not considered abuse, per se, but rats are extremely social and it's not a good idea for them to be by themselves. Domestic rats are usually seen in groups, snuggling together in hammocks, eating together at the food bowl and playing together with their human.

Although the NMRR adoption rates are somewhat flexible, these are the current rates for 2012:

• Young rats (six weeks to one year): $15 per rat

• Older rats (one year to 18 months): $10 per rat

• Rats over 18 months old will be homed on a donation basis to the right home only

Most NMRR rats will be intact when adopted out unless health or temperament issues dictate otherwise. Some males get too hormonal to live in a group unless neutered and that is something that will be assessed on a case by case basis.

How did Erin start rescuing rats? Erin has had pet rats for several years and has been involved with a website called Goosemoose.com which is home to several of the bigger rat shelters in the country as well as many reputable breeders. She has followed their stories and watched how their rescue groups operated and decided to start one of her own. Early this fall, one of the biggest rat shelters in Michigan closed its doors for good. Kaia of Huron Valley Rat Rescue used to deliver rats in a several hour radius out from Ypsilani, Michigan where she was located. Even at the best of times, Huron Valley Rat Rescue was a four hour drive in one direction. Kaia moved to Texas and left Michigan with a need for someone to help fill that gap, especially in Traverse City. Erin has always had an open door policy with rats, meaning that she will take in any needy rat that comes her way. Since she was already doing that, she made the decision a couple of weeks ago to make things official and become a proper rescue rather than just an enthusiast and a person who rescues. Erin is looking to be official with non-profit status as soon as she can.

Having a rat rescue organization has its challenges. Rat rescues get a lot less respect than a cat or dog rescue since many people see rats as disgusting creatures and not the treasures that they are. People are not as quick to donate to an animal they see as a pest and they don't understand how hurtful some of the comments that they make can be to a rat owner. While you would never tell someone that their dog is gross, or that you'd like to kill it, or that it should be food for something bigger, these are comments that rat rescuers hear on a daily basis, even from members of their own family. Rat owners get a fundamental lack of respect and that can make it extremely hard to be taken seriously. But they are just like any other rescue group - they have a passion for the pets that they are trying to save and deserve to be given the credit and respect for their efforts.

In order to fulfill her mission of saving rats, Erin is looking for volunteers. The rescue group needs good quality homes who are willing to take in rats, either as quarantine or as fosters. Quarantine homes are where a newly surrendered rat goes first, to be watched for health issues, treated for mites, and in the case of any females who are surrendered to us, watched for pregnancy. Any illnesses that need to be treated will show symptoms while in quarantine and will be given vet care as needed until they are healthy enough to be around other rats. NMRR doesn't want any illnesses to spread to their foster home's permanent rats, mice, hamsters, or guinea pigs.

Quarantine homes will be provided with cages, food and bedding - all things that the owner will need to keep the rat happy. Quarantine is also where the more skittish rats will get their first attempts at socialization and learn how to be around their new human friends. Rats stay in Quarantine for three full weeks before being moved into foster homes. Foster homes will be asked to keep the rats until a permanent home can be found for them and to report to NMRR on their personalities so that they can be matched up with the best possible homes. NMRR needs both types of volunteer foster homes desperately to make their rescue successful.

NMRR will gladly accept cash donations, however there are also a great many things that they would be happy to have as well to help care for the rates in her organization. You can see the list of these items at the bottom of this story.

Besides keeping busy with getting the rescue group up and running, Erin has a full house of pets, including Miguel, Tulio, Oreo, Hershey, Heath and Ezzie.

Miguel is a permanent member of the household. He is a Degu, which is a rodent similar to a rat. He was taken in from a woman who couldn't keep him and his brother Tulio any longer due to allergies. Degus have a longer life span and different dietary needs than rats and also are much more vocal than rats.

Oreo is a variegated black and white male rat. He is the friendliest out of her male crew. He is only three to four months old and loves to cuddle with Erin. Oreo, Hershey, and Heath all came to her together from a Craigslist posting. They were very young, maybe six to eight weeks old when she got them and have developed into large, healthy manrats.

Heath is the special needs rat out of those three. He was born with malformed teeth. His top teeth never grew in properly and are knobby and stop right after Heath's gum line. Since rat's teeth continue to grow all their lives, like human fingernails, Heath's bottom teeth have become a problem. His bottom teeth are meant to grind against his top teeth and keep both short. Since Heath, for all practical purposes, has no top teeth, Erin has to clip his bottom teeth with dog nail clippers every two to three weeks to keep them from growing into the roof of his mouth. He is going to have to have that done for the rest of his life. Despite this, Heath is a very cuddly little rat. He isn't as big as his brothers or as outgoing, but a big part of that is his teeth. Erin only discovered the problem with them on the 19th of December and it had been a couple of weeks before that that he could eat hard food comfortably. He had been surviving on whatever soft bits he could get. When you have three energetic boys living together in one cage and you scatter food for them, as long as the food vanishes you assume that all the rats were getting their fair share. Now that the problem has been properly identified and treated, Heath should grow up to match his brothers soon. He will never be put up for adoption due to his special needs.

Rowen and and Ash are both girls who came to Erin through a friend of a friend of a friend. A Friend called one day and told her that she had a friend of her mother's that had two rats that needed to be re-homed. Sight unseen I told him that I would take them in. Ash and Rowen had been an impulse buy by their owner and she had lost interest quickly. The owner had been feeding them and playing with them but could not continue their care since his girlfriend was offering no help. He brought them out to Erin and I she was happy to accept them into her home. Both Ash and Rowen had been eating a very strange diet for rats - their owner had been preparing noodles and fresh veggies for them but had them on no commercial rat food diet. Despite that, both girls were of good weight and friendly. They have adapted well to life in Erin's home. Ash had been known as "the grey one" or "Jerry" even though she is a girl. Rowen was "Elena" or "the white one" even though she is a beautiful beige hoodie with a wedge shaped blaze running up her nose. Both girls will be staying forever with me.

Ezzie is a sad story. The same week Erin got the call about Ash and Rowen, she got an email about Ezzie. She had a tumor the size of a pencil eraser on her abdomen and her owner could not afford even the smallest amount of vet care for her. At that point she had a sister as well. Ezzie is a completely hairless rat and her owner had named her Epidermis - such an ugly name for such a pretty girl. Erin asked the owner to keep the rats for three weeks to quarantine them for her since she had run out of spaces to quarantine new rats that week. The owner agreed and Erin provided her with food and bedding that would be healthy for the girls.

Erin also made an appointment to get Ezzie spayed and have the tumor removed. Her sister was to be spayed at the same time. The owner swears that she told Erin that Ezzie's sister had internal abdominal tumors that needed to be treated as well as Ezzie's external tumor but Erin doesn't have any documentation of that conversation and would have gotten her medical care sooner if she had known. Almost three weeks later, the day before Erin was going to pick up both girls and bring them home, the owner called her to inform her that Ezzie's sister had passed away. Erin collected Ezzie the next day and brought her home to her house. Ezzie is the first rat that Erin is considering as an official surrender to NMRR and the only one up for adoption at this time. She has been spayed, the tumor was removed and she is ready to go into a loving home.

If you are considering adding a pet to your family and think a rat would be a good fit for your lifestyle, please contact Northern Michigan Rat Rescue for more information.

Northern Michigan Rat Rescue
Erin Dendrinos
Email
8353 E Hoxie Rd
Cedar MI 49621
(231) 499 4410

Items Needed…

- Cages (not hamster cages or 10 gallon tanks, rats need 2 cubic feet of space per rat and live in groups of 2 or more so those are not suitable for any rat living situation)

- Bedding (no pine or cedar shavings) We prefer wood stove pellets as can be found at Tractor Supply but only if they are hardwood only with no accelerant.

- Hammocks
- Water bottles
- Towels
- Fleece
- First aid supplies
- Food bowls
- Bird toys
- Rat sized wheels
- Large binder clips
- Shower curtain rings (to hang hammocks with)
- Cat or Kitten Revolution
- Baby cereal and baby food