Opening a rat rescue--advice, please!

[purinpurin]

It won't be now, or anytime in the near future--I'll probably need a good year or two in order to gather information, resources, funds and volunteers. The nearest rescue in my area is Chelle's Critter Haven, which is still about a good hour drive away! I think if more rat rescues existed in the GTA, more people would be willing to surrender them instead of abandoning them like my two rats (story here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24630).

For all you wonderful rescue volunteers/owners/sponsors: How difficult is it to run a small animal rescue?

I wholly realise the emotional frustrations that come with rescues (I've volunteered at the Toronto humane society for a few months when I was in high school), as well as the need to be financially stable in order to prepare for the worst (ex. emergency vet visits). Currently I live in an apartment, and the most I could probably take in at one time would be approximately 20 rats, so I would need many people to come together in order to gather foster homes.

Would a rescue need to be a registered business in Ontario? I won't be making any profit off of it; I'd just collect donations in order to run the rescue and provide rats with a good quality of life (most likely I'd end up using at least 90% of my own money).

My thoughts are really jumbled up at the moment, but I'm just throwing out an idea out there. Hopefully this idea will come to fruition when I have a lot more experience with our furry friends.

 

[rattyattie_14]

im not a rat rescue expert but i think if breeding is going to be a time consuming thing then i would think that a rat rescue would be also. Not saying that you cant do wat ever you put ur mind to but it will take a lot of your time. and as long as your ready and determined u can do it! but u should also ask ur mom about it. she could really help u! my mom is helping me with breeding even tho i havent started she's behind me 100%! I feel so bad for those lil boyz! u take good care of them! if i lived near u i would most certainly join ur rat rescue! just keep ur head up and use those skills u got from volenteering at the the animals shelter! but as far as building up a resuce just get your thoughs together..take a day, sit down and think about all that you need to do. a website (can make for free at weebly.com), flyers, you could tell ur friends and have them spread the word wen u really kno that your read to run ur rescue!


good luck!

 

[eagle]

You have a rescue in Toronto ie lilspaz68. She doesn't have a website, but is still a rescue. :wink2:

 

[purinpurin]

:O Really? I didn't know there was a rat rescue in Toronto! I guess a website would help in such situations. That's so awesome!

Thanks for your input as well, Rattyattie; are you breeding right now? I'm really squeamish about the idea of breeding, haha.

 

[PitLuvs]

I thought about being a rescue, years ago. I did my research, talked with people who owned ethical rescues... and came to one conclusion. I could never be a rescue. Finances. The money involved is crazy. CRAZY. To properly take care of rats that need medical, because lots of them will, you would have to have a large lump tucked away. And that lump gets smaller, so you need to find a way to keep it afloat. Talk to some local rescues and ask them what the average spending at the vet for rescues is per year, gives you a better look on what to expect and how much to start saving up. I know there are rescues on here that I personally seen spend hundreds to thousands on tests, surgeries, meds and vet visits on one group of rescues!
Then there is feeding that many rats. 20lbs of food a month for 20rats, or more. Wow. Then the fresh veggies, fruit for treats, special foods for sick and oldies. And water, tons of proper water. Then your looking at all the cage toys, fleece, bedding which never lasts as you will always have 1 chewer in the cage LOL And cages, travel cages, sick cages, retirement cages.... fosters. You need to pay for what fosters use with these rats too. You need to supply them with everything cause a good foster home doesn't have other rats. Hopefully you will be lucky to find fosters that don't mind setting themselves up with this stuff, since they will be staying with your rescue for a while!
Then... the heartache. I see so many rescues on here get that ONE heartrat in, spend all the time and money on making them better, and having to let them go because the neglect and abuse they suffered was too much. I also see rescues on here with handfulls of rats that can never be adopted out. Rats that have so many issues, they could never put someone in the position of taking care of them. So much heartache
Anyways, this is just the tip of the iceburg. You'll have to deal with idiots too, those wanting to adopt and those wanting to surrender. These are just the small things I was told, that made me think "NOPE! Not me!"
I'd also keep every single rat I took in, I'd be a hoarder in months. I form such a bond with my animals that I cannot let them go. Only rats that come here are babysat or permanents LOL But if you got what it takes, and have the proper financial back up, then great! I'd suggest getting to know the local rescues that are there now, and learning from them before you decide to start up shop yourself

And also... Rattyattie tread lightly with your breeding practices here. We are mostly a rescue based forum and breeding is not something we really condone. Just giving you a little warning is all!

 

[Petunia]

You have a rescue in Toronto ie lilspaz68. She doesn't have a website, but is still a rescue. :wink2:

yep and I'd bet she'd love to have another foster or QT home to help out :wink2:

sometimes the very best you can do is to help the already established rescues
:thumbup:

 

[PitLuvs]

You have a rescue in Toronto ie lilspaz68. She doesn't have a website, but is still a rescue. :wink2:

yep and I'd bet she'd love to have another foster or QT home to help out :wink2:

sometimes the very best you can do is to help the already established rescues
:thumbup:

Perfect advice right there! Learn from the inside of a rescue that does great work

 

[victoria]

If you are thinking of being a rescue, maybe you could volunteer as a foster for one to get the feel for it. It takes a lot more than space, time, and money to run a successful rescue. You need a good vet you have a relationship with, you need to have the existing social network and the communication skills to get the word out there and find adopters, fosters, and help when needed, and you need the business savvy to keep track of financial and health records to name a few. Most of all you need to be very rat savvy, you need to be able to identify rat illnesses early, deal with behavioural issues, and know your rats so you can help match adopters with the right rats.

There are many options for surrendering unwanted rats in Toronto. Even though Lilspaz does not have a website (she couldn't possibly take in all the rats in need anyway), Toronto Animal Services and the Toronto Humane Society (6 locations between both of them) both accept small exotics. They were both accessible to the person that abandoned your two boys yet they were still abandoned at the laundry room... the type of person that abandons animals like that doesn't do it out of desperation, they do it because they don't care. It doesn't matter how many rescues there are, there will always be people that won't care and can't be bothered.

ETA: Pitluvs and Petunia beat me to it.

 

[PitLuvs]

If you are thinking of being a rescue, maybe you could volunteer as a foster for one to get the feel for it. It takes a lot more than space, time, and money to run a successful rescue. You need a good vet you have a relationship with, you need to have the existing social network and the communication skills to get the word out there and find adopters, fosters, and help when needed, and you need the business savvy to keep track of financial and health records to name a few. Most of all you need to be very rat savvy, you need to be able to identify rat illnesses early, deal with behavioural issues, and know your rats so you can help match adopters with the right rats.

There are many options for surrendering unwanted rats in Toronto. Even though Lilspaz does not have a website (she couldn't possibly take in all the rats in need anyway), Toronto Animal Services and the Toronto Humane Society (6 locations between both of them) both accept small exotics. They were both accessible to the person that abandoned your two boys yet they were still abandoned at the laundry room... the type of person that abandons animals like that doesn't do it out of desperation, they do it because they don't care. It doesn't matter how many rescues there are, there will always be people that won't care and can't be bothered.

ETA: Pitluvs and Petunia beat me to it.

Oh no dear, you pointed out many great things there I didn't even think about! I pretty much said the money/space/time... you covered the rest! :joy:

 

[fenshae]

As someone who kind of accidentally stumbled face-first into rescue, I'll put in my two cents. I have 9 rats (er...11 with the orphaned eepers I'm hand-raising) and at that number I'm already feeling maxed. I'd be so happy to get back to 5. But anyway. I started a couple years ago, maybe 3 years, just by tossing an email at the local animal advocacy groups/shelters letting them know I'd like to help with any rat situations they got. Then I just started perusing Craigslist ads etc looking for rats.

Once your name gets out there, weird things start to happen. Like animal shelters calling you saying "hey, we have hundreds of rats from a hoarding case. you can help, right?" Or like people emailing you out of the blue, "Hey, the rat rescue next state over said you do rescue work. How can I help?" or people emailing you, "I'm moving and need to rehome my rats will you take them?" or people showing up on your doorstep at 3am saying, "I found these orphan baby rats. Help." True story, all of it. It's...surreal. I'm not a real rescue. I'm not non-profit, I don't advertise. I just, somehow, through word of mouth ended up being the rescue connection of Southern New Mexico.

Lucky for me I've had a tremendous streak of good luck (wow that was redundant). I haven't had too many major health problems/emergencies. I'm pretty good with networking and I've managed to make a few friends, one of whom houses females that come my way since I can only keep boys. But even with that...I can't even imagine running anything large-scale, or actively *looking* for new rats to take in.

I dunno. I once asked this exact same question, and someone -- maybe Jo actually -- said, "Do you want to be a rescue, or a person who does a bit of rescue?" and for me, the answer was the latter.

Anyway, I second what has been said above, and I say -- good luck. but even if you don't end up in a large-scale thing...don't discount your ability as an individual to save the world, as it were, doing just a bit of rescuing here and there. I think that's the point I'm trying to get at in my sleep-deprived rambling, that rescuing for yourself can be pretty rewarding all on its own without needing to go big scale.

 

[xxchelle]

My advice to anyone who asks me about starting a rescue is DON'T. Period. There are VERY very very few people who are able to truly grasp the idea of running a rescue, and even fewer who are able to do it.

The emotional struggles - you can't even BEGIN to understand until you've actually ran a rescue and done all the hundreds of rescue runs, seen everything awful you can imagine, and even some things I'd never imagined. If you've ever volunteered for any kind of rescue, you've seen the tip of the iceberg. If you've volunteered long-term for a rescue, you've probably had a peek at the underside of the iceberg. You'll NEVER be able to fully grasp the entire iceberg until you dive under and are wholly immersed - running the rescue.

I'm a relatively small-scale rescue. The most rats I've ever had up for adoption at one time was I think around 35. And even then, in the very short year and a half I've been open, I've spent over $25,000 on cages, vet bills, emergencies, medications, toys, food, bedding, gas money, etc. etc. etc. 99% of that has come out of my and my husband's pockets. We very rarely get donations. In fact, I'd say about 75% of our donations have come from the forum members here. Only a select few adopters have given me donations above and beyond the adoption fees (which, by the way, don't even come close to recouping the money spent on the rat during its time in the rescue).

If you have/want a social life, throw it out the window. You'll never have one running a proper rescue. If you have/want time for yourself, throw that out the window too. I do not work, I stay at home and run my rescue. Most of my days are spent cleaning cages, responding to mundane emails, socializing and playing with rats, responding to various repetitive questions people call or email me with, and organizing/managing the finances, the website, etc.

You NEED to have support. Whether it's a husband, boyfriend, parent, etc. you need to have someone who will pick you up off the floor when you say you've had enough (it's inevitable, trust me). If you don't have the full support of someone else, running a rescue will be even more difficult (I'm so glad that my husband is my partner in the rescue).

You have to learn to say no. You have to learn to separate emotions from reality. You have to learn how to have a level head. You have to learn to accept the fact that there are breeders EVERYWHERE and that's not going to change any time soon - it's a constant battle against the back yard breeders looking to make a quick buck, the people who think it's "fun" to breed, or people who simply want to see "aww cute little babies". You'll want to yell and scream and you'll wish you were able to change their minds, but you can't.

You have to learn SO MUCH. Every day, you learn something new. About behavior, medicine, anatomy, care, genetics, etc.

"Private", small animal rescues don't have enough help as it is right now. Personally, I think it'd be much more beneficial for those of us who run rescues to have help from others who want to get involved, rather than to have more rescues.

Edit: There's so much more I want to add... but the one major thing I didn't touch on that I feel I should is vet care. As a rescue, you NEED a VERY GOOD rat-knowledgeable vet (of which there are surprisingly few in Ontario - in fact my rescue vet is 45 minutes away, and he's the closest vet to me that really knows how to treat rat illnesses). You also need a vet who you have access to at nearly all times, since emergencies happen and NONE of the emergency vet clinics in this area know anything about rats. You also have to have the ability to get rats in to see said vet on next-to-no notice, as something as simple as a URI can go downhill so fast, if you blink you'll miss it. Many times, a rat cannot wait "a few days" or a week to see a vet for an illness - they need to go NOW.

You have to learn and study and read and research all rat illnesses and their treatments, rat anatomy, how to deal with various ailments and injuries... all of this takes YEARS of experience to build up, before you even start the rescue.

 

[purinpurin]

As I said, it definitely won't be now, or any time in the near future.

Thanks so much for all your inputs! It really means a lot to me. In complete honesty, I think my ego is a little bruised at the discouragement, and at the thought that I'll fail no matter how hard I try (but I also know that everyone has the best interest of the animals in mind). On the flip side, if no one started up because they thought they'd fail, then there would be no rescues at all, right?

I agree with the hoarding thing; I have two rats right now and am getting two more from Chelle's rescue sometime in May--and although four little rats don't take up much room, they are sure to take up their fair share of vet bills (I'm already taking the two boys I have right now to the vet's this Friday, after all!). That's a major thing I have to consider when planning these sorts of things, I'm 100% sure on that. I realise that one should have, as Pitluvs says, a large sum of money saved in order to create something so huge.

Seeing all these wonderful and exquisite people and groups (the Humane Society, Chelle & Lilspaz to name just a few in millions) doing so much for such little animals makes my heart so warm! I think that if I were to plan to do something, it should be a short-term goal for now. For example, plan to do a one-month fund-raising event, volunteer at a rescue for a year, or even foster some rats who need a temporary home. Something short-term, so that I can get a good feel for rescues.

 

[lj]

Chelle just hit the nail on the coffin. I agree with what she says 100%.

I work two jobs. One is for my living expenses and the other is for the rescue expenses. I have no social life and taking a vacation is next to impossible. I do have a wonderful foster home, but I wish I had some more.

Babies are sometimes easy to adopt out, but I have babies that are now adults and are still waiting for their forever homes.

 

[StaceyM]

Seeing all these wonderful and exquisite people and groups (the Humane Society, Chelle & Lilspaz to name just a few in millions) doing so much for such little animals makes my heart so warm! I think that if I were to plan to do something, it should be a short-term goal for now. For example, plan to do a one-month fund-raising event, volunteer at a rescue for a year, or even foster some rats who need a temporary home.

Those are great ideas, and I'm sure they'd be appreciated! Just start asking where you can help, even raising awareness amongst your friends/family is a step in the right direction.

 

[temblabamomo]

I have a HUGE amount of respect and admiration for those folks who run any kind of animal rescue. Once thought I'd like to get more involved and maybe run a small rescue of my own, but since being a member of the Shack I've learned it's definitely not something I could realistically do. Financial hardships and time commitment aside - it takes years to become as keenly knowledgeable about rat health as some folks on this forum are. No matter how much you read or how many threads you follow involving other peoples' rats, your main sources of education are still going to be time and EXPERIENCE.

I always thought it would be perfect if my bf could land a job where he makes enough money to support the both of us, and then some, without me needing to work at all. Not that I'm lazy and dislike work, but with no job obligation, I could be free to spend all day cleaning cages, having playtime, going to vet appointments, etc. Wouldn't that be ideal?

And then I realized that currently, I've never experienced firsthand a lot of medical issues. I don't have a super awesome vet; mine is decent, but after a visit I usually come running to the forum to ask if my vet is making the right call. It wouldn't seem right to me to take in a large amount of rats and only provide iffy, shaky medical care based on inexperienced decisions.

And all that aside - I've had plenty of critters who were taken in, in bad shape, and knew from the beginning that they wouldn't be with me long. Despite efforts to stay emotionally detached from them, each and every one of them broke my heart completely when I had to have them pts. It is difficult enough to handle the occasional passing of one of our animals. In our household, with an average of 10 -12 creatures at all time, we can usually expect at least one death a year, and the heartache of that one is sometimes overwhelming. But sometimes they come in waves, and to have to deal with that on a regular basis sounds miserable. I can't imagine the grief a rat rescuer must go through, looking after creatures that are comparitively short-lived, especially considering that many rescues are in less-than-good condition upon rescuing.

I would not be so discouraging as some on here, to simply say "don't do it". The world needs rescues, and while it takes a very strong, knowledgeable, amazing person to do it, you never know. You may be one of those people. But that's something that may take years for you to discover. In the meantime, like everyone else has been saying - learn everything you can, foster, volunteer, and don't bite off more than you can chew.

 

[purinpurin]

Thanks again for all your advice! <3

Right now I have a steady income as a web designer and programmer working from home, but the web designing job really isn't a stable source of income; I could make $100 in one month, or even $3000, depending on the sort of customer. That would also be a factor in deciding whether or not to try to run something like a rescue, which needs elaborate planning, back-up plans, steady source of income, etc.

I greatly appreciate everyone giving their two cents; some of the tidbits made me think a little clearer. This is definitely something I cannot do within a year or two--however, I would love to someday. For now, I'll stick to short-term goals!

 

[Joanne]

In complete honesty, I think my ego is a little bruised at the discouragement, and at the thought that I'll fail no matter how hard I try (but I also know that everyone has the best interest of the animals in mind). On the flip side, if no one started up because they thought they'd fail, then there would be no rescues at all, right?

I don't think anyone thinks you'll fail. I think these opinions come from "The School of Hard Knocks", ie lessons learned the hard way, from experience. They all started out like you, wanting to help ratties in need. Once they got going, they started to realize what was really involved.

I am not a rescue, I don't think that I could handle the emotional stress, nor do I have time to take off during the day for the many necessary appointments or the hours daily to clean cages. I have my ratties, and am happy to give them a home. Reading this forum is a bit 'dangerous' as you find yourself wanting to adopt more and more. I have tried to set my limit - it seems to be 8 - and stick with it. I like it that all my rats live together in one big cage and I don't want to mess with the flow...

Enjoy the rats you have now, and go from there. You've already rescued two babies, and are giving two more a home! That is a wonderful thing to 4 lovely little creatures... :cloud9: