On February 21, 2009 LMR attended the 7th Annual Ratstravaganza in New Westminster, BC.

We had a great time! The show was extremely busy but it was so much fun seeing old friends and meeting new people.

LMR managed to raise almost $1200 from the sale of hammocks but the proceeds from the RatsPacNW raffle also went to us this year.

We received quite a few applications and hopefully also found some new volunteers.

Hilary writes:
That's Whistler giving me kisses. She is such a doll. How could anyone have dumped such a sweet animal?
That mess in the background is courtesy of the Berry Girls. Little hellions!
A big thanks to LMR for letting me have them. They are fabulous!

Mudface came to us on December 30th.

Mudface was surrendered to us by a woman in WA who got him and an inctact female rat only 3 months prior and kept them together. Now he developed a growth on his neck and she couldn't afford vet care

Mudface went straight to the vet on the 31st. It turned out to be just an abscess with necrotic tissue. Phew! The vet removed it and we were already celebrating. About a week afterwards he went in for his neuter which is also when we realized that he developed an ear infection. He quickly recovered from his neuter but the ear infection took quite a long time to clear up. He also had a weird bruise on his head which then turned into a scab that worried us but luckily it healed completely without needing any treatment. Throughout his entire ordeal he was nothing but a sweet, sweet boy who endured all of this and still gave kisses. He won a lot of people's hearts over the last few weeks incl. our vet.

So after several weeks in rescue and having to see the vet several times, Muddy is finally fully recovered and is going to his forever home! He is going to live with Pansy and Ivy, two other LMR ratties. He'll have his own little harem and a wonderful loving home!

First update from his new mom Jamie: After having some 1 on 1 time with my new boy, Muddy Buddy, I can see why the staff at the vet's office that treated him wanted to steal him from me. He was bruxxing and settled down for a nice nap between my shoulder and neck. That is the 1st time any of my fur kiddos, past and present has done that :) I'm actually tearing up over this I am so thankful for all the volunteers that took care of him, and nurtured him until he was okay to come home to me. Words can not express how blessed I am feeling right now, especially since I'm still having a hard time with Shirley's passing. It's as if she knew it was going to be her time to cross the bridge soon and knew I needed a replacement :)

Hot off the press - The LMR Winter 2009 Newsletter can be downloaded here. Enjoy!

Feel free to crosspost it.

Annabelle came to us in October via a local shelter who got in 2 litters of rats. Same old story - A family bought 2 female rats at a surprise who were already pregnant. When they talked to the store, the store said that they would take them back as snake food. Luckily for the babies, the family wouldn't let that happen and surrendered them to the shelter instead. The shelter never had rats before and wasn't equipped to house them. So they asked us for helped. All of the babies from the 2 litters we took in have since been adopted.

Annabelle and Mica instantly bonded and as you can see from the picture, they are best friends! Awwwwwww!