We are in desperate need of more quarantine fosters. To read more about why we quarantine, please click here.

You cannot have any rats/rodents and have to be able to make a commitment for 3 weeks. You cannot visit pet stores that sell rats/rodents or shelter during those three weeks unless you can stay away from the foster rats in quarantine for at least 3 hours after you leave the store or shelter. After the 3 weeks we will move them to our regular fosters who take care of already quarantined rats unless you'd like to continue fostering them until they get adopted.

We supply the cage & accessories, rat blocks, bedding, vet care and support should you have any questions or concerns.

There are currently 22 rats that need to come into rescue and as of now we only have a spot for 6 of them. We are especially looking for a quarantine foster home for a mom and her 7 x 3 week old babies. The babies will have to be split up when they are 5 weeks old so you would have to take care of two cages.

Fostering is quite a bit of work but it is very rewarding to know that you are making a huge difference in an animal's life. You are giving them a second chance.

Please get in touch with us if you are interested!

In this media circus, everybody is concentrating on Matilda and everybody wants to adopt her. That is very sweet. It is a feel good story. We are certainly thrilled to help her and to get her into safety. She is a wonderful little girl and is just an innocent victim in all of this like all the other animals in rescue.

Matilda however has a forever home and had one lined up the minute we found out about her thanks to a wonderful previous adopter who was looking for a single girl. Matilda is getting the big happy ending everybody is hoping for. Aldrin, Armstrong, Conrad and Dangerous Bean have been waiting for that happy ending since May 2009 and are still waiting. It would mean the world to us if during this time when everybody seems to pay attention to us, somebody would come forward and open their heart and home to these 4 boys who have been waiting for so long. They have it good with us but we all want that happy ending! We want that for all of the animals in rescue whether with us here at LMR or with the many other rescue groups out there.

The four boys have to be adopted together, after one year together we will not be splitting them up as it would really upset them. They are a little over one year old now and are very closely bonded. They are a great team! They do need an experienced home as they can be shy and skittish with new people/new situations and take a bit of time and work to come around. Once they do trust you they are very sweet and friendly. A sudden change in their environment such as a sudden noise can still make them run for cover but they continue to make progress each and every day.

If you are interested in adopting the little team, please read through our adoption process and send in an application form.

Even if these boys might not be the rats for you or you are interested in getting another pet all together, please check out Petfinder where there are THOUSANDS of homeless animals in need of forever homes. Please don't breed or buy while homeless pets die!

LMR does not euthanize for space, we only euthanize if an animal is suffering and there is nothing our vets can do. But we are very limited as to how many animals we can take in. There are never enough foster homes for all the unwanted and homeless animals out there and when we don't have room, it is often a death sentence for that animal. It is heartbreaking even though we are not the ones who put the animal in such a situation. We are not the ones who failed their commitment to the animals when they bought/adopted them, we are not the ones who bring more unwanted animals into this world and yet it breaks our heart every single time we are unable to help. Please do the right thing.

We just received a wonderful update tonight:

The boys are doing good. They are quite affectionate and we are enjoying them so much. I made them a fort out of shoe boxes, which is their favorite place to play in. Gunderson is Mr Adventureman, Max is my little snuggler, and Luke is a little bit of both. We are so glad we chose to get ratties because they are such wonderful pets :)

It was such a typical day in rescue today, full of ups and downs.

Susan spent the day representing LMR at the Ratapalooza & Spring Show in Seattle. It was once again a successful event for LMR – 6 ratties were adopted and we raised some much needed $$$ (those vet bills just never stop!)

Meanwhile here in Vancouver one thing after the other happened:

Anna took Elvis to the vet as he’s having some major complications after his neuter about three weeks ago. He had to go back into surgery a few days ago and needed a checkup today. Unfortunately things are still very much up in the air with him and he might need further surgery. Please send some good thoughts his way. Elvis is one of the 2 males that came to us from the New West shelter a few weeks ago (click here for his story & picture). Dean and Elvis have a forever home lined up in the Seattle area but obviously they can’t leave until Elvis is fully recovered.

Teri called and reported that Nolan had several seizures this morning. Nolan came to us about 10 days ago via the Vancouver Animal Shelter. A person had brought him there claiming that he found Nolan in a dumpster in an alley. Nolan is in rough shape. He’s been to the vet 3 times so far and Dr. Levesque determined that he has a really bad heart, so bad that if he gets stressed he doesn’t get enough oxygen, turns blue and passes out. We have been monitoring him closely to see how his quality of life is. Things were going alright until today... Tonight he seems a bit better, Teri said that he's moving around and is curious about things. Unfortunately we couldn’t get him in to any vet today but Simone managed to get an appointment for first thing tomorrow morning. Please send some good thoughts his way as well.

Nolan while still at the shelter

We also got an email from the Calgary Animal Control. A rat was brought into the province of Alberta illegally (rats are illegal in Alberta and are usually killed right away) and the owners ended up voluntarily surrendering her to a shelter in Calgary. The shelter has no choice but to euthanize her if we are unable to secure an out of province place for her to go... So Simone phoned around trying to arrange a quarantine foster as well as airport pick up. Matilda, the little rattie girl, will arrive in Vancouver on Friday.

Matilda in Calgary

The SPCA also called us twice. Once just with a few questions but the second time they wanted help with some ferrets so Teresa went out to the shelter to check them out and help the shelter with them.

Just another typical day in rescue.... "Normal" people use the weekend to take it easy, have fun and recover, but there's no rest for the wicked who are committed to rescue ;-)

Please click on the picture for more information