About RLR

We will be at crisis capacity shortly. PLEASE watch our Petfinder if you are interested in adopting - we will be listing about 73 rats in the next few weeks. We NEED fosters, ESPECIALLY quarantines at this time. We also are seeking SMALL bar-spaced cages at this time.

Rattie Love Rescue is a privately-run, in-home, not-for-profit small animal rescue, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. As you can probably guess by our name, our animals are mainly domestic pet rats, but sometimes pet mice or other small animals.

We do not purchase rats from pet stores, herpers or laboratories, nor do we supply to these places. The rats in our care come to us from shelters, as transfers from other rescues, and when time and space allows, owner surrenders.

While we do focus on adopting out in the Tri-State area (Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana), we have had successful adoptions to other states as well, including Tennessee, Michigan, West Virgina, Missouri and West Virginia.

Please note: We are trying to focus on a more local area (the Tri-State) at this time, as transporting and gas costs ran higher than we’d have liked in 2007. Non-local adoptions may include travel costs, or we may ask that you travel as close to us as possible. In some cases, a "Rattie Train" may be possible. Thanks for understanding!

Rattie Love Rescue is run by two rat-lovers and partners. We are Kimberly (also known as Kimmie, Kimmiekins, RagingNymph, The Rat Whisperer or Vandora), who does most of the online work for the rescue, and Jennifer (also known as Jenny or Lilacgirl). You’ll most likely deal with Kimberly until meeting up with us, as she does the daily running of the rescue, along with all of the online "stuff".

We currently have 11 rats as our own pets (Tuck, Lilly, Nibbles, Nougat, Sirius, Orion, Snickers, Splash, Rodent, Coon, Sunshine, Atari) along with 2 dogs (Wysiwyg the Whippet and a Java the Chocolate Labrador), a cat (Forte) and a mouse (Marty).

We run Rattie Love Rescue because we want to give rats a second chance at life. Rats are wonderful creatures who deserve lives filled with love, good food, ample space and playmates. Rats love cuddles, free-range time, shoulder time, and just living a good life.

Not all of our rats come from bad situations. No matter how they come in, though, they are all treated the same. Evaluated, cleaned up if needed, and giving a nice clean cage filled with toys, food to fill their tummies, and all the love and attention they could need. We give lots of hand-time, out-time and socialization time. Cages are kept clean as can be. We use fleece, baby blankets and towels 99% of the time, to avoid allergies (including our own!) here at the rescue, though some foster and quarantine homes prefer Carefresh and we’re cool with that, too. If any rat needs to go to the vet, we don’t hesitate to take them.

We want our rescues to succeed, so we do all we can before they go to their forever homes. We screen all prospective families with our adoption form. We call landlords, vets and sometimes references.

We also will take back any of our rescues at any point in their lives for any reason. We prefer this to them being dumped or sold elsewhere. However, we hope that all our rescues go home and stay there!

We try to keep our rescue small so that we are never over-burdened. We rely on foster homes to help us keep the numbers down to manageable here at the rescue. If we are filled at a time a rat needs to be surrendered, we do our best to find a way to help the rat. We may suggest other rescues, or find another way that everyone’s needs can be met.

Our vet is the wonderful (and infamous around these parts) Dr. Dan Meakin and crew of All Creatures Animal Hospital. We are known as, "The Rat Ladies" around there. They are fantastic, and we recommend them to anyone. They are located in Amelia and worth the drive from anywhere. They have a lot of services and see just about every type of pet. Check them out and tell them Rattie Love Rescue sent you.