Midlands Rat Club

Homing, rescue and rehoming

A guide to moving rats and small furries via MRC shows

Adapted from Rat-A-2-E article, August/September 2005

Shows are meeting places for rat lovers and, as such, make convenient places to meet up to pass rats on to their new homes. The MRC has a number of rules and guidelines to enable this process to run smoothly. However, there have been a few hiccups at recent shows. These rules are in place to protect the interests of all those who attend our shows, both ratty and human. The purpose of this article is to remind you of some useful additions, which should help it to be hiccup-free!

Members and non-members can conduct pre-arranged exchange of rats and other small furries, but at least one person involved must be a club member. All rats and small furries to be exchanged must be booked in by close of entries. Rescues and rehomes that have found a home at the last minute will be accepted until the evening before the show. This should be the exception rather than the rule, and will not apply to rats for sale. If a courier is involved, the current owner/rescue is responsible for booking the rats in, not the courier. To help you with this you will find a new online form (similar to that used to book entries for the show) for the purpose on the club website. If you have access to the Internet, please use this form as it will ensure that all the relevant details are recorded. Alternatively, you may book animals in by phone. Animals who are not booked in will not be accepted for sale/re-homing. Booking in enables us to know which animals are coming to the show for homing elsewhere and allows us to keep track of them - ensuring that they are health-checked and that their new owners have all the information that they need.

All animals arriving with one person and leaving with another should be submitted for a health-check and following this (and fulfilment of the rest of rules E1 to E4) they will be issued with a certificate. Please ensure that if you take a rat home that you didn't bring, it has been issued with a certificate. If it hasn't, it is being exchanged outside the rules of the club. Recently, rats for re-homing have come to a show with sarcoptic mange mites and lice. At the very least you should know that these problems exist before you take the rat(s) home into your existing colony. Spotting these problems before the rats are passed around at our shows will also protect the rats that we are all bringing along to show and to cuddle. There is nothing more natural than a new owner showing off their new rats to their friends. Remember, the rules are there to protect us all.

Alison Campbell

Please see the individual show information page to book your rats in for exchange.