A Forgotten Dog’s Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds
With no thought of the dog filling their heads.
And mum in her kerchief, and dad in his cap,
Knew he was cold but didn’t care about that.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Figuring he was free of his chain and into the trash.

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When what, to my wondering eyes should appear,
But Santa Claus - and his eyes full of tears.

He unchained the dog once so lively and quick,
Last year’s Christmas present, now painfully thin and sick.
More rapid than eagles he called the dogs name.
And the dog ran to him, despite all his pain.

"Now DASHER!
Now DANCER!
Now PRANCER and VIXEN!!
On COMET!
On CUPID!
On DONER and BLITZEN!!

To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
Let’s find this dog a home where he’s loved by all."

I knew in an instant there would be no gifts this year
For Santa Claus had made one thing quite clear...
The gift of a dog is not just for a season.
We had got the poor pup for all the wrong reasons.

In our haste to think of the kids a gift
There was one important thing that we missed.
A dog should be family and cared for the same.
You don’t give a gift then put it on a chain.

And I heard him exclaim as he rode out of sight,
"You weren’t given a gift! You were given a life!"

Author Unknown

Our Commitment

PRRR - Perth Rat Rescue & Rehab was founded in 2008 (The Chinese year of the RAT) in order to give abandoned Rats a "forever home". I thought I would make a small difference in a few Rats lives. I never thought there were as many Rats needing new homes, and thus needing our assistance as i have found out in the last year.

We began by accepting animals that were needing new homes due to a variety of reasons. What started out as a small difference has become a change in lifestyle for myself and my family. As we normally have quite a few animals needing our help we have occasionally had to foster animals to other temporary homes due to the numbers being over that which we can personally care for and give attention to.

So far we have taken in close to 80 animals requiring new homes, of which 76 have had happy endings. Due to the fast growth of general costs of caring for, medicating and finding new homes PRRR  we were forced to register with the ATO so we could open bank accounts and possibly get assistance from other service providers to help support these animals that needed help. During our first 6 months we had animals that required a lot of attention for either medial issues that had not been addressed by their previous owners and that had become life threatening or socialisation because they had not been handled regularly or in some cases had never been handled at all. Medical issues and food costs are our biggest bills to date which due to community and some business support has been a lighter burden on us and the rats in the rescues care.

Due to current financial and time constraints we are limited to the number of animals we can rescue. We hope that in the future there will be some businesses that will be willing to help us take in more animals by providing financial support or by donating products that we can use for feeding or housing the animals comfortably. 

One of our committments to the animals in our care is that we will not euthanase healthy animals just so we can rescue more. The animals that have been surrendered to us will live within our family, be treated as one of our own rats until such time as they are offered a suitable forever home, if for any reason we are unable to find a suitable forever home we will continue to care for them for the rest of their natural lives.

All rescues will be cared for nutritionally, emotionally and medically (by a fully qualified vet experienced in Rats and Rat illness). We monitor any animals that come into our care for health, temprement, behavior issues and social status (especially if within a group). We try to rehome these animals with families that will suit the animals needs first and formost and then consider the potential owners wants second. We do notify the potential new owners of any illness, behaviors etc that we have seen which may cause a problems so that the potential family can consider if they feel they are equiped to deal with the possible problems in the future. We generally will not rehome an ill animal unless we feel it is within the animals best interest and even then the animal will only be rehomed with someone that we feel can fulfill the needs of the animal. The potential owner will also be made aware of any and all medical issues before being allowed to adopt the said animal.

We can cater for a set number of Rats a any one time. We have put this limit on ourselves because we are aware that each animal, in our care, needs to have their medical, companionship, food and housing needs met at all times. Unfortunately we CANNOT rescue ALL the troubled Rats in Western Australia. Therefore we will be not only limited in the total number of Rats we can care for at once but we also reserve the right to accept or NOT accept any Rats offered to us as "rescues". Should we be unable to take additional rats due to having reached our limits then any requests to accept more will be rejected, however, we will be more than happy to help the owners find a suitable home for their unwanted animal(s) as long as they can house the animal with them while we search and support them with our connections.

As of April 2009 we became a registered not-for-profit rescue. This means that all monetary donations m ade to PRRR (over $2.00) will be tax deductable. It also means that we are bound by our constitution and governing documents as well as by the Australian Taxation Office and other government departments to use the funds obtained by PRRR to further the benefit of animals in our care. We are unable to use the funds for anything else (including persoanl use) but the care and rehabilitation of animals surrendered to us.