Hi Everyone!

I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. My name is Agnes and I live in Arizona. Around the end of April we added a new little girl to our family of 3 labs. Her name is Abby, and we adopted her from a shelter in Louisiana. A couple of my friends told me that she looked like a rat terrier, and I've been spending time the last month reading and learning all about them.

Abby is a very special little girl. She was an owner surrender to the shelter at an estimated age of 6-8 weeks old and couldn't move her back legs. When the vet xray-ed her, they discovered both her back legs were broken, one at the femur and one at the knee. (the vet felt that she was either stepped on or thrown ) I have a friend that does rescue work (mostly labs) from the shelter and she fell in love with her. Before you knew it, fund raisers were arranged, and surgery was done. Abby has a pin in one leg and a screw and a plate in the other. She was on crate rest for a month, then when she was well enough to fly, she came out here to join our family, and will be doing her physical therapy here.

She's a scrappy little girl, and I can't believe how loving and friendly she is after all she's been though. And man, can she move fast, even though her one knee doesn't bend! She's a joy!

Here's a couple of pics of Abby. Does she look like a rattie to you?

Welcome!  Abby sure does look like a Rattie... and I'm so glad that she found her way to you in Arizona! Our little Rattie Holly turned 3 years old in April. She was a rescue also, that we heard was a puppy mill dog turned down by a pet store when they purchased the rest of the litter. Holly was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around one of her hind legs, and couldn't walk on this leg when the puppies were sold.  We had a 2 1/2 year old Jack Russell, and were planning to adopt another Jack Russell as a friend for her, but when I saw Holly I just fell in love with her!  She was 14 weeks old when we adopted her from a rescue, and her leg was 98% normal by then.  

Rat Terriers are not very common where I am in Oregon, so I had never seen one before. After we adopted Holly, and I was so in love with her, and  I couldn't reallly get over wanting more Rat Terriers! My hubby wasn't feeling the exactly the same way  especially since if he had his way, we would have been a "one dog" family... but since he too is madly in love with Holly... and can't imagine life without her... he but did agree to us doing foster care for Ratties... so I was happy to just jump at the chance!    

We just sent our last two fosters off to new homes in May.. and now looking forward to our next Rattie(s) to love... even if it's only temporary.. .I just LOVE the Ratties! 

Welcome!!!  Thank you for rescuing that precious baby!  That breaks my heart that her legs were broken.   She looks just like a rattie to me.  What a beauty!!  Please let us know how she's doing with her therapy.  Oh, and we LOVE pictures!! 

OH! Welcome to our family from me and MY Abby!!! Hope to see lots of you and hear stories about your precious new baby!!

Howdy and welcome to the board! That little abby is such a cutie and like everyone else has said, thanks so much for rescuing her!! Bones and treats to you and yours!

Thanks for the great welcome.  I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone and learn more about ratties.

Abby came from the St. Charles Humane Society. My friend lives in Destrehan, I'm not sure if the shelter is in the same town or nearby.  I had never heard of ratties before; when I lived back east I had a friend who had two JRT's. I was trying to figure out what she was, and Kim said she looked like a rat terrier, so I started searching for pics to see what they looked like.  I can't believe how friendly she is!  Her tail goes a mile a minute and she's always giving kisses. I thought she would be shy after all the trauma she's been though, but no way!  I agree, she'll be ruling the roost soon!

I think she's around 4 months old, give or take.  She does still have all her baby teeth .  When I took her to the vet for a checkup on April 30, she was just about 5 lbs. My youngest lab is 11 months old and a peanut at only 45lbs (big brother Buddy is 91lbs, and Keira~lab/border collie mix is 54lbs). So Abby seems like a little smidge to me

I do have a couple of health and food questions (having to learn to downsize from labbie portions) so I'll post them in the health section.

Agnes

Abby is quite a beauty and she sure is a Rattie. Welcome I am new here also. I have not mastered putting pixs up of my twins yet. Patty (La Bella) and Franny (the Frenchie) are their names.

I love Ratties.....

A Rattie?  I'd say "YES"    Welcome to the group!