The (Prague Ratter) Bare Necessities
If you are expecting a Prague Ratter puppy or little Prague Ratter adult to enter your home soon - you have probably been scaling the internet to find all the tips! It can be hard to find specialised information on owning a Prague Ratter when they are so rare. Our aim is to make that a little easier and to share all of our tricks, sourced from everyone in the club.
To start with, here is our Ultimate Prague Ratter Preparation Checklist AKA the Bare Necessities.
I don't think I've met a single Prague Ratter parent that didn't get really excited and buy anything too big before meeting their puppy for the first time. I definitely purchased a few (and I use the term 'few' very loosely) extra, extra small collars and outfits only to find that they were for an extra, extra small German Sheppard and not a small furry tennis ball with legs.
So, to save some trouble, we have pulled together from our breeders and Prague Ratter parents, the bare necessities for making your home Prague Ratter ready. Naturally, this is just a guide to help you start looking and preparing.
Having said all of that, when I was picking Biccy up to take her home, Renee (Coastal Prague Ratters) put a huge pink tub full of blankets, food bowls, toys and treats in my car. So one thing I would say is, if you are traveling far like we did to pick up the new family member - you'll have everything you need for the trip home and some presents for the future.
There is also a lot of "non-essentials" that I can't wait to share, such as where to find the cutest tiny dog vests and velvet furniture - we will be uploading that list of treasures soon, but as I always say; before you wear the tiara, you must have a head!
Puppy Food.
Our preferred brand for Prague Ratter puppies is Royal Canin. So we recommend this to new families.
Royal Canin Mini Junior/Puppy is optimal for digestive health and is a highly digestible kibble packed with proteins and fibres. This one is specifically formulated for small breed puppies and has the highest level of nutrient qualities for our puppies. You can purchase this in 2kg, 4kg and 8kg packages. 2kg alone will last a long time! Note: If you live in warmer destinations such as North QLD, even a 2kg bag of kibble can go a bit off sitting in the pantry. Separate it into sandwich bags or Tupperware containers and you can still buy in bulk and not worry about it getting warm in the pantry.
We also use the Mini Puppy Wet Dog Food Pouches. While the dry food is ideal for their nutritional requirements, this is a great accompaniment. This one will help with digestion as well as provide some hydration support. It comes in 85g Sachets that you can purchase in minimal supply or in bulk.
Of course, no Prague Ratter is exactly the same and you wont leave the Prague Ratter castle not knowing your child's preferences!
Wombaroo Dog Milk Replacer can be helpful when your puppy is adjusting to a new home and potentially using more energy. Puppy Milk isn't necessarily "essential", but can come in handy to have when welcoming a very small animal into your home. Of course no puppy leaves his or her mother if it isn't completely weaned. We left Renee's little dog palace on the Central Coast with some of this which helped Biccy get more calories in on her hydration stops. Being so small and energetic, Prague Ratters benefit from eating small amounts often and this can be a great way to get some extra calories and nutrients in.
Food Bowls.
Not the most serious of essentials, for there are probably plenty of bowls in the house you already have to use. You will want to find something shallow and small for your Prague Ratter. Otherwise you have just purchased he or she a swimming pool. We don't recommend leaving a small animal around unfenced pools, so mind the size of the water bowl. If you are shopping in a pet store, sometimes the cat/kitten/puppy aisles are the best for finding the little bowls.
A pet bed.
We find that the kind of beds that Prague Ratters like the most are either the 'Igloo' or 'Donut' style. Although, Prague Ratters love to burrow by nature, you will find that no matter how many beds you buy they will far prefer to get right under the blankets in YOUR bed and hide in the furthest corner and lick your toes. So no more jumping on the bed for you. However, you will buy many different pet-beds because you will love your little dog so much and will find the perfect style, thirty-seven times. Your partner, friends and family will plead with you not to buy any more beds because you have enough and you will absolutely ignore that.
Blankets.
Being so small (as I keep saying) Prague Ratters will struggle a little more than their bigger furrends to generate body heat. So we need to be conscious of the temperature. Simply shivering from the cold will use a lot of energy for the little guys. If you can keep them rugged up they are far happier. This even goes for summer in warmer parts of Australia. You can get any blanket (bonus points if it is fluffy) or you can also look out for an electric blanket, especially in winter. Biccy would gladly live in hers. We purchased this one from Spotlight, it was reduced to $60 when we bought it (now $40) and it would turn off automatically so I didn't have to worry about leaving it on, and I could choose between eight different heat settings. However, one day it turned itself off never to be turned back on again. So now I don't recommend this blanket as much as I wanted to and am on the hunt for a better one.
Other Sources of Heat.
A SnuggleSafe Microwavable Heat Pad is like a frisbee (do not throw it) that you can put in the microwave for a short amount of time. It will continue to generate heat for a whole day. We put this under blankets or bedding for the puppies and adult dogs, even during summer months, just so that their bedding is slightly warm over night. To them it feels like body temperature.
A standard heat pack that you find in a pharmacy wont stay warm for as long, but is more comfortable for your Prague Ratter to sit on than the SnuggleSafe heat pad. SmartPetLove also sell little toy/plush animals that have a heatable insert.
The preference is yours! It's great to have at least one source of heat/warmth on hand, or prepare to live with that tiny dog inside your jacket.
Puppy Pen.
You can find different versions of these, light and portable versus taller and more durable or great for outdoors. You might find you don't need one, but if you are worried you will lose your puppy if you're not looking, or need to leave the home for a short time, you will appreciate that they are safe in one space. Shop around because you can spend roughly $30 at Kmart compared to upwards of $100 at PetBarn for something pretty similar.
When we came home with Biccy, we had to move houses the next day, so ours was really useful for unpacking boxes and not loosing her under piles of bubble wrap.
We also found it very useful for training Biccy to sleep in her own space, we used to keep her bed, water, food and pee-pad all in the pen. Also, when we've left her with friends for minding, the pen has been handy for them if they like to keep a door open or separate Biccy from chasing their chihuahua around the house all day.
Toilet Training Supplies.
Another thing to think about is how you want to toilet train your pup. When they are a litter puppy, they spend pretty much all of their time indoors so they will be used to pee pads. We recommend buying these in bulk online, instead of buying a 10 pack for three billion dollars in store. You can also choose to train your pup to use a grass patch! We have Prague Ratter parents in the club with many different preferences. One thing to acknowledge is that prior to your puppy being able to take parasite/tick preventions (until they are 1.2kg at least) they are better off not using the back yard as they can pick up these parasites from possum droppings.
Flea, Tick & Worming treatment.
In regards to these, you can absolutely consult with your vet first. Here are just the brands that some of us are already using, incase you wanted to research yourself. Important to note is that the ideal brand and type of treatment can vary for different sized puppies, so ask your vet for a recommendation or talk to your breeder. Recently we noticed Pet Barn started stocking flee and tick treatment for XXS (1.2 - 2.5kg) sized dogs, which could be suitable for most Prague Ratters. Milbemax provide a small dog worming tablet for 0.5 - 5kg dogs, however do ask at your first vet check in, as your pup could only require a half tablet depending on size.
Toys.
If your pup has a favourite toy in their initial 8-12+ weeks of growing up, Renee will probably send it home with you.
Small toys that they can get a handle on are fantastic. A lot of cat/kitten toys fit this bill.
Make sure you remove any bells or beads as your Prague Ratter will find delight in trying to chew these off - you will not find this delightful!
Collars and Harnesses.
Until your puppy is fully vaccinated, you wont need really need a harness as such to take them outside on walks. If you want one, your local PetBarn will stock hamster and rabbit harnesses that should fit!
While they are really young and little, you can purchase welping collars, just so they can become used to having something very light weight on their neck. If you do plan to put them in a little collar with ID tag eventually, this will make that transition easier. The weight of items (after you’ve found something that fits) is also important. The MyFamily ID tags from Petbarn are pretty light weight.
Small enough collars are hard to come by for Prague Ratters, let alone puppy Prague Ratters, a lot of us look for small leather bracelets! Do check the measurements in size guides when shopping online because an 'XXXS' is sometimes just an XXXS Doberman, which would still be bigger than the biggest Prague Ratter! In terms of collars, look something that is roughly 12.5cm/5inches at smallest. Some websites will specify that their XXS will fit a Chihuahua or Prague Ratter, but if you check the size guide you will find the item to be too big, as a Prague Ratter is a distinctly different shape to a Chihuahua which sometimes isn’t accounted for.
For her adult Prague Ratters, Renee recommends something like these collars from Amazon. I recommend a Gucci bracelet. Just kidding. No I'm not.
Harnesses are tricky to find, and we've all tried everything from making it out of ribbon, purchasing custom made, using kitten harnesses and attaching a ring to little jumpers made out of bed socks! The best style is a step in harness and you can find variants of these on eBay, the one linked here was just $8 and fit Biccy at 850grams which is roughly the average Prague Ratter puppy weight. I had to fiddle with it a little to make sure she couldn’t slip out, but well worth it given the price point.
There is an absolute plethora of custom-made options on Etsy, if you are willing to pay a little extra for someone’s handy work! It is a bit of hunt, but when you finally have your Prague Ratter, you are invited to join our APRC (members only) Facebook Group. You will be spoiled for ideas, hacks, support and cute puppy pics!
This is Biccy, pictured in an XXS handmade harness from Chillbe Dog Clothes.
We hope this helps and look forward to giving you a run down on all of our favourite tiny dog fashion, carriers and accessories next!
Jo & Biccy.
Find us on Instagram: @biccytakesworld