The flap ischemia-reperfusion injury (FIRI) animal model provides valuable information to understand the pathogenesis and treatment of necrosis after flap transplantation. Establishing a suitable FIRI animal model is a necessary prerequisite to comprehend the pathophysiology of FIRI and test novel preventive and therapeutic method. When designing an FIRI animal model, it is important to understand the characteristics, modeling method, unique performance of each animal model, and which tissue structures or functions of the selected animal model are similar to human flaps. For over half a century, researchers have used rats to establish abdominal and dorsal island flap models, rat dorsal random flap models, and some novel FIRI models. However, so far there is no ideal model that fully simulates the complex mechanism of necrosis after human flap transplantation or its prevention and treatment method. Therefore, this review summarizes the most commonly used rat models to establish FIRI models, which may facilitate choosing suitable parts and method for modeling in accordance with the research design and the smooth conduct of experiments.