For rat spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiments, due to the lower main magnetic field strength, shallower detected depth and poor spatial compatibility of the traditional radio frequency (RF) coil, the image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of rat spinal was rather lower. In this paper, a RF coil for rat spinal MRI at 9.4 T was developed to improve the image quality and at the same time to avoid the space limitation while scanning in special conditions (cardiac catheterization, etc.). In this article, open birdcage structure was built and magnetic field distribution was calculated. The phantom and rat spine MRI imaging were experimented at 9.4 T to verify the advantage of the coil in rat spine MRI application.