My past rats have lived perfectly healthy lives using Kaytee blocks in their diet. No tumors. No cancer. Thanks. By the way, they have recently reforumulated their pet blocks. Are you seriously comparing feeding this to "Rats can eat trash" guy?
i ended up with a rat. help?
- Thread starter K-TRAIN
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Well if you read up on the link I provided, you will find answers for pretty much everything you'd need to know.
As far as diet, Mazuri is found in pet stores and is pretty much the best lab block you'll find store wise. There are other lab blocks that you'd have to order online, such as Harlan Teklan or Oxbow. The rat mixes you find in the stores are less than adequate, I wouldn't bother. You can find everything you need for the rats grain diet at the grocery store. To see different variations of "Suebee's Diet" go Here: http://www.ratforum.com/index.php/topic,3079.0.html People also use certain types of low protein, basic ingredient dog food in place of a lab block.
I go the organic route, if you choose do to that.
A daily addition of fresh fruits and vegetables (like broccoli and kale) is great for their diets.
IMO, I stay away from Kaytee. One of the ingredients is Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, which rats can NOT digest. It's also been known to contain ethoxyquin which is suspected to cause cancer. Not to mention it's basically a seed mix, which isn't healthy for rats.
As far as diet, Mazuri is found in pet stores and is pretty much the best lab block you'll find store wise. There are other lab blocks that you'd have to order online, such as Harlan Teklan or Oxbow. The rat mixes you find in the stores are less than adequate, I wouldn't bother. You can find everything you need for the rats grain diet at the grocery store. To see different variations of "Suebee's Diet" go Here: http://www.ratforum.com/index.php/topic,3079.0.html People also use certain types of low protein, basic ingredient dog food in place of a lab block.
I go the organic route, if you choose do to that.
A daily addition of fresh fruits and vegetables (like broccoli and kale) is great for their diets.
IMO, I stay away from Kaytee. One of the ingredients is Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, which rats can NOT digest. It's also been known to contain ethoxyquin which is suspected to cause cancer. Not to mention it's basically a seed mix, which isn't healthy for rats.
Well I would like to thank you for giving me a better reason to stop with the pet blocks instead of yelling cancer in my direction. Honestly all my rats lived and are living long healthy lives and all have eaten pet blocks from Kaytee. The pet block food isn't all they get but a foundation to their diet. On top of that is a lot of fresh foods. I do agree that Kaytee is not the best however, Mazuri also lists alfalfa in their ingredients. Not to mention most dog foods are made with corn and dogs cannot digest corn.
I would like to ask about high quality dog foods used in their diet. The only one I consider high quality that I have access to is Blue Buffalo. What do you guys think? Their feline wilderness formula is often used by owner of exotic true carnivores as well.
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I don't use Mazuri, but like I said the ingredients aren't in my favor anyway.
Blue Buffalo Senior
Innova Senior or Innova Lite
Wellness
Solid Gold
Nutro Natural Lite or Nutro Max Weight Control Formula
Natures Recipe Senior Lamb and Rice
Natural Balance Vegetarian Formula
PetGuard Vegetarian
The less the protien the better in the dog foods. Just read the ingredients.
Blue Buffalo Senior
Innova Senior or Innova Lite
Wellness
Solid Gold
Nutro Natural Lite or Nutro Max Weight Control Formula
Natures Recipe Senior Lamb and Rice
Natural Balance Vegetarian Formula
PetGuard Vegetarian
The less the protien the better in the dog foods. Just read the ingredients.
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While Blue Buffalo is amazing food (and I'm not just saying that cuz I used to work for them), it is pretty high in protein, and too much protein isn't good for ratties, especially in their wilderness formula. In general, dog food is lower in protein than cat food. You'll want to check the protein contents of the food you use for ratties.
I've heard a lot of people use Nutro Natural Choice Lite dog food as part of their diet for rats, in addition to grains and other good stuff. I had decent results with it with my rats when I tried it, but I wouldn't even feed that stuff to my dogs...
I gave my rats the kaytee blocks for awhile, even though I didn't like it. I was planning on ordering the oxbow stuff from my feed store, but my ratties died before I got the chance, and I'm not allowed to keep rodents anymore (lets not say anything about the feeder mouse that got loose and now lives under my bed, lol). Oxbow is pretty awesome stuff, from what I've read, but it doesn't seem to be as popular in the rat community as mazuri, or even the harlan teklad stuff.
I've heard a lot of people use Nutro Natural Choice Lite dog food as part of their diet for rats, in addition to grains and other good stuff. I had decent results with it with my rats when I tried it, but I wouldn't even feed that stuff to my dogs...
I gave my rats the kaytee blocks for awhile, even though I didn't like it. I was planning on ordering the oxbow stuff from my feed store, but my ratties died before I got the chance, and I'm not allowed to keep rodents anymore (lets not say anything about the feeder mouse that got loose and now lives under my bed, lol). Oxbow is pretty awesome stuff, from what I've read, but it doesn't seem to be as popular in the rat community as mazuri, or even the harlan teklad stuff.
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I'm not comparing, I'm speaking on behalf of my little fuzzball who has a bad tumor. I'm not saying your a bad person or anything, I'm just saying I don't think it should be fed to rats. I was not aware of the reformulation either.
I would agree that all of those are good foods except with Solid Gold. My black dog turned brown because was not getting the nutrients he needed. The other dogs turned their nose up at it lol.
Do you think even the senior canine for Blue Buffalo would be too much? Currently, I'm feeding Natures Recipe senior formula which if I remember correctly had the same or nearly the same percentage of protein as rattie food. Commercial rat food costs too much for me right now and considering they went through a 2lb bag of pet blocks in a week...geez. I know they can't have a high source of protein but they are omnivores which is why I asked about quality dog food.
Edit: Dude this is a thread on rat food. Cut out the attitude. This is not a personal attack on you.
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well, the blue buffalo senior dog food has less protein than the mazuri rat diet, so I'd guess that it'd be a pretty safe bet.
Awesome. I work at a PetSmart so that would be really easy to nab on my way out the door
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sorry for saying sorry?
Sorry I read that as sarcasm. It it wasn't then I apologize.
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It wasn't sarcasm. Apology accepted!
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Generally you want to try and balance the protein between dog food and whatever else the rats diet consists of. Whatever you decide to feed you can range the protein around 20% and below -ish.
Rats don't need a lot of protein so a lot of people go with the lowest protein high quality dog foods for safe measure.
Rats don't need a lot of protein so a lot of people go with the lowest protein high quality dog foods for safe measure.
so a mix of dog food and rat food with alittle extra in it occasionally (vegitables, etc) ?
one other thing i just learned. rats make weird noises. is it normal to hear voclization often, particularly when someone seems to be paying attention to the rat? im just wondering.
one other thing i just learned. rats make weird noises. is it normal to hear voclization often, particularly when someone seems to be paying attention to the rat? im just wondering.
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What do you mean by vocalization? What type of sound is it making? The can communicate besides by squeaking. Is it grinding it's teeth?
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By "rat food" I'm assuming you mean the mix you make yourself and not those less than adequate seed mixes in the pet stores? Than yes. A well balanced diet is good for them. The diet link I provided has everything and more you need to know about feeding them, including what not to.
If it's a type of grinding of the teeth, then they are Bruxing. It either means they are content and happy or in pain and/or nervous. A simple observation of their surroundings and them will tell you which it's likely to be, though. If you're petting them and they're grinding then they're bruxing in happiness!
Rats also do a thing called Boggling. It's where there eyes pop in and out of their head while bruxing due to a muscle spasm in the jaw under the eyes. Just in case you freak out if yours does this.
If you hear any type of wheezing, then it might be time to take them to the vet for meds. Rats lungs are extremely sensitive and they can get RI very easily.
Another thing that should be mentioned is bedding. Never ever, under any circumstances use Pine, Ceder or Corn bedding. A lot of people use fleece, news paper, towels, Carefresh and others alike.
If it's a type of grinding of the teeth, then they are Bruxing. It either means they are content and happy or in pain and/or nervous. A simple observation of their surroundings and them will tell you which it's likely to be, though. If you're petting them and they're grinding then they're bruxing in happiness!
Rats also do a thing called Boggling. It's where there eyes pop in and out of their head while bruxing due to a muscle spasm in the jaw under the eyes. Just in case you freak out if yours does this.
If you hear any type of wheezing, then it might be time to take them to the vet for meds. Rats lungs are extremely sensitive and they can get RI very easily.
Another thing that should be mentioned is bedding. Never ever, under any circumstances use Pine, Ceder or Corn bedding. A lot of people use fleece, news paper, towels, Carefresh and others alike.
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I would be careful using newspaper. Just don't use the glossy paper they stuff inside.By "rat food" I'm assuming you mean the mix you make yourself and not those less than adequate seed mixes in the pet stores? Than yes. A well balanced diet is good for them. The diet link I provided has everything and more you need to know about feeding them, including what not to.
If it's a type of grinding of the teeth, then they are Bruxing. It either means they are content and happy or in pain and/or nervous. A simple observation of their surroundings and them will tell you which it's likely to be, though. If you're petting them and they're grinding then they're bruxing in happiness!
Rats also do a thing called Boggling. It's where there eyes pop in and out of their head while bruxing due to a muscle spasm in the jaw under the eyes. Just in case you freak out if yours does this.
If you hear any type of wheezing, then it might be time to take them to the vet for meds. Rats lungs are extremely sensitive and they can get RI very easily.
Another thing that should be mentioned is bedding. Never ever, under any circumstances use Pine, Ceder or Corn bedding. A lot of people use fleece, news paper, towels, Carefresh and others alike.
By "rat food" I'm assuming you mean the mix you make yourself and not those less than adequate seed mixes in the pet stores? Than yes. A well balanced diet is good for them. The diet link I provided has everything and more you need to know about feeding them, including what not to.
If it's a type of grinding of the teeth, then they are Bruxing. It either means they are content and happy or in pain and/or nervous. A simple observation of their surroundings and them will tell you which it's likely to be, though. If you're petting them and they're grinding then they're bruxing in happiness!
Rats also do a thing called Boggling. It's where there eyes pop in and out of their head while bruxing due to a muscle spasm in the jaw under the eyes. Just in case you freak out if yours does this.
If you hear any type of wheezing, then it might be time to take them to the vet for meds. Rats lungs are extremely sensitive and they can get RI very easily.
Another thing that should be mentioned is bedding. Never ever, under any circumstances use Pine, Ceder or Corn bedding. A lot of people use fleece, news paper, towels, Carefresh and others alike.
ok i think it might be nervious then. it scurries away from me when i try picking it up. is there some way that is simple to get it used to being picked up without it biting me?
and i have it on pine for now..... not by choice though (ive been using a bag of pine i had stored away from i think 1997 that i use with feeder mice)
i assume its the same problem as with ceder bedding?:?
LeilaNami, if i remember correctly you had herps before right? like a uromastyx i think?
if not im thinkin of someone else, do you think aspen bedding or something for snakes like that would be useful?
lol no you got me
Aspen is the only wood shavings that I would recommend for any small animal. The only thing about it is that it is not absorbent enough for the amount of waste that rats produce but as long as you are consistent in your bedding changes then Aspen will be fine. I do prefer Softsorbent for my rats though. It's usually priced in between aspen and Carefresh. I've tried everything and my ratties seem to have the most fun playing around in the Softsorbent lol. It even comes naturally scented with dried mint, rose, or lavender. I've only used the cheaper unscented though.
Aspen is the only wood shavings that I would recommend for any small animal. The only thing about it is that it is not absorbent enough for the amount of waste that rats produce but as long as you are consistent in your bedding changes then Aspen will be fine. I do prefer Softsorbent for my rats though. It's usually priced in between aspen and Carefresh. I've tried everything and my ratties seem to have the most fun playing around in the Softsorbent lol. It even comes naturally scented with dried mint, rose, or lavender. I've only used the cheaper unscented though.