Diet question.

[Sabrina]

I have owned rats for many many years, however when my last rat "Double Dot" passed away in 2011, I just could not get another one. I'm not sure if it was losing her specifically or if I was just beaten down from all of the losses over the years. I always realized that rats had short lives and I was usually good with dealing with their deaths. However this loss hit me so hard that I knew I had to take some time to recover.

I had always had guinea pigs along with my rats so I decided to focus all of my love and attention on them. I have four little sows and they are just wonderful pets. But now that yearning to get back into rat ownership is returning. I feel that I am ready to start looking again.

I'm ashamed to say that most of my rats have come from pet stores. I did have two that I purchased from a breeder. Most of my rats have lived to a few months beyond the age of two.
My last rat did live to be almost four years of age. I always fed them the homemade Molasses Mix diet that I found from the Rat-A-Tat Chat. I'm not sure if I am allowed to name the lady who formulated this diet.

I always took good care of my rats. They had a large cage and my husband even built them a huge playground with a wire top. They always got out of their cage to play in it for at least two to three hours a day. I had a big wheel in there and boy they would just get on it and spin around and around. I only had female rats and I usually just had three to four rats at a time.

Since I worked in veterinary hospitals for most of my life I could always get any necessary medications and I had many rats that underwent surgery to remove mammary tumors. I never did have any of my girls spayed though. I guess I was always afraid that I would lose them during such a complicated procedure. The doctors that I worked for did some rat neuters but never any rat spays.
I retired early so I no longer work in the veterinary field.
Aside from giving a little history about me and sharing my rat stories, I really came on to this forum today to discuss how to proceed with a diet for the new rats that I hope to get within the next few months.

I read all the posts about the homemade diets and I am somewhat confused on what to start feeding my new rats. I always believed that the molasses mix was a good diet to feed, but now after reading all the material, I'm not sure that it is a good way to go. I am hoping that someone here is familiar with this diet and can advise me. I'm not sure if I am allowed to post the diet here but if I am, I will be happy to post the recipe.

I definitely will appreciate any information that anyone can give me. I miss having rats and I feel that I am ready to start my new journey of rat ownership.

On a side note, I am also starting to search for rat breeders as opposed to purchasing from a pet store. I live in the Pacific Northwest, so if anyone knows of a good breeder in my area I would love to know. I'm not adversed to traveling a distance either.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my long post.

 

[SQ]

This is a rescue based forum and we do not support breeding (or buying from pet stores) so you will need to look elsewhere for breeder recommendations.

I don't know much about the molasses mix .... although I would suggest organic cereal (without added sugar or salt) instead of Total because of GMOs, and I wonder about protein levels (rats need low levels) and I question feeding the animal protein .....
Jorats could respond better to your question as she has spent a great deal of time reviewing research on rat nutrition and diet and I believe she has had a look at the diet you mentioned
You may also want to see info in the reference section of this forum

We usually recommend feeding blocks because they are complete nutrition,
but the blocks use GMO ingredients and recent research is demonstrating that GMOs are causing all sorts of health issues and disease in animals

The recommended diet is:
80% good quality block available at all times (Harlan Teklad 2014, Oxbow Regal Rat, and Living World hamster Extrusion are the top 3)
20% of the diet is daily vegs and occasional healthy treats such as a piece of fruit, cooked quinoa, cooked oatmeal, organic pumpkin seeds, a piece of organic cereal such as heritage os, cooked chick peas, etc

Keep protein levels low
Stay away from food that contains added sugar or salt
Stay away from GMOs, for example GMO corn can kill rats

forbidden foods list (molasses mix is also on this page): http://ratfanclub.org/diet.html

Hmmmm .... vegan alternative to the mix (found link on an old thread ion this forum)
http://vegweb.com/recipes/debbies-molasses-mix-rat-food

hope this helps

 

[jorats]

Hi and welcome. Sometimes a break is all we need to repair out broken hearts. I do hope you consider rescuing this time around. They are equally as deserving and giving a home to an otherwise homeless rat really feels good.
As for the diet, I'm very leery of homemade diets. Debbie D has put in some time and effort in hers and if you can follow her diet exactly without changing it, then it should be a good one. The fact that your last rat lived such a long time should be a testament to that diet.
A good general rule with rats: low protein, low fat, no sugar, no salt.

 

[Sabrina]

Thank you SQ and jorats. You have both been very helpful to me. I will definitely look into rescuing for my future ratties. I have no idea why I never thought of a rescue rat. I guess I always assumed that since their lives are so short that very few people looked to rehome them. All of my guinea pigs, with the exception of my first two back in the early eighties, have been rescues. Even my canary is a rescue. He belonged to an elderly lady who was going into a nursing home.
I do believe that I will continue with Debbie's molasses mix. I do follow it exactly and SQ you've given me a great idea on using organic cereal. I feed my guinea pigs a complete organic vegetable diet. We have a wonderful organic market in my area. I also have an organic garden. However this Summer has been so hot and dry in Seattle that my garden hasn't been as good as in past years. The cool Fall weather can't come soon enough for me.

 

[SQ]

I was wondering about the diet because of the black strap molasses .............. and how added sugar isn't good
Is it ok because only a small amount is used?

 

[jorats]

Black strap molasses is also high in iron and calcium as well as magnesium. It also helps in binding and palatability. I don't think there's enough of it in a full mix to make it harmful.

 

[Sabrina]

jorats I agree with you. I was never too concerned about the amount of sugar from the molasses. My biggest worry was from the Tofu. I have read so many articles debating the pros and cons of Soy and its implication in breast cancer.
I guess you can find negative information on just about any food product. I probably should just let my history speak for itself. I adopted my first rat in 1988. She was abandoned in an empty apartment. I believe she was an older rat so I didn't have her very long. I did feed her a regular rat food diet. When she passed away I promptly got two more rats and then I discovered Debbie and her homemade diet. From 1988 to 2011 I had rats continuously and they were fed the molasses mix diet exclusively. In all those rats, I probably had 4 or 5 of them develop mammary tumors. I had the tumors removed, with only 1 of the rats developing a second tumor about 9 months after her first surgery. Since she was getting up in years by that time, I choose not to put her under surgery again. She lived another 5 months and then when the tumor became large enough to cause her difficulties, I had her euthanized.

I would say that most of my rats lived an average life span. I had two that exceeded the average. Double Dot who was almost four years of age and Baby who made it to the age of 3 years plus 4 months. I can't say that their diet played any part in their longevity because there are so many factors involved. Certainly their genetics played a big role in it.

With my rats, as my guinea pigs, I was very obsessed with keeping their environment very clean. Their Carefresh bedding was changed every 5 days and their cage was taken outside and scrubbed and then left in the sun to dry during the warm days of spring and summer. During that time the rats played in their playground. In my opinion good husbandry and exercise play a big part in how long our small pets live. I've heard so many stories of rats who passed away before their first birthday. When I would talk to those people I'd always find out that the rat lived in a too small cage and was never allowed out to run around. It always sadden me to hear these stories. Rats are such wonderful little creatures. They deserve so much more in life. I could go on forever about how much joy all of mine have given me. According to my non-rat owning friends, I do. Lol!

 

[SQ]

Just make sure the tofu is organic because of GMOs

 

[jorats]

From what I've been reading about tofu, it's definitely not a bad food. But I agree, organic is best.