How often should I offer a sick rat food?

[noodlebutts]

My rat Zeke turned two in july and is now at the stage of a PT where he is having a lot difficulty holding food and acting very confused when i offer him baby food, and i need to keep redirecting him to it so he will eat it. He is currently recovering from a resp infection too and has lost weight.

BUT he is also seeming very happy still and gets around his cage okay with his friends and is trying to eat his solid oxbow food.

I am mushing up oxbow/water and mixing it with some baby food/cereal and giving him ensure from a syringe to help keep him hydrated and fed while he is still happy and acting comfortable. How often should I be offering him food and about how much should I get him to try and eat do you think?

 

[jorats]

Hi, I would be offering your little guy food probably 4 times a day at least. I believe they can eat 55 grams of food. But at this point, I would let him eat as much as he wants.

 

[SQ]

I currently have two rats with PT - Sam and Squirrel

They both have difficulty eating so I put soft food into their cage twice a day - blocks made into mush, and also cooked quinoa .... they also get soft treats they enjoy such as peas, greens, cooked mashed sweet potato, cooked & mashed carrots, watermelon, banana pieces, etc twice a day.

I am also syringe feeding organic soy infant formula (for the nutrition) thickened with baby cereal, at least twice a day
and they get baby cereal syringe fed twice a day when they get their meds for PT

I read that rats need 30 ml of fluid a day and adults can take 10 ml orally at a time (smaller rats eat less) so I try to give 10 ml of "food" by syringe 4 times a day ... but as Jorats said, I only give what they are willing to take

Many people also feed baby food

All the best with Zeke.
I hope he is soon feeling better and that he has a lot of good quality time left with you

 

[dspch911]

30 mls of fluid is what we were always told too. Although we were told that when giving fluids SQ, three times a day 10 mls each time.