What are the problems with feeding dog food alone?

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I think it's kind of suprising how little is known about rat nutrition compared to that of cats and dogs considering they have been lab animals for what seems to be forever. It wasn't until recently they realized that rats need lower protein before it was believed that because they were small and have high metabolisms that they needed more protein, now that turns out to be wrong. Unfortunately I don't feel confident in the research done in rat nutrtion to try feeding my own mix.

And about the whole raw thing, I'm feeding a pre-mixed raw diet that has all the supplements or whatever in them however there's a lot of confusing stuff out there, but essentially you shouldn't need supplements nor buy pre-mixed ground stuff because it's all a rip off but I' a colllege student without a lot of money and this raw diet I found is cheaper than feeding canned only and more time-efficient for me!! I can only do my best.

Ya Jo, a lot of vets won`t agree to raw feeding and think it`s dangerous but it`s also amazing how little vets know about animal nutrition unless your vet is an animal nutrionist they usually just whatever the vet food companies tell them. I used to work for a vet and the foods they selll have ingredients comparable to most grocery store brands, and most vets feel its the best stuff out there. I`m going the route of an animal nutrionist I think nutrition is the key to good health and want to learn all I can to help alll animals (farm, pet and otherwise).

And I'm happy to announe that the Oxbow came in after three weeks so the boys are very happy.
 
I got my Oxbow today too. :joy:

Feeding a block sure takes the guess work out of making your own. But one day... I'll sit down and really figure it out.
 
I wouldn't feed anything Nutro dog food... they have had quite a few recalls on their products and their are some things that company uses in some of it's food that would make your skin crawl. I won't go into detail. :shock:
But I did used to feed my male rats dog food way back in the day when I was not able to get my hands on lab blocks. I lived in a small town and wasn't as knowledgable about rats as I am know.
 
Jo, don't completely discount raw as a viable feeding solution for dogs. Most vets don't support it because they don't get a cut of the revenue if they tell you to feed raw. The foods they sell in the clinic are a big money maker for them and are, largely, crap. And, the food companies that supply to the vets have a large part in educating the vets on diet, leaving things a tad one sided.

Yes, feeding raw does involve supplements if you are making it yourself. Commercially made raws typically don't, and if they do it is usually only kelp. A $25 container of kelp supplement is like.... months and months worse.

As for salmonella... well, their digestive tracts are different from ours. Salmonella really isn't a concern, as the food shoots through them too fast to absorb it. An outbreak of Salmonella caused by tainted commercial dry dog food led to 62 cases of human infection but no reports of the disease affecting animals fed the tainted food. On the other hand, there has been a reported case where two cats fed a raw diet developed salmonellosis and died as a result. This was a similar issue recently with some treats. Lots of sick humans, not so many sick dogs.

Raw is typically safe if the meats are handled correctly, especially in a healthy dog with no immunity issues. I am still too new to the scene to know whether or not I'd feed raw to a dog that I knew had a serious condition and needed very specific things from their food.

And, finally, a lot of previous issues with raw foods were diets designed to feed, say... racing greyhounds who were fed a raw diet, but with meat that was not human grade. I also need to look further into the number of dogs that typically have salmonella in their systems and shed it in their stools but are not sick. Something around 35%, if I remember correctly.

End rant. As soon as someone develops a viable, well tested whole food or raw diet for ratties, I'll switch to that.
 
If I had the time and energy and if Jax was healthy, I would definitely research the raw and give it a go.

I don't think I'd ever do raw for rats though but anything well tested and proven to be good would definitely be worth a try.
 
Jo, you said you just ordered oxbow? Do your rats like it? My rats hated it and actually refused to eat it...when they started to appear to be losing wieght, I was done with it!!!
 
My girls always eat their HT first, but will eat the oxbow when the HT is gone. When I started with that combo I saw really good results, much better than the Mazuri or the one I bought at Pet Valu
 
lilratsy43 said:
Jo, you said you just ordered oxbow? Do your rats like it? My rats hated it and actually refused to eat it...when they started to appear to be losing weight, I was done with it!!!
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It's not their favorite but they definitely eat it when there's no HT.

Before switching over to HT and Oxbow, my rats were fat and lazy, once on the good food and strict diet of blocks and veggies only, they started to lose weight, they slimmed right down. My males are mostly under 500 grams, except for two piggies who like to binge on Oxbow. lol
Have you noticed when people ask us to describe males, many will call them lazy squishes... mine aren't lazy anymore, they are just as hyper and on the go as the girls since being slim. :)
If for some reason, I could never buy HT again, I would buy only Oxbow for my rats and they would have to learn to like it.
All living beings should eat to live, not live to eat. Now if only I can follow that rule. lol
 
Ok, I havent read all the responses yet, and I am definitely no expert, but the lab blocks as a base diet (or dog food, or any prepackaged totally complete nutrition) bothers me a bit. In all the research I have done on dogs, cats, and humans, you dont want a complete meal every time. You need variance, you need different things at different times. Can you imagine eating a lab block type meal every day? I just dont see how all that processed food can be good. I am not saying I never feed it, but the reason I feed my dogs raw (all with vets approval, not that it matters) is because optimal nutrition cant be found in one convenient bag. I havent done enough research on rats yet to know what I want to do, but considering what scavengers they are, it seems important to have a varied diet.
 
Wild rats are scavengers... but that's with a 9 month average life span. So really you want better for your rats.
In a perfect world, rats would get a good balanced natural diet but it takes time to sit down and really work it out. You've got to find out exactly what nutrients they need. They need more carbs than anything else, they need low fat and low protein. They also need their fresh veggies... then you have to sit down and make sure your rat eats from every single item as to make sure they get their full nutrients.
 
greenmagick said:
Ok, I havent read all the responses yet, and I am definitely no expert, but the lab blocks as a base diet (or dog food, or any prepackaged totally complete nutrition) bothers me a bit. In all the research I have done on dogs, cats, and humans, you dont want a complete meal every time. You need variance, you need different things at different times. Can you imagine eating a lab block type meal every day? I just dont see how all that processed food can be good. I am not saying I never feed it, but the reason I feed my dogs raw (all with vets approval, not that it matters) is because optimal nutrition cant be found in one convenient bag. I havent done enough research on rats yet to know what I want to do, but considering what scavengers they are, it seems important to have a varied diet.
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Well, when I had access to lab blocks or Oxbow i should say, I fed that and differnt fruits and veggies everyday and whatever I had for dinner, they get some as long as its healthy for them. A lot of people do that too to give them variety and stuff like that. I just gave them the lab blocks because the food in my house could not give them the full nutrition that they need.

And I DO think that optimal nutrition can be found in one convientient bag because a lot of the high quality dog and cat food brands such as wellness, Inova EVO etc. give all the nutrition they need. They have no fillers and crap in them. We feed our dog Wellness and he is a great dane who is 17 years old!! Thats extremely old for a huge dog like that.
 
Wow, that is very old for a Great Dane, how wonderful!!

My rats get their blocks every day and a variety of veggies, they really don't seem to mind, especially those that live to 40+ months. :wink2:
 
I have a book which contains a LOT of rat mixes in. Most are using two or three brands and mixing them together with stuff like dry pasta, cereal etc. There is quite a few that use dog biscuit (or Kibble, depending where your from), but they only make up around 20% of the diet. I've also seen weight reduction diets that involve 50% lab blocks, and 50% Naturediet Lite which is a wet dog food. I fed the wet food to my rat when he was sick, with lab blocks soaked in soya milk and baby food etc - along with fresh greens because he was disabled in his back end and had trouble sitting up to eat hard food.

I'd also love a great dane!! :D
 

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