Whey Protein

Shop with us on Ebay
Fins us on Amazon
Advertise with us
The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

melissa657

Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2011
Messages
5
Location
ON, Canada
Can rats be given whey protein powder as a dietary supplement? My mother and I have been looking to make our own food for my rats, and she has tons of Fitness Whey Protein powder that she "is willing to share with them" to embellish their diet if they can have it, and if it'll have any benefit whatsoever.
 
Right now they have standard store-bought rat food (grains, etc. not the blocks) which we supplement with fruits, vegetables, and the occasional spoon of yogurt, peanut butter, small pieces of meat or other things. We haven't started making our own rat food yet.

Just wondered if they would need more protein than we were giving them or if it would have been fine to add protein powder to a granola bar type recipe for them.
 
So far, your rat food is very lacking, I suggest you do a lot more research on the vitamin supplements that are vital to their health. If you want to switch meat for the whey protein, that is doable but not both.
Rats should have 10% of good quality protein and 4% fat.
 
With my wording, I can see how it seems lacking, but I assure you it is not to the extent it seems. They get beans (though not too much, I share a room with these girls!), slices of apple, grapes, watermelon and many other fruits and vegetables often, yogurt drops as treats, actual yogurt, cereal, cooked potato... Many, if not all, we've seen in rat diets listed on the web, and we try to do it in proportional amounts, especially as sites suggest. We make sure not to give them too much protein--the whey powder was more a possibility for adding to (as above) a sort of granola bar that could be given as part of a new diet or an occasional treat. I assure you I research things well, especially a pet. This includes goldfish. :p

I DO agree that their diet isn't the best, which is why I plan on revamping it. (Although I doubt it will ever be ideal, since my mother and sister spoil them with anything they have that does not fall on the forbidden list...) I've only owned rats for about 2 and a half months now, so I still have much to learn. We are actually planning to switch to blocks and formulate a diet around that, but last time we were at the petstore all they had were hamster food blocks, which I'm not really willing to incorporate into their diet... Hopefully next time they'll have some, or else we'll either search elsewhere or simply make a complete diet from scratch based off "recipes" on the web.

I apologize for the very lengthy reply, I just didn't want to come off as an ignorant owner, as ignorance, especially in animal owners, is something I abhor.
 
This is the type of information you need to be looking at, and then figure out which foods will meet these requirements on a daily basis.

The Nutritional Requirements of Rats
as set by the National Research Council, USA

(g = gram, mg = milligram, mcg = microgram)

A rat will typically eat about 15 g of dry food blocks a day. So a kg of diet will feed between 52 and 76 rats, depending on their size. A rat needs about 60 calories a day depending on size.

Macronutrients

Fat 5%

Protein
growth & breeding 15%
maintenance 5%

Essential Fatty Acids 0.6%

Micronutrients

Vitamins Approximate need for one rat per day

A 0.6 mg/kg of diet 0.11 - 1.2 mcg or 0.37 - 4 IU

D 1000 IU/kg of diet 13 - 19.2 IU

E 35 mg/kg of diet 0.46 - 0.67 mg or 0.69 - 1 IU

Niacin 20 mg/kg of diet 0.26 - 0.38 mg

Pantothenic Acid 8 mg/kg 0.1 - 0.15 mg

Riboflavin 0.8 mg/1000 kcal of diet about 0.05 mg

Thiamin 4 mg/kg of diet 0.053 - 0.077 mg

B6 7 mg/kg of diet 0.09 - 0.13 mg

B12 50 mcg/kg of diet 0.66 - 0.96 mcg

(For Vitamin A, 1 IU = 0.3 mcg, for Vitamin E one IU = 0.67 mg)

Vitamin A is one of the few vitamins that can cause problems if the dose is too high. Chronic toxicity symptoms are hair loss and dry rough skin

Minerals

Calcium 5 g/kg of diet 0.066 - 0.96 g

Phosphorus 4 g/kg of diet 0.05 - 0.77 g

Flouride 1 mg/kg of diet 0.013 - 0.019 mg

Iodine 0.15 mg/kg of diet 2 - 2.9 mcg

Chloride 5 mg/kg of diet 0.066 - 0.96 mg

Iron 35 mg/kg of diet 0.46 - 0.67 mg

Copper 5 mg/kg of diet 0.066 - 0.96 mg

Magnesium 800 mg/kg of diet 10.5 - 15.4 mg

Potassium 35 mg/kg of diet 0.066 - 0.0.67 mg

Manganese 50 mg/kg of diet 0.66 - 0.96 mg

Sulfur 3 mg/kg of diet 0.039 - 0.058 mg

Selenium 0.1 mg/kg of diet 1.3 - 1.9 mcg

Zinc 12 mg/kg of diet 0.16 - 0.23 mg

Chromium 0.3 mg/kg of diet 3.9 - 5.8 mcg

(note: other research has shown that giving chromium picolinate at 189 mcg/lb daily extends the lifespan of rats)
Click to expand...

from: http://ratfanclub.org/nutreq.html
 
SQ- Don't worry, I read it when you provided the link. :) That is why we are hoping to get our hands on lab blocks next time we're at the petstore, which will be soon. I'm not a fan of store bought grain mixes since companies are more interested in money than animal well being, and the animal has more opportunity to pick and choose...
 
melissa657 said:
We are actually planning to switch to blocks and formulate a diet around that, but last time we were at the pet store all they had were hamster food blocks, which I'm not really willing to incorporate into their diet... Hopefully next time they'll have some, or else we'll either search elsewhere or simply make a complete diet from scratch based off "recipes" on the web.
Click to expand...

Living World Hamster Extrusion is actually much better for rats than many of the "rat" blocks (Kaytee, Martin's) frequently sold at pet stores. if you prefer to get a rat block, you can get HT from Flowertown Chinchillas (they ship across Canada) as well as Oxbow. Montreal Critters offers flat rate shipping across Canada and they have Oxbow as well. Read through the thread SQ linked earlier, it looks at a lot of the blocks available in Canada and sees how they measure up to meeting rats' nutritional requirements.

ETA: Extrusion can be found all over the place, including Zeller's and Walmart, not just pet and pet supply stores.
 
Victoria- That is rather unsettling. Can companies really not put forth quality animal products these days? Thank you for that information.

I'll be looking into Flower town Chinchillas most definitely.
 
There is very little control on the pet food industry. Many cat and dog foods (not just the cheap ones) are truly unsuitable for cats and dogs, why would small mammals be any different?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top