Is the food im giving to my rats ok?

Question

its called Kaytee perfect choice! it has peanuts, corn, pellets, sunflower seeds some dried fruit! but i read that peanuts weren't good for rats... but this food is made for rats!

Answer 1

Unfortunately, it is utter rubbish food. All of those ingredients are bad for rats except as treats.

The food is made for rats, but that doesn't mean it's good for them. McDonald's is made for people, but would you be healthy if you ate it every day? Have you ever seen Super-size Me? Yuck!

Kaytee foods are made to turn a profit. Period. That means few vitamins and minerals, bad ingredient, and little time spent actually figuring out what the animal needs.

Try Suebee's Mix instead. If you feed it with a good low fat dog food, it make a great diet:

http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

Answer 2

Kaytee brand food isn't very nutritional, especially ones with nuts and seeds. It also has a preservative in it that could potentially harm a rodent. I feed my hamster fresh foods like chopped carrots, lettuce from the fridge everyday. Maybe you can try something like what I do if you'd like. It's just a suggestion.

please go to my hamster site and tell me your hamsters name for one of my pages. The site is under construction. http://www.freewebs.com/louiethehamster/...

Answer 3

i would stick to lab blocks. that way they have to get all the nutrients and not just pick and choose like the mix foods.  

Ryan D, stop being immature and if you want to comment on things like that than don't do so in anything in this section.  

Answer 4

Well, no. :x

You shouldn't feed them seed mixes. They're not very healthy, and the seeds and nuts are very fatty. Also, the corn they use can sometimes contain mold known to be cancerous. They also tend to ONLY eat the seeds and avoid the few good parts of the mixes! Not to mention Kaytee isn't the best brand of food to begin with..

What you want to feed your rats is lab blocks. Harland Tekland and Oxbow are agreed to be the two best, although you'd have to order them online. They also sell some at pet stores. Available at Petsmart is a good block by MAZURI. I know Petsmart has begun to stock Oxbow for rabbits and guinea pigs, so hopefully they will also begin to stock it for rats! That would be wonderful.

You then supplement that with fresh fruits and veggies. They can have nuts as a treat sometimes, but it should not be the base of their diet. They also can have table foods as treats (whatever you might be eating for dinner.. chicken, pork chops, string beans, etc!), plain popcorn, Cheerios, etc.

EDIT: Ryan D, with your low level of tact I can only imagine the "insightful" contributions you must make to the Singles & Dating section.

Answer 5

When I had my rat "Cupcake" I feed her Kaytee too and the only thing was she would pick out the stuff she liked and left the rest there. I never was able to find a food that she woul;d eat all the way. She seemed to only like the fruit pieces, the Pumpkin seeds, and the oats or cereal looking pieces and the dried corn. I would supplement her diet with fresh foods that we had in the fridge, not too much just like snacks. She really liked carrots her fav, but we also feed her lettuce random fresh fruits, no celery though because when I had a Guinea Pig they said celery strings could get stuck in throat.

Answer 6

Nope. These mixes are quite possibly THE worst food for any rodent. Nuts and seeds are way too fattening, dried fruit probably contains a load of access sugar, and corn is both fattening, hish in sugar and can potentially carry lethal fungus. Mixes like these are like fast food for people.

What you want is a lab block food. One that consist of strictly pellets, and nothing else. Anopther alternative is to make a healthy mix yourself. You can find more about homemade and retail foods here:

http://www.ratfanclub.org/helpinfo.html (under Diet)

http://ratguide.com/care/nutrition/diet....

http://www.petratscanada.com/ratcare.htm... (nder Diet)

http://www.ratz.co.uk/feeding.html

You also should give them some treats like fresh veggies and fruits, and somethings like cooked pasta or meat. Giving them leftover bones from dinner is lots of fun as well.

Answer 7

hmmm.. rats for pets.   Allow me to predict the future...

I see a longley woman in a small apartment with 3 cages full of plump-over-fed rats...she's talking to herself and her rats like they're people.  Hum...this is you....have fun in your future.

Answer 8

NEVER give your rats Kaytee food. It has harmful chemicals in it that you may not know about. Also, you should feed your rats a pellet or lab blocks not a mix because they will pick out their favorites and not eat the nutritional stuff. he/She will only eat the stuff he/she likes which is most likely the fattening stuff like the Sunflower seeds which should only be given to them as a treat not as a daily meal. I recommend these foods.  

http://www.kimsarkrescue.org/content/vie...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/pr...

-Rat Lover-