My Rat is quite chubby, can anyone give me some diet ideas?

Question

When he sleeps on his head, I can see a little bit of flab under his arms.

I'm scared he's going to have a heart attack. His roommate isn't as fat. They have a piece of pasta each everyday, and they have an unhealthy treat every other day. Can somebody tell me what I can feed them to loose a bit of weight? Please nobody say poison, because I love my Ratty Boys. :) x*x

Answer 1

Stop the pasta. Even tho it's healthy from the grain part, it's still fattening, especially to a rat who should be eating normal rat food, which you should be giving each rat only 2 spoonfuls of each day. You could try cutting it down to 1 spoonful a day for starters. Try giving him carrots and lettuce. Cut out sweets completely til your boy looks thinner and healthier. Also, take him out of his cage at least once a day, rat-proof a room, and let him run around for at least 10-15 min. Play with him while he runs around, like tickle him. This will gradually get him excited about "play" time and he'll eventually become more energetic while he's out for exercising, thus burning more lil ratty calories. Good luck, but don't make him lose too much weight!

Answer 2

Pasta has some nutritional value, but too much of it will make him fat.

Limit their special treats to 2-3 times a week and try to turn finding the treats into a game which they love!!!! Maybe a small cardboard box to put the treats in and make it a challenge for them to figure how to get to it.

Also, the critter kabob which you can get at some pet stores, is a good idea to hold food, while giving the rat some exploration fun!

The bird section in the pet store may spark some ideas???

Small animals need 75% of food blocks and 25% of seed for a well-balanced diet, avoid finickiness,  and to prevent further obesity. As well as exercise...they need to be out of their cage everyday. It would be a good idea to invest in large small pet play pin so they have room to roam. However, you cannot leave them alone cause they'll find a way out.

You can also give rats:

Grapes

Apples

Oranges-

- don't give them the rind; this is a known carcinogen in male rats

- Also, avoid orange juice as it often contains orange rind.

Apricots

Bananas

Carrots

Broccoli

Romaine lettuce-

Please don't give iceberg lettuce; it's a very empty food and contains a lot of moisture...diarrhea

Cucumbers

Spinach-

- highly recommended to give more often than others; excellent source of vitamin K, A, and other vitamins and minerals

Chicken bones-

-Great for teeth. Be sure to remove excess meat and any fatty parts. Use common sense!

Dog Biscuits-

-Very healthy for rats.

Popcorn-

-Please keep it unsalted and unbuttered. You can make a bag and split it with your rats!

Small Animal Tasty Twigs from T-Rex-

They are an empty food, but a wonderful occassional treat. Can also be used for training purposes.

Crickets-

Yes, LIVE crickets! Your rats will love these more than anything. Feed with caution; they're very high in protein!

Kashi cereal

Hope this helps and good luck!

Answer 3

i had a fat rat before and i help it loose wait giving it exercise you can buy rat runners (the ball) and another thing to get your rat moving is to put there food ball in okward places soo they haft to work to get to it and so on

Answer 4

First of all, check the usual feed you give them and feed no more than is the rat-sized serving suggestion on the packet. For example, if you have a complete cereal mix and it says 20 grams, only feed 20 grams or if you feed lab blocks the amount of blocks it recommends. Pasta is quite fatty, so perhaps you should consider changing their daily treat to a small piece of special rat-treat biscuits or a single rat chocolate drop. Make sure the *unhealthy* treat, by which I'm presuming you mean some kind of human food, is given only once a week instead because it could be that treat which is making him fat. Change your every other day treat to something more healthy such as a small piece of carrot or apple - they may not seem like treats to you, but trust me, rats LOVE them.

Another option, is to try and split your rats daily feed into two portions, one in the morning and one in the evening as he is then less likely to over eat what he doesn't need at the time. You could also try wrapping up some of your rats daily feed into a pinata or kong toy, even just a toilet roll tube stuffed with kitchen roll, so that he has to work for his food to speed up his metabolism.

You should also increase his exercise - male rats can be pretty lazy, but try to get both of them running around outside of the cage for at least an hour a day, because it may be exercise they are lacking.

Hope this helps!