Nursing rats, KMR Step 2, and Lactol?

Question

I earlier posted two questions, one about if my rats were pregnant, and also one about one of them having given birth and maternal instincts and whether they would appear or not. Now, my girl gave birth yesterday, and my other girl has given birth a couple of hours ago. I want to give her lots of protein and nutritious wholemeal foods so the babies are very healthy and happy. She has a lovely nest box and it looks like she's doing ok. I've read I should give her a KMR step 2 mixture for kittens because this will give her great nutrition. KMR is a kitten mix, but I can't get hold of it cheap enough. I wondered if Lactol (for puppies) would work? I know it has a higher protein probably, and more fat also, but would this be ok? And how much of whicher mixture should I feed her? Are there any other nutritious food like eggs and uncooked pasta, that I can give her to give the kittens and her the best start? Thanks for any advice.

P.S, she has 9 kittens, and the otehr girl has had 10.

Answer 1

Awwww, rat kittens are sooooooo cute!!  when my female rat had her kittens, i gave her this soy milk formula called, "Similac,  Isomil Advance." its a formula that is very nutricious and has every vitamin in the book!  she raised 7 happy, healthy kits with no problem. That Lactol is ment only for puppies because of all the fat it has in it. fat is NOT GOOD FOR RATS!!!  please dont give her that...  the stuff i was talking about you can get it at your local store for only 6 bucks!!  it is the best thing you can give to her!!  no doubt!!

   hope my answer helps your kittens!   <3 Miley

Answer 2

i'd just give her some eggs and not worry about the kitten/puppy milk replacer. i only give replacement milk if some of the babies seem to have issues eating or aren't eating enough. give her some eggs and make sure she has plenty of fresh water  and regular food. i don't feed mine any different unless it's to give the moms more food than normal, but i don't feed replacement milk and they all come out healthy!

Answer 3

Generally food for baby animals is high in nutrience so kitten food which is high in protein would benefit her. I give my cats Kitten food from when I know they're pregnant to give the maximum nutrients that also includes kitten milk to make her drink more ( milk tastes better then water) so I think KMR would be good in a small ammount      Congatulations have fun:-)