Rats Of Keona
Diet
Diets and feeding practices in any species are a highly controversial topic. The decision on what to feed your pets, kids, or yourself are usually the result of a combination of things including your own set of values. What I feed my rats is ever evolving based on new findings and research I come across. This being said, this is an overview of what we feed and why.
The basis of our diet is straight grains mixed with seeds, nuts and cereals. Items such as flaked barley, flaked oats, puffed rice, millet, cracked corn, flaked peas, lentils, various nuts in the shell, some seeds (in moderation and based on the rats' overall condition), cereals, brown rice, and pastas (primarily whole wheat or legume based pastas). The exact ingredient list varies from month to month, though the base grain and seed mixes are always the same. I generally buy 50lb bags of rolled oats and rolled barley at Tractor Supply. I also buy the bird seed bags of red millet and a shell free nut and seed mix there. Then I watch for sales on whole nuts in their shells at the grocery store. Walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, etc are excellent sources of vitamins and healthy fats and, when in the shell, also provide mental and physical stimulation as an added bonus. Sunflower seeds and peanuts are fed in moderation, if at all (sometimes there are pieces in the seed/millet mixed bags, but these are used in small amounts). Some fats and oils are essential to keeping a nice coat (as well as a variety of other body functions), so some nuts and seeds in the mix provide these in balance. Sometimes, I'll add Blue Buffalo Basics Salmon and Potato dog kibble to the grain mix, though this is not done with every batch.
Along with the grain mix, they get lightly steamed veggies, cooked beans and rice, salmon, hard boiled eggs, and some "table scraps" from our evening dinner - this is the leftovers from our meals - NOT the parts we would throw out. For treats we've found our rats LOVE yogurt mixed with baby cereal (add the baby cereal to give the yogurt a thicker consistancey so it's easier to feed from a spoon), and Kix cereal (Kix is higher in sugar and reserved only for special treats). They get either hard boiled eggs OR a serving of canned salmon once a week, cooked beans and rice once or twice a week, and veggies every other day, on top of their grain mix. They are fed just the amount they'd eat in 20 hours, with 4 hours a day their bowls being empty. This type of feeding helps promote longevity and insures they finish everything and not just pick out the parts they like. Very rarely do my rats have food sitting in their cage for more then 24hrs.
We make the rats special "sandwhiches" a couple times a week as well. We take pieces of whole wheat bread, dab with flax or fish oil, then sprinkle seaweed powder and flax meal on. This gives the rats Omega 3's and 6's they may be missing with their grain mix. Good fatty oils help the coat and cardiovascular function. I personally take fish oil capsules and give them to my dogs and have seen great results.
I do not make lab blocks or dog kibble a staple because of all the perservatives and such found in them. I believe that fresh is usually best, so try to avoid any heavily processed foods. Preseratives such as Ethoxyquin (a pesticide and perservative also found in people's food) and menadione sodium bisulfite (artificial source of vitamin K) are in many dog and rat foods and can have some scary side effects. I also think that heavily processed foods should be fed minimally in general and that a varied diet including fresh foods would always be a healthier choice. Most dog foods voluntarily stopped using ethoxyquin when concerns arose with it causing reproductive problems amongst other things. Menadione sodium bisulfite, however, is in MANY different animal foods - including ALL rat lab blocks I've come across. Both of these ingredients have been associated with various health problems in both rats and other animals. Here are some links regarding these ingredients and you can make your own decision regarding them:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=menadione
http://www.naturalnews.com/024244.html
http://www.wellpet.org/nutrition/ethoxyquin2.htm
http://www.holisticvetpetcare.com/ethoxyquin.htm
Here are some references we have used to develop our feeding principals:
http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=shunamite
http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=generaldiet
http://www.afrma.org/bc_diettumor.htm
http://www.ratz.co.uk/feeding.html
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4758&page=11
http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=feedingimmune