Are You Feeding Your Pet Rat Properly?

A common misconception by those who don’t have pet rats is that rats are alley skulking ‘garbage eaters’ where everything placed before them is savagely torn apart and eagerly devoured.

This is not the case and your pet rats need to be fed a well balanced and nutritionally complete diet. Pellets, or pellet blocks, formulated especially for rats should be available from your local pet store and this type of diet is generally considered best for these pets.

Your pet store may carry loose mixes that are very well balanced and complete in dietary needs, but that’s only good if your pet rats eat everything in the mix. Many rats won’t and your pets may be some of those who pick out their favourite bits and leaves the wholesome stuff alone. Feeding your pet rats pellet blocks doesn’t give them the opportunity to pick and choose which parts they want to eat.

If you can’t find a good rat food, a rat and mouse diet that meets the same general requirement of low calorie and low fat is a good compromise.

Hamster, gerbil and other rodent feeds are not a good substitute because their nutritional needs are different and these mixes usually contain alfalfa which is not very digestible to rats.

While rat blocks should make the basic diet, a variety of fresh foods can be used to supplement their meals and help keep your rats healthy and prevent pellet boredom. Your pets can achieve optimum nutrition and health with small amounts of vegetables like broccoli, potatoes, peas and carrots being added to their normal menu. Fruits would include apples, grapes, melons, bananas, and plums.

Your pets can also be given cooked liver and other cooked lean meats, cooked beans and unsweetened breakfast cereals. Pet rats can enjoy leftovers from your own meals if given in moderation and if fatty or sugary scraps are avoided.

Rats have to maintain a high fibre and low fat diet, so it’s necessary to limit your pets’ intake of higher fat foods like cheese, seeds and nuts.

Everybody likes a treat and rats are no exception. Small dog biscuits are good and you can even use some of the fruits to this advantage. Ignore the rats’ sweet tooth and resist the temptations to feed them sugar and chocolate. Even many of the pet store goodies like yogurt drops and treat sticks are quite high in sugar content and fat. When your pet rats give you those eyes, hide the candy bar and give them a blueberry instead.

Besides the sweets already mentioned, avoid giving your pets any raw beans or sweet potato, cabbage, brussel sprouts, green potatoes, caffeinated beverages and carbonated drinks. Strange as it may seem considering what many people think about rats, if it’s not good for humans then it’s probably not good for your pets.

As you can see, rats enjoy a variety in their meals but are not the ‘garbage-hounds’ of lore, at least not our home-bred pet rat varieties. Keep foods in moderation, use common sense, and enjoy your pets.