Your Rats diet is possibly the most important aspect of keeping a healthy and active Rat while reducing the risks of health problems due to unbalanced nutrition.
There are a large amount of diseases that can be avoided or at least reduced by feeding your pet a balanced and vitamin efficient diet.
While balance is important in a Rats diet you should avoid giving the same foods continuosly as Rats do like a varied diet. You may have a day or 2 that your Rats diet does not meet all nutritional needs but generally that will even out over the next 5 days or so.
This list is made to assist you in choosing foods that are appropriate to feed your Rat a balanced diet without it becoming boring for your pet.
Rats generally do not require more than around 15% of their diet to be protein unless you have a pregnant, lactating or growing rat at which point their diet can consist of around 25% protein to help promote growth. Too much protein can lead to a variety of problems including skin allergies.
Your Rats main diet should consist of Rat cubes as these have a variety of nutritional needs in one block. The problem with feeding your Rat only seed mixes is that they can pick and choose which seeds they will eat resulting in an unbalanced diet. The Rat cubes (also called lab blocks) have a variety of seeds and vitamins all contained in the one cube so Rats must eat all of the combined ingredients ensuring a more balanced diet however we do not recommend that the Rat cubes become the only food offered as there is no way to be 100% sure that they are getting all of their nutritional needs met because there is no information regarding what ingredient are contained within the cubes (we have not, as yet, come across any Rat cubes sold commercially that list any ingredients on their packaging).
Protein rich food include:
Cooked chicken, preferably offered without the skin.
Lean red meat.
Cooked liver.
Chicken bones are great to give as a treat as they help wear down your Rats teeth and the Rats love the marrow.
Fish, please be sure there are no bones.
Cheese can also be offered occasionally especially good for pregnant and nursing females as it is high in calcium and protein. Not all Rats will accept cheese.
Avocado, please remove the skin and seed before offering as both have some toxicity.
Yoghurts containing probiotics, especially good for Rats that are undergoing antibiotic treatments.
Please do not feed you Rat high fat foods regularly as this can increase the risk of tumor growths. Some fibres can reduce the Blood Cholesterol Levels which can be of aid to Rats that are suffering from a diet too high in Fats. Some foods that can help lower the BCL are:
Beans (be sure they are cooked), like baked beans & soy beans.
Chick Peas
Nuts & seeds
Oat Bran
Rice Bran
Psyllium.
Fibre also helps promote intestinal health, bowel regularity, assists weight control and may help prevent colon cancer.
The amount of sodium offered and consumed should be limited as too much salt can increase the risk of high blood pressure, which can also increase the risk of heart disease , stroke and kidney problems in your Rat.
You can offer your Rat a variety of seeds in their diet including:
Caraway
Fennel
Fenugreek
Linseed
Pumpkin
Safflower
Sunflower
Watermelon
Pine Cone Seeds
Flaxseeds
Although these foods are readily accepted by most Rats we recommend that some like the sunflower seeds only be offered occasionally as these can cause obesity if consumed regularly.
There are a large range of grains and flours that you can offer to your Rat on a regular basis. Some grains and flours that are safe to offer are:
Barley
Corn
All types of cereals
Rice (cooked – preferably brown rice)
Linseed
Psyllium Husks
Oats
Oatmeal
Noodles (cooked or raw)
Pasta (cooked or raw)
Polenta
Wheat
There are also a large range of fruit and vegetables that you can offer your Rats as part of their daily diet. We encourage all Rat owners to offer their Rats a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables on a regular basis as they are readily accepted and enjoyed by most Rats.
Fruit and Vegetables that can be safely offered are :
Apples
Apricots
Avocado (please offer this food without seed or peel and only as a special occasional treat)
Banana
Blackberries
Cranberries
Dates
Grapefruit
Grapes
Watermelon (too much watermelon can result in unformed stools but is great for Rats that are suffering an illness and require extra fluids)
Rockmelon
Kiwifruit
Passionfruit
Peach
Pear
Pineapple
Plums
Prunes
Raspberries
Strawberries
Tomato
Raisins
Bean Sprouts
Cooked Beans
Broccoli
Capsicum
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Garlic
Ginger
Lettuce
Marrow
Papaya
Parsley
Peas
Potatoes (cooked, baked or mashed)
Silverbeet
Sweetcorn
Zucchini
Baked Beans
If you feed your Rat processed foods it is advisable to limit these foods as they generally contain preservatives, colour enhancers and high salt levels which are not good for your Rats.
The best guide when deciding what foods to offer is by choosing the most natural ones. Low calorie diets are believed to help extend the life of your Rats, high protein diets are generally best used for pregnant, lactating and very young rats to help promote growth however to maintain health it is recommended to only include approximately 15% (or less) protein in your Rats diet.
We would like to thank Mr & Mrs Wiggerman for their help with some of the information on this page.
