The Raw Diet For Rats

I met a lady at a feed store who was appalled at the idea of feeding rats whole oats. Apparently she was unaware that this is the "new thing", and it is actually quite healthy for the animals.

The diet consists of legume hay like alfalfa, and then supplementation of whole oats for fat and more fiber. You can also give some dog food occasionally and a mineral salt lick, to further balance out the required nutrients.

Alfalfa has been getting a bad rap lately. Veterinarians and pet owners alike are saying animals from rabbits, to rats, to guinea pigs, cannot eat alfalfa hay. This is simply not true. While it may be true that it is maybe a bit too high in nutrients, you can balance it out by purchasing mixed bales of alfalfa and grass hay. Before there were commercial rabbit pellets, rabbits ate alfalfa hay. Ever watch Of Mice and Men (1939)? Lennie mentions wanting to get up every morning and feed the rabbits alfalfa in their hutches.

Guinea pigs in Peru.

Guinea pigs can also live off of grass/alfalfa mix but will still need vitamin C supplementation as it is dried and not fresh greens. Fresh greens contain vitamin C. People who raise cavies in places like Peru, feed them fresh greens and grains like oats and/or corn. An alternative which is even better than the pelleted or alfalfa diet is letting them free range in a yard, to eat grass and other vegetation. Just make sure that your yard has no toxic plants, such as tomatoes (a part of the nightshade family, the greens are very toxic) or daffodils (the bulb is the most toxic part, but the plant itself is also toxic), and you may want to look into livestock guardians, even if your piggies aren't livestock, the predators don't know the difference! Ducks, geese, and dogs are quite effective, but make sure they don't think your piggies are food!

More and more pet owners are going "back to nature", how about you?

Further reading: Onesta Organics Blog, Myth - Rats cannot digest alfalfa.

Update 3/7/14: Having tried this diet myself now, I'm rather so-so about it. On one hand, the rats like it, they boggle often while eating it, my old timer even got more energy from it and lost weight, the problem is she lost too much weight and I put her back on kibble. My old hairless female also had a problem with it and lost a lot of weight, possibly because being hairless, the rat uses up more calories/energy to keep itself warm, that of which the alfalfa/grain diet is not sufficient enough to maintain them.

I'm not sure that it provides adequate calories or nutrition, it is certainly enough to maintain an adult but not an elderly adult or rat which requires more daily calories like a hairless, and I'm unsure as to if rat kittens could be raised off of it and not grow up to have health issues from deficiencies in diet.

Supplementing the rat diet with alfalfa and/or grass hay however sounds like a great idea to me, they love the stuff, particularly building nests with it!

Also some guidelines: only give a small handful of alfalfa, and a large scoop of grain, giving too much alfalfa leads to wasteful buildup as seen in the image above. Get steam rolled oats with molasses instead of plain whole oats, they seem to like the molasses steam rolled oats more and the molasses is good for them. Check your oats, molasses oats tend to mildew easier and there might even be mildew in the grain before you open the bag (though this is a mess up on the manufacturers part, it happens easily). If you find this, naturally, return the bag and get a new one from a different lot which is hopefully not contaminated. Mildew will make your rats sick, it can even cause abortions in goats.

Feeding Ferrets Cat Food

Feeding ferrets cat food is generally accepted as being a "bad idea". It is believed that cat food is improper for ferrets, containing too much plant protein and not meeting the nutritional needs of a ferret. However, I have been feeding my ferrets cheap cat food for a number of months and have witnessed no ill effects. In fact, their health improved while on a grain free food (more energy, softer glossier coats). I feel the difference between foods is not even that significant.

Here I will compare Marshall Pet Products Select Chicken Formula Ferret Diet and Zamzow's Grandma Z's Super Premium Grain Free Cat Food.

Grandma Z's Ingredient list:

Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Chicken Fat (naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Oat Meal, Pearled Barley, Menhaden Fish Meal, Dried Egg Product, Flaxseeds, Natural Flavors, Sodium Bisulfate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salmon Oil, Salt, Dried Whey, Brewers Dried Yeast, Choline Chloride, Tomato Pomace, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Potatoes, Dried Beet Pulp, Taurine, Calcium Propionate, Dried Chicory Root, Dried Cranberries, Dried Sweet Potatoes, Dried Blueberries, Dried Carrots, Ferrous Sulfate Monohydrate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Cobalt Carbonate, Sodium Selenite, Mineral Oil, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacinamide, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Dried Parsley, Barley Grass, Dehydrated Alfalfa, Dried Spinach, Amorphous Silicon Dioxide, Citric Acid, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Vegetable Oil, and Rosemary Extract.

 Made in the USA: YES

Guaranteed Analysis:

Protein, min. - 33.0% 
Fat, min. - 20.0% 
Fiber - max.2.5% 
Moisture - max. 10.0%

 Marshall's Ingredient List:

chicken, chicken by-products (organs only), chicken by-product meal, corn meal, dried beet pulp, brewers dried yeast, sodium propionate (preservative), Dl-methionine, L-lysine, taurine, mixed tocopherols, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, riboflavin supplement, niacin, biotin, choline chloride, folic acid, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, D-calcium pantothenate, manganous oxide, inositol, ascorbic acid, BHA, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, zinc oxide, cobalt carbonate, potassium iodide, sodium selenite, rosemary extract.

Made in the USA: YES

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein (min.) 36%,
Crude Fat (min.) 18%,
Crude Fiber (max.) 4%,
Moisture (max.) 10%.

The only thing I would be concerned about is the lack of L-lysine in the cat food, it is good for immune health, but still not a requirement to maintain a ferret's health, it is more a preventative measure, like giving medicated feed to chicks. This would actually be a good thing to add to cat food, as it helps decrease the symptoms of the incurable feline herpes, which is so prevalent in cats! Now, this food does have a lot of plant material, which some veterinarians feel can be fatal or hard or a ferret, but the crude fiber is lower than that of the Marshall Ferret blend... Interesting isn't it? This is the grain free version of the food:

Guaranteed Analysis:

Protein, min. - 50.0%
Fat, min. - 22.0% 
Fiber - max.3.0% 
Moisture - max. 10.0%

INGREDIENTS: Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), White Fish Meal, Tapioca, Natural Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Sunflower Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Dried Kelp, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Lecithin, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Zinc Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Dried Enterococcus Faecium, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Inulin, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Solubles, Taurine, Green Tea Extract, Ascorbic Acid (source of vitamin C), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Niacin Supplement, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Source of Vitamin B1), d-Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement (Sources of Vitamin B2), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Beta Carotene, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Rosemary Extract.

I've read the protein should cap at 40%, but have not heard of negative affects associated with it being over 40%. Interestingly, this food has slightly more fiber, but is still lower than the Marshall food.

Ferrets, like cats and dogs, are strictly carnivores. Some ferrets were accidentally domesticated from the Black Footed Ferret, and are even used by hunters (in a sport called "ferreting") to chase hares/rabbits out of their burrows so the hunter can catch them. Being that they are strictly carnivores, some even have a cage muzzle so they can't catch and eat the hunter's kill.

Some vets even recommend feeding rats and/or mice to ferrets! Be careful with this though, make sure you get your rodents (or chicks) from a source which is free of coccidia. I don't know about gerbils or mice, but rats can carry coccidia without showing symptoms. Chicks usually show symptoms, but are usually risk free if they are started on medicated feed which stomps out the nasty little bug. Some owners also feed chicken necks, turkey necks, or other parts of poultry, swine, or beef that humans normally don't want to eat; instead of whole or live prey.

Welcome to the new blog!

I haven't really had any ideas on what to blog about, for quite some time, so the blog has been on a long hiatus (if it didn't die entirely, that is.) I've changed the topic from random thoughts to random posts on animals in general, as even if my previous blog was random, it still mostly pertained to animals. Humans, too, are animals, of the Homo genus, so they occasionally will be blogged about as well; but only in regards to genetics and even then, it may all tie into animals.

Our new banner may be of some interest to you.

From left to right: A Labrador Retriever who is also a chimera (two embryo's fused together, making a dog have two different colors with no genetic inheritance, with the exception of cats and perhaps some other species), Romeo the dog loving wolf, and my great grandmother with a fawn they rescued and bottle fed. All of these subjects will be blogged about in the future, rest assured. For now, I hope you enjoy reading what will be posted currently.