# Good food for weight gain?



## Yellow (Feb 8, 2008)

I have a rat who is about 3 years old. She has a pretty large tumor under her front leg, but has otherwise been very healthy and happy.
Today I noticed I could feel all of her little bones  What can I feed her to help her gain some weight?
Thank you!


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## abazoo (Mar 21, 2009)

I give my 3 year old ferretvite http://www.ferret.com/item/8-in-1-ferretvite-vitamin-supplement-425oz/650102/
Stage 2 babyfood with veggie and meat proteins will help with weight gain too.


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## Nezumi113 (Feb 27, 2009)

I'm dealing with the same kind of thing, and here's some information that I found that has helped me TONS when it comes to elderly rats and weight gain.

Elderly or sick rats need extra vitamins and minerals to give them strength and to help them fight illness. And they need calories to keep the weight on them and give them energy. Try live-culture yogurt, tuna,
cooked oatmeal, cooked unsauced macaroni, bread, peas, banana, baby food. Try anything! Now is the time to trot out the fatty foods they adore: cooked egg yolk, fatty dairy products such as cheese, cream
cheese and sour cream, avocado, etc. An essential first-aid food for rats is human meal replacement, like
Boost or Ensure. Rats generally love it, it’s easy for sick/elderly rats to digest and it really packs on the nutrition and calories fast.

Try human soy baby formula. You can buy powdered formula and mix it yourself. You can buy the liquid formula, but it goes bad quickly. Try different things: thinning the baby formula with water will help get
more fluid into the rat. Keeping it thick will get more calories and nutrition into the rat.

To help them eat:

- Give them what they like! No rules here! Of course, try your best to get nutritious food into them but if that fails: just keep the weight on them and keep their spirits up!

- Often, even if they won’t eat food from their dish, they WILL eat the same food if you feed the foods by hand or by spoon. Even the baby formula: have the rat lick it off your fingers. If the rat is too weak to maneuver the food out of his food dish: try putting soft food in a spoon and put it right up to his mouth, or offer food in a flat dish, like a yogurt lid.

- Feed by syringe (without the needle!). Use a little thin one: 1cc. You can often mash, seive and thin down many foods so they will squirt through the syringe. You can even enlarge the syringe tip with a hot nail. BE CAREFUL: your weak rat can aspirate during this procedure. Don’t feed too fast. Watch the rat and make sure she is keeping up with you and actually swallowing the food. Match your "squirting" rate to
her "swallowing" rate. Don’t force the food in.

- Chocolate. This won't hurt your rat. Sure the sugar, fat and caffeine aren't doing them any good but chocolate will cheer up a sick rat and often pique their appetite for other things. It can also help a
wheezy rat breathe a little better because chocolate works to dilate the respiratory passages. Feed a piece half the size of their hand. When one of my rats looks sick: I offer chocolate right away -- if they
refuse it, I know they are VERY SICK and I run them right to the vet. So offering chocolate is a good test of how serious the situation is.

- Tea: make tea with milk and honey; let it cool. Tea stimulates the rat a little and makes them feel happy.

- Water, water! Keep sick and elderly rats hydrated: try adding sugar or flavoring to their water. Maybe they'll drink more from a dish instead of the bottle. Give watermelon: I knew of an arthritic rat that
couldn't get fluid any other way and got all his water from watermelon nearly all his life! Test for dehydration: pinch up a little skin on the rat's flank. In a properly hydrated rat, the skin will pop back into place. In a dehydrated rat, the tent of skin will stay up there or return slowly. In cases of serious dehydration: ask your vet to teach you how to give Lactated Ringers Solution by sub-cutaneous injection.


I really hope this helps you! If you find anything that is more successful for your little guy, please share it with us!


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## Yellow (Feb 8, 2008)

Thank you both for the fast replys!! I gave her some apples and chicken baby food right before I posted and she ate a couple bites  I just wasn't sure if it had enough calories. I'm going to go out and and get some boost right now 
Thanks again you guys!!


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## Paterson.S (Oct 1, 2009)

I can say chicken, egg, etc.


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## AMJ087 (Aug 27, 2008)

You can also add in some cat nutri-cal. Its found in pet stores and is a high calorie supplement.


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## JizzyRatxx (Oct 17, 2009)

Grapes


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