# What sort of milk is best for rats? And what cat food? Portion size?



## sonicboom (Sep 3, 2011)

I have two 9 week old female rats.

I've read that some give milk to their rats. In porridge, cereal or scrambled eggs. Is low-lactose/lactose-free (0.2% lactose) fine to give them? I have some Whiskas Cat Milk which is a low-lactose (0.2%) milk, and I just want to double-check that this is the right stuff?

Also, while looking for high protein cat food for the rats I found a pouch one that contains chicken at 14% protein. Is this okay? Is there an alternative one that is a little cheaper, or can tinned tuna be offered by itself?

Also, what is a good portion size per rat? I've been offering them about 4 square cm cubes of protein rich food each evening, and sometimes morning (such as chicken or eggs), and they've been eating that up within about 5 minutes. I also make sure that they have a suitable amount of dry food mix (including wholewheat pasta, cereal, oats, dog kibble), and make sure they don't just pick their favourite bits. I also give them around 4 cm bits of vegetables each per day. I will probably cut down on some of the other portion sizes as they have not been eating all the veg!

Thanks!


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## Rubisco (Oct 8, 2011)

Hey there. I have no idea about the milk, but I do know that growing/lactating rats are recommended to have at least 20-25% of protein. I have also been looking for high protein wet dog/cat food to feed my rats as a treat once a week or so, and I have noticed that they are rarely over 10%, so personally I'd suggest getting rat food with around 20-25% protein and around 4-5% fat. However when they are 3-4 months old, then it's okay to lower the protein to around 12-15%.


Can you weigh the rats? I'm not totally sure but pretty sure they are suppose to have 5-10g of food per 100g of body weight. So if they weight 300g, then around 15-30g of food will do for each rat- with around 20% of it being fresh produce like fruit or vegetables. Hope this helps.


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## Blarklark (Oct 31, 2011)

Hey there, I read in that lovely book of mine not to give rats milk due to the lactose in it. Then again you mentioned a milk with low lactose so I'm not sure about that? Here is the lovely list 

Rats Cannot Digest everything:
Berries (Very Acidic)
Citrus Fruits (Very Acidic)
Cabbage (Produce too much Gas)
Cheese (Lots of protein)
Yogurt (Lots of protein)
Sunflower seeds/nuts (Very fatty)
Lettuce (High in Nitrates)

Taboo Foods
Raw Potatoes
Beans
Raw Eggs
Onions
Sulfured Dried Fruit
Cow's Milk (Contains Lactose)
Spicy Foods
Moldy Cheese
Left over's


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## 1a1a (May 6, 2011)

I've heard cat food is too high in protein, good quality dog food is a better choice.

Low lactose milk sounds plausibly better, yogurt is also a great choice for rat dairy.

In the end I'd save yourself the headache and source some rat pellets though, they can live off of those, with fresh food and bits of your dinner thrown in as a treat. My rats used to live on pet shop rat mix, fresh veg and small amounts of leftover dinner, now the pet shop rat mix has been traded for the biggest bag of rat pellets I have ever seen (must be 10 kilos, I bought from a grain store, not a pet store), I just about reckon I have a lifetime supply. An on lay days, I can rest easy knowing a handful of pellets will meet their nutritional needs


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Ix nay on the cat food. WAY to high in protein, with rats lower protein is better. High quality dog kibble, and rat blocks are the best bet. Between 10-16 percent protein is ideal.

I avoid giving any dairy to my rats, except the occasional yogurt drop.


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## Rubisco (Oct 8, 2011)

I don't know which sources you guys are using, but according to this 12-15% is ideal for adult rats, while growing/lactating rats need 20-25% of their diet to be protein.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

there is lactose naturally present in rat milk... don't see how they could be lactose intolerant. they'll be fine with small amounts. 

and no on the cat food. cat/dog foods have incredibly different vitamin, mineral, protein type, etc. content... fat and protein aren't the only things that matter. it is called cat food and not rat food for a reason (although some branded cat foods are hardly suitable for cats, either)... stick with a diet specialized for rats and supplement it. ensure meal replacement formula works well. ensure is lactose free.

you should not be restricting/dieting young rats. let them eat as much as they want, when they want. their incredibly high metabolisms and fast growth make it really dangerous... it would be easy to starve them and cause growth issues. feed their supplements once or twice a day and let them free feed on a quality block and/or grain mix. when they're old and done growing, then you can diet them.


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## sonicboom (Sep 3, 2011)

Jaguar said:


> there is lactose naturally present in rat milk... don't see how they could be lactose intolerant. they'll be fine with small amounts.
> 
> and no on the cat food. cat/dog foods have incredibly different vitamin, mineral, protein type, etc. content... fat and protein aren't the only things that matter. it is called cat food and not rat food for a reason (although some branded cat foods are hardly suitable for cats, either)... stick with a diet specialized for rats and supplement it. ensure meal replacement formula works well. ensure is lactose free.
> 
> you should not be restricting/dieting young rats. let them eat as much as they want, when they want. their incredibly high metabolisms and fast growth make it really dangerous... it would be easy to starve them and cause growth issues. feed their supplements once or twice a day and let them free feed on a quality block and/or grain mix. when they're old and done growing, then you can diet them.


I've been pretty much following what you've suggested, and after only having them a week I can see that they've grown!


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