# Raw meat?



## Awaiting_Abyss (Jul 24, 2012)

So everyone here knows that rats are omnivores, but I know I've read on here that many people don't agree with giving rats meat because they can't digest the fat.
However, I was going through my deviantART stuff today and found a few pictures of someone's rat eating raw meat. Thinking this was bad, I read the comments on the pictures and found that the person said its good for rats. Then I did research and found more sites that said raw meat as good for rats, and cooked meat is bad since cooking it gets rid of enzymes needed for digestion. During my search I found more sites saying raw meat is good for rats than sites that said meat period was bad. 

I also found this very useful site during my search that goes into detail about it.
http://www.camarattery.com/rawmeat.htm

Rats eat meat in the wild. They are omnivores and will hunt, so why would meat be bad for them? I'm not saying I agree or disagree with this.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

I wouldn't say that _many_ people here don't agree with giving rats meat. I only know of one. Frankly, though, it's an incorrect opinion based on the misplacing the fact that rats do not have gall bladders.

Meats are just fine for rats. Fats should always be done in moderation no matter what the source.

Raw meat is also fine. Many different animals' digestive systems are properly equipped to deal with raw meats. Of course, it still needs to be fresh and of high quality, but the need for cooking isn't there. Less processing in any food is generally better than more processing, but you don't lose _too_ much in the case of meats. Raw or cooked is fine, either way.

I find Amy from Camarattery to be a bit on the extreme side of things. She is a knowledgeable lady with lovely rats that I have had the pleasure of owning in the past. However, some of her information is a bit odd. For instance, she is adamant that rats will die within hours of consuming any mushrooms. We know for a fact that this isn't true because many of us would have very dead rats!

As with all information that is just out there, you have to do your own research, and plenty of it, to get to the bottom of things and form your own opinion. Never go off of what just any one person (or several) says.


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## Rat-1- (Jul 22, 2012)

My dad said he gave raw meat to his mouse and it went feral.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

I have a friend that feeds her rats protien intake based almost soley on raw meat and bones. her rats are in exceptional shape and live long healthy lives. It's not the only good way to feed, I don't feed much raw meat for example, a good part because I don't have the time t source it fresh regularly. Instead I rely on high quality fish based kibble and dried shrimps which are two of the nice kidney kind protiens which also aren't heavily farmed so avoid many of the additives you get. My rats are also in very good shape and live longer than average so are doing well. They are obviously not having trouple digesting there meat (or there mushrooms for that matter).


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## Three B's Mom (Apr 18, 2012)

I've been giving my girls a little bit of whatever meat we're eating for dinner everyday since we brought them home and they are nice healthy rats. I haven't done raw but certainly rare.


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