# Vitamins for rats?



## selenaaahhh (Dec 8, 2012)

Hey guys just wondering if it is okay for ratties to nibble on human multivitamins, I have one called "VirX" its from Nutriwest it has a lot of Vitamin A, C and Zinc and you take it when you feel a cold coming on because it is really good to boost the immune system...it also has Echinacea in it as well. Just wanted your input on letting ratties nibble on our vitamins! Thanks!


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

I highly doubt that the rats would want to nibble on a vitamin. They taste horrid. Also, too much vitamin A for ratties is not a good thing.

Is there a reason to believe that your rats aren't getting the vitamins that they need? What is their diet?


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## selenaaahhh (Dec 8, 2012)

http://www.petsmart.com/product/zoom/index.jsp?productId=12179990
this is what my ratty boys are currently eating 
Oxbow Essentials. 

I was just curious to see if anyone gave their ratties additional vitamin supplements for something healthy for them to nibble on but I can see what you are saying, vitamins don't taste very good at all! haha


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

The best vitamin supplements that you can give your rats are fresh fruits and vegetable*s. Not to m*ention, they are a lot yummier than vitamin tablets. I suggest trying my recipe for Rat Salad. 

http://ratsnacksnstuff.weebly.com/recipes-n-stuff.html

In the case of an elderly or sick rat that is simply not getting the vitamins and minerals they need, shaving a bit of vitamin tablet over some food is acceptable. It won't harm them.


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## selenaaahhh (Dec 8, 2012)

Thanks!!


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

As cagedbirdsinging said vitamin A would be a problem, rats have a much lower tolerance for it than humans and it is toxic at around 10 x a rats RDA from memory. 

You can feed supplements if needed, with a lab block diet this would only be needed if your rats requirements were particularly higher than the average adult rat. This can happen in early and late life. When a rat is rapidly growing there requirements for vitamins and minerals shoot up (I think some requirements are eve 20 times higher, though most more like 5). At these times you can feed special fresh foods like egg, bones etc. as well as the all-important vegetables (of which dark green leafy stuff is the most important at this age). A broad range animal supplement can be handy, just make sure it’s not high in vit A, and ideally high in vitamin D and Calcium which are some of the most important vitamins and minerals to growing rats. Here in the uk we use something called daily essentials by Dr squiggles (as a kind of broad top up) and calcivet which is calcium and vitamin D, it’s really handy with those growing fast. You can use human supplements too, just need to make sure you pick the right ones, understand the vitamins and give a rat appropriate dose. I have used human grad vitamin d and calcium tablets sold here in the uk, crushed up they give 20 standard rat daily doses. You can mix it into some wet food, or I commonly bake ratty treats with it (baking degrades the quality of vitamins however it’s reasonable to assume it retains around 60% of the potency as long as you bake at below around 200 deg c).

Older rats can also benefit greatly from extra supplements to a standard rat diet. There needs are different though, they really benefit from added B-Vitamins (delay nerve degeneration) and vitamin C (boost immune system). They can also benefit in a slight increase in calcium in later life, as thje kidney efficiency decreases a lot with age and they can become deficient. You can see this by looking at their teeth, older rats often get slightly translucent or pale looking teeth, this means they are likely to be calcium deficient and adding some more into their diet would be useful.

One thing it’s worth knowing if you plan on supplementing calcium at all is that you should not use supplements every day, the body need time to properly process the calcium to become useable and giving them a day off from supplements is necessary. Also you can overdose it, the symptoms are relatively minor (unlike vitamin a toxicity) with increasing severity (mainly can cause bladder stones and excess load on the kidneys) but it is still worth being very cautious. On my current diet (which is a little deficient in calcium, but not bad) I feed youngsters a calcium supplement every 5 days, oldies about 2-3 days a week and adults 1 day a week.

There are lots of other supplements that can be useful. I remember when I first started feeding a more natural home made mix, I avoided them thinking I could meet all the needs without it. Theoretically I could, however having the safety net that can mop up any issues gives real peace of mind. Especially as when I started out with a very ‘pureist’ mix I ended up with 4 rats that were vitamin D deficient, one of which snapped his front teeth in a freak accident.


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## RatzRUs (Feb 5, 2012)

Mine get oxbow along with fresh veggies and fruits every night !


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## selenaaahhh (Dec 8, 2012)

It's weird my babies don't really eat a lot of variety yet I tried banana and apples and they just kinda nibbled it and left it alone. I'm not sure why, my old rat used to eat EVERYTHING and gobble it up fast. These guys just nibble at it and aren' too interested yet....is that weird? Someone told me it's because they are still babies but I don't know?


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

If a baby is brought up on a very plain diet like lab blocks they will not have the trust of new foods. It's quite common with rats from pet shop stock round here. They learn what is safe to eat by smelling it on mums breath and by watching what she eats. If she's been fed a boring diet that's all they are used to. They will then slowly trynnew things, trying a little bit first then waiting to see if it makes them I ll, of not it's deemed safe for the future. It's one of the tricks wild rats use to survive so well.


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