# How to put weight on a rat?



## Blaze (Jul 16, 2012)

I've always had a hard time keeping enough weight on my rats. I stay very busy and I don't have time to give them their planned, complete diet every day, and my mother usually ends up being the one to feed them. Things have been especially busy for the last month and they've all been eating nothing but whole grain cereals with the very occasional table scrap. The two boys are still a fine weight, but the six girls are all very underweight, and I've noticed that it's starting to affect their health. My oldest girl, who is over two, can barely move around anymore and is nothing but skin and bones. One of the younger girls almost died a couple of weeks ago and only recovered when I literally had to force some food down her throat. Since then, over the last two weeks, I've been feeding them more variety, including meat and even some fattening junk foods, but the girls just can't seem to put on weight. 

My question is, what are some foods I can give them that will help them gain weight, but are still healthy? I know some people give them Ensure to drink but that's not an option right now. 

I also don't want any rants or criticism about how I care for my rats. All I'm going to say on that matter is that they're under much better care with me, even if it's not as good as most other pet rats are cared for, because they're much better off with me than they were with their previous owners/pet stores.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Try to increase Protein. This can be from Boiled eggs, Fish, or white chicken meat. If it's really bad, as in they are really under weight, I might even suggest a bit of Rabbit meat since it is high in protein but low in fat. Just no beef, pork, ect. No fatty meats, you don't want to stress out and damage their livers

Can you get some pictures of them?


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## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

I've heard of giving rats avocado to put on some weight. Just make sure to avoid the areas around the rind/pit of the avocado, because I believe those are toxic.


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## JessyGene (Feb 27, 2012)

I fed my sick older rats baby food to help them put on weight. They loved it. Also eggs, meat, and avocado like the others said.


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