# Feeding rats Oranges. ??



## chrisc (Mar 6, 2011)

I have 2, 7 week old male rats and last night i fed them without knowing a small satsuma just bigger than a golf ball say,
They only ate the inside not the skins, will they be ok? I have herd orange juice can cause them damage to their kidneys.

Cheers.


----------



## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

I read things that say you can and I read things that say you cannot. What to believe I am not sure. So I have done my own little 'tests' and I would give them a tiny amount once in a blue moon and it didn't show any effect on them or their health. If in the wild, a rat found an orange, would they not eat it? As long as you only give them a small amount in their lifetime, I doubt it would have any effect. :3


----------



## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

They'll likely be fine, but I would not do it again. It has been proven to do kidney damage, particularly kidney cancer, so it is not something you'd notice shortly after, and you never know if you'll get a rat that it takes a small or large amount of a carcinogen to get cancer.

Peer reviewed study, there are many more as well:

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/51/13/3512.abstract


----------



## Snippet (Dec 30, 2010)

Male rats can't be given orange as it can cause kidney damage, as smesyna said. It's fine to givve for female rats as it doesn't have the same effect.


----------



## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

Ah so the same thing for males having apple seeds.
Funny that females can have things that males cannot :3


----------

