# Feeders > General Feeders >  Can rats eat chicken?

## Peter Williams

I have a chicken carcass left over from last nights dinner, is it ok to leave it in with my rats for 20 mins or so and let them pick it clean?

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## GirDance

No.  Chicken bones are brittle and a choking hazard.  They WILL knaw at the bones and its not worth the risk of ingesting a bone splinter IMO. 

Cooked chicken though is typically fine, but the entire carcass not the best idea.

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## TheMissingLink

> No.  Chicken bones are brittle and a choking hazard.  They WILL knaw at the bones and its not worth the risk of ingesting a bone splinter IMO. 
> 
> Cooked chicken though is typically fine, but the entire carcass not the best idea.


People on here give their rats wing bones all the time without problems.

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## GirDance

> People on here give their rats wing bones all the time without problems.


Wing bones and rib bones are completely different.  The thicker the bone the less likely it is to splinter.  The less time a bone has been cooked the less likely it is to splinter because it has more moisWork in a vet for 4 years and you'd be amazed the amount of animals you see in surgery or euthanized because of bone shards causing internal damage. 

To me it's just not worth it.

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## wolfy-hound

I feed my rats leftover chicken all the time. Haven't had any issues.
I don't feed my DOGS chicken bones ever, but the rats gnaw bits off, and seem fine with it.
It's only my opinion and what I do with my rats.

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## MarkS

Go ahead and feed it to them.  I've never had a problem with a rat choking to death.  Rats chew their food really well, they don't wolf it down like a dog will.

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## monk90222

My rats love the leftover wings and legs from our chicken dinners

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## Entropy

My rats also love their chicken...and pasta...and whatever else I toss in there for them.

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## littleindiangirl

> Wing bones and rib bones are completely different.  The thicker the bone the less likely it is to splinter.  The less time a bone has been cooked the less likely it is to splinter because it has more moisWork in a vet for 4 years and you'd be amazed the amount of animals you see in surgery or euthanized because of bone shards causing internal damage. 
> 
> To me it's just not worth it.


Rats gnaw, they do not chew the bones like a dog. They also have a flap of skin in their mouth that prevents what they are gnawing from being swallowed.

I would think either is fine. I have fed all of my rats all kinds of chicken and bones and they love them. The only reason I would avoid uncooked bones is because of bacteria and nasties from raw chicken and other meat.

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## kc261

> Work in a vet for 4 years and you'd be amazed the amount of animals you see in surgery or euthanized because of bone shards causing internal damage.


GirDance, I'd be curious to know if all of those animals that had the problems with bone shards were cats & dogs, or did it include rats?

My understanding was that because of the way rats gnaw on things, and that when a chicken bone splinters, the pieces are still too big for a rat to swallow, it wasn't a problem for them.

I agree with you about keeping chicken bones away from dogs though.  A good friend of mine lost a dog because it found a dead goose and ate some of it and ended up puncturing something in its digestive tract.  And those weren't even cooked bones!

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## rabernet

My rats get chicken bones all the time - thighs, drumsticks, etc. They don't splinter like they do for dogs/cats, because like others said they nibble little pieces off - to get to the marrow. 

In fact, they all had KFC last night and were loving me!  :Very Happy:

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## GirDance

I still have yet to see anyone say they feed the entire chicken carcass, and also was stated the longer cooked and smaller around the bone the more likely to splinter.  It's not the leg bones that cause the most problems, its the smaller and very brittle ones in a chicken carcass.

And to the person who asked, yes there were rodents included in there.  Infact you'd be amazed the sorts of things inproperly cared for rats, rabbits, etc have managed to ingest and had to have pulled from their stomachs because they couldn't pass it..

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## juddb

Ive never had any problems with it either :Good Job:

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## SatanicIntention

I have over 30 pet rats, some registered and pedigreed, and have fed them whole turkey carcasses after they have been boiled for soup, turkey legs after I've finished them(from the fair), rib bones, chicken wings/legs/thighs/carcass/whatever. They eat it all, mostly the marrow as it's nutritious, and all you might see that's left is long bones that they couldn't get into.

I have never had a rat choke on this kind of stuff. I have had rats choke on pieces of lab block though, but that's because they wolf their food and boys are dumb  :Smile:

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## littleindiangirl

BTW, if you have your rats in your bedroom, remove the bones before you go to bed. That includes pasta as well. You'll have a chorus of gnawing rats _all night long_....

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## frankykeno

Well we're 3 years into keeping a rat colony that generally sits around 75 to 100 animals of various ages and I've always fed bones of all sorts to the rats.  I've yet to see a problem like one might see with a dog and bolting down food.  Rats are quite careful and smart eaters.  They won't even try a new food without nibbling a tiny bit first to see if it's okay to eat.  

As with any bones/meat make sure they don't horde it away and make their bedding stinky and gross.  You can always freeze some of that carcass and just give out a bit at a time so they don't do that and create an unsanitary condition.

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