There has long been discussion on whether or not dog food is a good diet for rats and if it's a good complete diet. What exactlly ARE the nutritional requirments for rodents and how were those requirements determined? I've been using an all dog food diet for my rodent colony now for a year and a half with the occaisional inclusion of some sunflower seeds as treats. I've had several generations of rats now that have eaten nothing else. I haven't noticed any difference in my rat colony than when I was feeding a lab block diet. At one time I thought I was having a problem with fewer litters and smaller litter sizes, however once I replaced my old breeders with younger ones, the production went back to normal.

I've always been of the mind that the ingrediants in the bag are more important then the picture on the front. Here is the list of ingrediants to the brand of Dog food I use, it seems to me that the list is, while not identical, very similar to the list of ingredients on the bags of rodent chow I've used in the past. The only major difference I've been able to determine is the amount of money left in my pocket. With the dog food costing me $11.95 for a 50lb bag, and the harlan teklad costing me over $19.00 for a 33lb bag, the savings really adds up. So, how is feeding dog food 'bad' if it meets all of their nutritional requirements?

List of ingredients.
Wheat middlings, ground yellow corn, soybean meal, poultry by-product meal, animal fat (preserved with BHA and citric acid), calcium carbonate, salt, minerals (zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, sodium selenite, manganous oxide, mineral oil, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate), vitamins (vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, pantothenic acid, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), choline chloride.

The dog food I use also has this note under the list of ingrediants.
'Sprout Chunk Dog Food is formulated to meet the nutrtional levels established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for maintenance of adult dogs.'

So, I'm wondering, Does the AAFCO also have a Rodent food Nutrient profile? If so, where can I find this information? I tired looking it up on the web but I was only able to find their listing of nutritional requirements for Dogs and Cats.