dog food and breeding rats

hello im new to breeding rats. I keep seeing a lot of people who saying dog food isn't a good choice to feed rats. I have been feeding ol'roy that has the high protein and high fat. 27% protein and 13% fat. they love it. I also keep seeing that you should keep the protein under 20%. my thoughts is that if females are breeding heavily wouldn't they want as much protein and fat as they can especially when they are nursing? As im new to this im just looking for tips. I haven't been able to find a good supplier of mazuri anywhere. I live in Wichita ks. I aslo give them carrots and celery everyday which they love. I pay 22 bucks a bag for the dog food currently. is there any reason I should switch to something else? im having high numbers in my breeding. babies range anywhere from 12 to 18 per litter and haven't lost a 1. I have about 150 females that are about 8 to 10 weeks old but haven't produced a litter yet. when can I expect them to start breeding? any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Ideally you want 18% protein, too much protein and you are risking kidney failure, you also want to feed food without red dye.

See there is the problem......
Many of the dog foods with close to the correct protein run about $20ish a bag.
Mazuri rodent is $27 a bag here and it lasts longer.

I gave up on overworking to try and save a couple bucks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kwright

hello im new to breeding rats. I keep seeing a lot of people who saying dog food isn't a good choice to feed rats. I have been feeding ol'roy that has the high protein and high fat. 27% protein and 13% fat. they love it. I also keep seeing that you should keep the protein under 20%. my thoughts is that if females are breeding heavily wouldn't they want as much protein and fat as they can especially when they are nursing? As im new to this im just looking for tips. I haven't been able to find a good supplier of mazuri anywhere. I live in Wichita ks. I aslo give them carrots and celery everyday which they love. I pay 22 bucks a bag for the dog food currently. is there any reason I should switch to something else? im having high numbers in my breeding. babies range anywhere from 12 to 18 per litter and haven't lost a 1. I have about 150 females that are about 8 to 10 weeks old but haven't produced a litter yet. when can I expect them to start breeding? any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

---

Doggy bag at TSC has 18% protein and is $13/40lbs. I have seen no difference in my rats after switching from using Mazuri for a couple years. As far as I can tell, there is no difference, or very little, in the composition of Doggy Bag and Mazuri.

I also try to stay away from dog foods as a primary diet. Most cheap dog foods contain dyes and such that are not good for the rats. Too much protein and fat can cause just as many health problems as not enough. I haven't been breeding my rats long; only since the summer, but I've had good results with my rat diet.

I feed Purina Mills Natures Match Sow and Pig pellets. I get 50lbs for about $13. I also get discounted, low protein dog food from work (usually no more than 25%) that I use as a supplement for pregnant and nursing moms (they get a small scoop of it every other day or so). I also will give dry and cooked pasta and sometimes fruit and veggie scraps. The pellet food when fed along with the supplement kibble and such will last me about a month (100lbs) for the three racks I have. The only downside to the pig pellets is the high waste due to the fact it crumbles and is too small to sit on the mesh. I plan on making the switch to Mazuri soon as it costs about $25/50lbs and there will be a lot less waste.

I get good results with the pig pellets and dog food supplement. My litters are usually around 12 or so with good fat babies. I plan on doing a comparison soon, if I have the time, of litter size and weights when fed the pig pellet and dog food mix as opposed to the mazuri.

I have had much better results with Mazuri than with any of the dog foods I tried.

One thing that is key with a rat colony though is culling selectively when it comes to holding back breeders. Holding back random babies won't work as well as holding back females from the best moms who have large litters that grow well.

Keeping the rats as clean as possible and making certain they never run out of water is another sometimes overlooked aspect.

But with most of the dog foods, I experienced some cannibalism in my colony. On Mazuri, I rarely ever have any issue. My rats gained weight better on the Mazuri and they have healthier coats on Mazuri.

It doesn't mean you can't have just as good of results on your particular feed. Every rat colony can be slightly different.

well don't feed high protein dog food. as someone mentioned above it can lead to kidney failure. ive lost 16 rats in 48 hours. ive taken them off the feed. hopefully I can get the fatalities under control.

how long have you been using doggy bag from tsc?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kwright

how long have you been using doggy bag from tsc?

---

Ever since pet360 doubled the price on Mazuri. Someone may remember better than me but that's probably been about six months now?

It came highly recommended on another forum from several breeders who've been using it for years. I was highly hesitant to use dog food but its essentially identical to Mazuri as far as I can tell, both in the composition and how my rats handle it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kwright

how long have you been using doggy bag from tsc?

---

I am using it too

I have been breeding rats for 9 years, first 2 I used Mazuri, third I put 50% of my colony on Doggy Bag and kept the rest on Mazuri to be able to compare (litter production, mammary tumors, health etc) and I have been using doggy bag exclusively since.

Hope that helps.