Dog Food For Rats?

[littleindiangirl]

Yea, you sure bring out the best in me Desert. I may have been condescending and tart, from here on out I will remain ambiguous in my responses about alfalfa in rat feed. The main reason I don't have a citation for you is because my info is word of mouth from different rat forums I am a member of. It's said by many rat owners to avoid feeds with corn as one of the first ingredients and alfalfa. If it's lower down on the list, then its ok.

I dont like to cite other forums, since they too are not scientific and have no citations to where their info is from. It hardly qualifies except for their experience and having close interactions with their rats daily. I believe them and take their recommendations seriously solely because I know they are meticulous about what they feed rats. (They as in serious pet rat keepers)
I actually had to go and drag up the post I read this from, I hope this is the end to these cherades, it's out of my hands.
http://www.ratforum.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=22956.html

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:30 pm Post subject: which food? Reply with quote
I am going to give you the ingredient lists for 2 different types of rat blocks. Tell me which one you think would be better to feed my rats.

Rat Block 1

Dehulled soybean meal, wheat middlings, ground corn, corn gluten meal, can molasses, soybean oil, ground wheat, dried whey, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, salt, choline chloride, magnesium oxide, niacin, vitamin A supplement, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine monomitrate, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, vitamin E supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, calcium panthothenate, propionic acid (a preservative), ferrous sulfate, manganous oxide, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, chromium potassium sulfate.


Rat Block 2

Ground corn, dehulled soybean meal, wheat middlings, ground wheat, soybean oil, fish meal, cane molasses, porcine meat meal, ground oats, brewers dried yeast, wheat germ, dried beet pulp, dehydrated alfalfa meal, calcium carbonate, dried whey, salt, calcium propionate (a preservative), menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (vitamin K), choline chloride, dried yucca shidigera extract, DL-methionine, vitamin A acetate, choleclciferol tocopheryl acetate (natural source vitamin E), thiamin mononitrate, folic acid, nicotinic acid, calcium pantothenate, cyanocobalmin (vitamin B12), riboflavin, manganous oxide, zinc oxide, ferrous carbonate, copper sulfate, zinc sulfate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate...

PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:29 am Post subject: Re: which food? Reply with quote
the bottom one seems to have a lot of fillers for my taste. when i look for foods for my rats i look at where in the list the corn is, generally the further back the better as the further back you do the less of that substance is in the mix. but in this case not only is the second one with corn at the front but there is alfalfa which has absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever but will trick them into thinking they're fuller then what they are. alfalfa is hard to digest so takes longer to go through too and can cause indestion in rats as well.