MomRat said:
How much do your girls weigh? Its starting to sound like more of your problem is weight than HED. :giggle: They should be getting block(like HT) and minimum additional grains, as the block has all their necessary nutrients. We currently feed Suebee's, but have dropped it to once a week, and once this batch is gone I think we'll cut it entirely. It's like giving them a bowl of treats once a week. Overkill. =) One of our boys is so fat that he trips on his own chub. Same diet as everyone else, so who knows why?
Couscous is a pasta, and barley grain. When you give them veggies, it is for giving them nutrients with little to no sugar, salt, fat, oil, protein, etc. Adding grains, and anything other than veggies and water(when you say soup, i hear seasonings and oils) is making the vegetables less healthy for them. Kinda like eating celery all day, but slathering it with ranch dressing.
When we give veggies, they are either plain and raw(lettuce, spinach, broccoli, tomato) or steamed/parboiled(carrots, broccoli, peapods, zucchini, etc) No added oil, salt, spices, etc. We try to give veggies every night. Your soup sounds like it could be good - it certainly keeps them from picking and choosing, although with veggies that isn't as big a deal. Broccoli and Lettuce are both good and healthy, they're not going to get fat from picking only the broccoli. =) We give fruit like blueberries(good for their heads and fighting tumors) strawberries, banana, 2-3 times a week AT MOST - but you have to remember that a slice of banana is as big as their head, and full of sugar. That's like you, eating a whole pie. A cheerio is like a donut! Yes, they will eat 15 of them if you let them, but would YOU eat 15 donuts in a sitting and feel lovely in your tummy later?
I don't think gluco is harmful to any age rat - when we discussed dosing with our vet, she said it was REALLY hard to OD rats on this stuff, although some members on the boards have experienced it causing tummy pain or runny stool if you OD them on it. Annoying, but not harmful. You COULD start them on it really young, but you don't need to before 18-24 months, really. If a rat has hind end issues before that age, it's probably due to weight or injury.
Hi MR
well Tilly is the smallest and she's about a pound, I haven't weighed Clair recently but she is probably close to a pound and a half, I know she is way too heavy.
Right now they don't have a staple diet, they are not eating lab blocks so I am trying to get some of the lowest protein dog food that they like (Natural Balance reduced calorie dog food, 16.5% protein- not ideal but the vet ok'ed it)
that would be so they got the vits and minerals they need, but they still need some things added, like a source of Vit K
(Right now I can't afford a whole 5lb bag of the dog food so I'm trying to find someone who has some who would be willing to sell me a baggie full)
so anyway, the grains in the "soup" aren't additional grains, they're to provide the grains that they're missing because they don't have a staple food right now.
the "soup" that I'm making is just for them but even if it were for me, it would not have oils or added salt, nor even spices, usually (I eat very bland simple foods)
The base is split dried peas, with carrots, brussels sprouts, tomato, kale, cauliflower, green beans- Um I have forgotten what went into this one LOL I add veggies to it as I go along, so that each time they get it, it has more variety.I try to use the most highly colored veggies because they have the most nutrients, such as the dark leafy greens, the yellow, the red and the orange ones.
I don't blend all the veggies together, just the ones they tend to be picky about- they do not like carrots, for example, but they love peas- which is why the base is made from peas.
There's also one oyster per two cups of soup added. Oysters have a lot of the minerals they need ASAIK.
The soup has the barley and couscous(wheat) to make up for not having the grains they'd be getting in the lab blocks or dog food- and sometimes I add some rice to it also.
Personally I think the grains I am giving them are superior to the ones in the lab blocks-
which have:
Wheat middlings, ground wheat, ground corn, corn gluten meal
Corn is a low quality cheap grain, I feel wheat middlings are a poor quality ingredient as well. The main reason for feeding lab blocks is that you know they are getting all the correct vits and minerals in the right proportions, something that is difficult to do with another diet. Difficult but not impossible.
oh, I forgot to mention that for vitamins the soup has some crushed Total flakes, not very many but just a tiny bit of those for the vits that are in them.
they get the fortified (cooked) cereals with some blueberries added sometimes. Those are made with wheat, oats and other grains- one is a 5 grain cereal (Bob's Red Mill) another is a gluten free cereal made with several high quality grains, and then there's just plain oatmeal.
anyway, I'd love to do fresh veggies every day but I live alone and am on a very tight budget so I tend to get more frozen veggies because they last longer, and this way I can have more variety without a lot of waste.
I can definitely see that I have been over feeding them esp with the cheerios. Those will be a very special treat from now on!!
