Ol' Roy Dog Food

[Jimmy Casper]

I got some Ol' Roy Dog Treats for treats for my ratties. It has 12% protein, 5% fat, 4% fiber and 30% moisture. Is this ok?

 

[Jimmy Casper]

The reason is, is that right now all i have are the Kaytee blocks which i have heard atre bad and they do have 21% protein, so i was looking for something to give them once a day instead of a block. I also give them carrots, a little ginger last night, some lettuce with olive oil, a bit of french prunes, and some dried "Wacky Mac" pasta.
I always worry they don't have enough food because they always hide it. I try to tell myself i just gave them each a block not one hour ago, but i am always afraid that maybe they don't have any left in hiding. So i end up giving them three or four blocks total for both of them a day, plus whatever fresh food.
Just in case any of this is important.

 

[Jimmy Casper]

Is this OK?

 

[lilspaz68]

I would say at this point Kaytee is preferable to Ol' Roy.

You can free-feed rats instead of rationing it out. Young rats especially use a lot of fuel to grow

Leave out the olive oil most of the time and the ginger and those are okay treats. See if you can get some frozen peas, thaw or heat them and give them to your rats.

 

[Jimmy Casper]

free feed?
No Ol' Roy - the first 5 ingredients are - wheat flour, soybean flour, sucrose, water, chicken. Then it goes on to Propylene clycol, corn flour, animal fat (preserved with BHA and Citric Acid) Beef, Dried cheese, animal digest, salt calcium carbonate, phosphoric acid, sorbic acid (preservative) artifictial colors (titanium dioxide, yellow #6, yellow #5, Red #40, Red #3 and Blue #2), calcium propionate (preservative) natural smoke flavor.

 

[lilspaz68]

free feed?
No Ol' Roy - the first 5 ingredients are - wheat flour, soybean flour, sucrose, water, chicken. Then it goes on to Propylene clycol, corn flour, animal fat (preserved with BHA and Citric Acid) Beef, Dried cheese, animal digest, salt calcium carbonate, phosphoric acid, sorbic acid (preservative) artifictial colors (titanium dioxide, yellow #6, yellow #5, Red #40, Red #3 and Blue #2), calcium propionate (preservative) natural smoke flavor.

freefeeding is a bunch of food in their bowl, they eat when they want to.

When we say to use dog kibble instead of lab blocks we are talking a high quality dog kibble, that will cover most of the nutrients that our rats need, since dog food is not made with their requirements in mind. Ol' Roy is considered crap for dogs so would be even worse for rats.

 

[Moon]

I'd stay away from the Ol' Roy... quite simply, the food is complete garbage, there is very little nutritional value. The third item ingredient in those treats is sugar, and ideally you want your ratties to get as little sugar as possible. The point is, these are treats. You wouldn't feed your dog these as an actual source of energy, so you shouldn't do it for your rats. To feel you've not wasted your money, you could give them to your rats... but I'd not do it more than once a week.

Free feed = filling up a bowl with lab blocks and just letting them eat whenever they want. Rats do the bulk of their eating at night. Then you can supplement with veggies and fruit and crunchy pasta.

 

[TEKrats]

Any food containing animal digest is a big "no no" to feed to any of our beloved pets- no matter what the species.

The digest is a form of animal materials that can include small amounts of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers. The "broth" can be made of almost ANY animal including "4-D animals" (dead, diseased, disabled or dying prior to slaughter) - goats, pigs, sheep, cows horses, rats, dogs, cats, etc - euthanized shelter animals, supermarket and butcher shop rejects, etc. There is no control over what is used in "animal digest". It is the bottom of the barrel. Period.

 

[ratamataz]

uke:

 

[Moon]

Oh man, I didn't even read that far down the ingredients. Nasty nasty nasty. I stopped at sugar.

 

[lilspaz68]

At least we learned something right? *gag* :undecided:

 

[jorats]

I agree, although Katee is not the best, it's way better than Ol' Roy.
You can leave a bowl full of blocks in the cage, let the young rats eat when they want. Then give them daily fresh veggies, a small piece of broccoli, peas, romaine...

 

[Jimmy Casper]

Wow, thank you all. I bought some total and some flavored pasta, and dried banana (all my store had were the banana chips which i think are fried- so i will give them sparingly) oh and are raisins ok? i gave them a few - but they didn't really eat them, just a few nibbles. Also the Total had some cranberries in it.
The only thing they didn't like that i mixed for them was the puffed rice and wheat.
I also gave them a little turkey dinner stage 2 gerber food.

I gave a piece of the ol' roy to my dogs.
Thank you guys!!

 

[Moon]

I think you made some pretty good choices. Raisins are ok here and there (especially if they are sun dried) and the occasional fried banana chip, as long as it is occasional, should be ok too.

My girls LOVE the puffed rice cereal, and large rolled oats.

Baby food is always a popular treat, as is baby cereal.

Personally, I love making up the grain mix for my girls (they don't get it all the time but they get it often enough).... it's fun to throw different things in there.

Cheerios are always a fabulous treat, too.

 

[jorats]

Sounds like you're doing great now.
It is surprising your rats don't like the puffed cereal. It was always a favourite for mine.

 

[LA]

uke:

My sentiments exactly...

Mine love cheerios. Lily loves banana but Ruby and Hazel aren't to keen.

I still have yet to try peas.