VET SAID RAT WAS FAT!

[DanielZielwolf]

One of my rats is a male albino (Wistar rat), his name is Ari. I took him to the vet for a check up. He's 2yo and weighs 600 grams. I let all my rats get a bit of padding because if they get sick they lose weight so rapidly. But this vet (whom I hadn't met before) said Ari is much too fat and needs to lose some weight! I felt so bad like it was all my fault...

After thinking about it, I've decided I disagree with her. According to this chart at https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Average-body-weight-of-male-Wistar-rats_fig3_224864531 he is definitely in the normal range. I reckon 600 grams is getting towards the upper limit but is definitely still within the healthy weight range. It's not like he's carrying around a beer gut or something. I reckon a lot of vets barely know what they're on about when it comes to rats.

Any opinions?

EDIT: Ari consumes a healthy diet of quality rat blocks supplemented with fresh vegetables and fruit. However he is on long term meds and the only way I can consistently administer these are by hiding them in ice-cream so he has also been consuming 10ml ice-cream a day for the last 6 months. This has definitely led to some weight gain but I would not describe him as "very fat".

 

[lilspaz68]

Each rat is very differently built just like people. Some are long,and bigger framed and 600 grams is normal, others are short and stocky and 600 grams would be obese. At 2 years though I wouldn't advise any severe diet changes. I too like a little cushion on them just in case they become ill.

 

[jorats]

I've kept all my males at around 500 grams. I did foster an extremely obese rat and I did slowly bring down his weight from 918 gram to a healthier 560 gram. I got him when he was already 33 months old. But at 600 grams, I would probably just incorporate only healthy foods and healthy treats.

 

[SQ]

Feed a healthy diet as suggested by Jorats (lots of good info in the Reference Thread)
Depending on how he large a frame he has, he may be the correct weight, a bit overweight, or obese.