feeding debate

So the other day on face book the group called the natural rat put up this picture of a rat food pyramid i have to disagree with some of it as it said that they cant have any meat or eggs. I think small amount of meat now and again is fine and our guys love it. I have read in books that eggs are good for rats too, as they love cracking them open and eating the food inside. I think that this food pyramid is trying to make rats vegitarians which is fine if you chose that when you are human but i dont think we should deprive our little ones from having fun cracking an egg or chomping down on cooked meats.
tell me what you think

Rats are omnivores-they need a varied diet...I suppose it could be that vegetarian is fine as long as its done properly and their nutritional needs are met as far as protein etc are met.Rats don't need an awful lot of protein,but I use egg,usually egg whites and fish for my lot as my understanding is that they are pretty much the best options,when it comes to high quality and easily digested/processed protein but anyone feel free to correct me here if I'm wrong?I wouldn't include peanuts on that list personally they are quite high in fat and there are nuts that are have more nutritional benefit for them,but again I could be mistaken

Ooh and I wouldn't free feed either but that could just be because I have a few fatties its good that it mentioned the superfoods though,mine get kale quite often and blueberries are top of the fruit list when they do get fruit but I didn't know sweet potatoe was that good?

Absolute and utter crap. Sorry - but this diet is just... wrong!

xx

Yeah i know i complained about it on facebook.

It's totally nutritionally unbalanced, and sweet potato is only an OK food - it's not a major food - mine never get it! Meat and eggs and fish are the way to go - and rats should *NOT* be free feeding - no wonder so many get tumours!

xx

Oh my god, I have just liked the group to take a look at it, and they're saying that meat causes cancer and heart disease?! Is this true? They say it's also the same with eggs. They also said chocolate is fine for rats to eat as long as it's non-dairy... I am by no means a rat expert, and don't want to give my opinion incase it's totally wrong, but someone tell me this is complete and utter bull...

well its the sugar in chocolate that i wouldnt want to include

Please, don't let it worry you - it's utter nonsense! Chocolate is fine for rats in some ways, but I would avoid it generally because of the fat and the sugar. Dark chocolate can be a good bronchodilator in an emergency anyway!

Seriously - eggs and meat are fine, been feeding it for years and had very very few cases of cancer. Bloody scaremongering idiots!

xx

This is so so wrong I can't even..... just NO. Completely misleading and unsuitable I really don't know where they got this from

My girls get everything! They often get egg on toast, and they get meat most days, usually chicken nuggets, fish fingers, pieces of steak and kidney pie, loads of peas, sweetcorn, they get cereal and milk. They love fruit, baby food, couscous. They eat everything because they are evolved to be scavengers! I feed them cereals, toast, eggs in the morning, and a dinner at night. Throughout the day they can nibble on millet and there's some dried mealworms scattered at the bottom of their cage they sometimes take. But normally they wait for their dinner, can't wait for it! And no rats aren't vegetarian. BUT mine prefer fruits and vegetables to meat, and will often eat their veggies before they eat their meat. I give them everything I'd prepare for my family! And they are healthy and happy ratties!