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immune boosting food?

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Post by Dangerousbeans Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:47 am

The last 2 or 3 weeks the girls have been sneezing a little, and we noticed Matilda has had a bit of a dirty eye a couple of times (its gone shortly after, I presume she cleans it away).
They both seem very lively, cuddley and are eating well, no change in behaviour, but I am being more careful of drafts and giving extra bits of blanket for their nests.
We are watching carefully and listening for noisy breathing etc, so far all ok.

Just wondered if there are certain foods that would boost their immune system?

I presume what's good for our immune systems would be fine for them?
Garlic? (what way do you give garlic to rats?)
vitamin c? (from veg not citrus)

Anything else we could add to diet to boost immune systems?


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Post by Francois Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:15 am

You could try to give them a week's course of Echinaforce (1 drop per day) its an immune boosting herb tincture.
Don't give it longer then a week and if they continue to be with the sniffles, a trip the vet is the next best thing.

I also add inositol to their drinking water, some trails have already been done to suggest improve immune system and increase in longevity.

Other then that, good balance of food is always good with plenty of fresh veggies. Smile

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Post by Simba Mon Dec 31, 2012 3:40 pm

Immune boosting's more of a marketing buzzword than anything else. There's nothing you can do to boost the immune system above and beyond making sure they get a varied diet, exercise, sleep, and a good quality of living.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/more-boosting/
http://www.health.harvard.edu/flu-resource-center/how-to-boost-your-immune-system.htm

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Post by Zoundz Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:49 pm

Missed this thread! Agree with Simba - immune systems are the bane of my life, as Russian Silvers and many rats from the same lines) have very poor immunity - so far only selective breeding improves the immunity, and in the case of Russian Silvers, not very much even then, they seem to go back a few steps occasionally as well. Showing can improve immunity to viruses too.

There are some foods that they do seem to enjoy and benefit from though, even if only to improve condition - and that's stuff like garlic, seaweed powder... we just sprinkle these into wet foods occasionally Smile Need to be careful with garlic, it's a blood thinner, and so not great to have much of it for rats like Russian Silvers who can have clotting problems.

xx
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Post by Dangerousbeans Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:41 pm

Well the girls are fine again, about a week after original post all sniffles went away. They weren't really sick just the odd sneeze and some dirty eyes like I said.

Zounds I was worried about garlic for that reason, how much is too much?
I give them a little spag bol (with garlic) or a bit of chicken and garlic soup (that went down REALLY well Grin), stuff like that, but don't want to give garlic on its own as I assume a fairly small amount would be dangerous due to their size.

Zounds, babies are doing great, will post some pics later, started intro's accidentally (babies climbed into top half of cage while we had doors open fixing the mess Roll Eyes ), everyone had a sniff, followed each other about and all was fine. Keeping time together short and under supervision for now, but babies can pin the older girls already, and I suspect squeaker will be boss(not so squeaky now Sad just the odd peep).

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Post by Zoundz Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:33 am

That should be fine! Smile it's a fair amount you need to cause problems, so I wouldn't worry too much Smile Glad they're settling well! Grin

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