Fun Food For Your Ratties

Variety is as good for rats as it is for humans. A varied diet makes life interesting and exciting, and happiness contributes to health. In general, besides a nutritious basic rat food, put a spoonful of everything you eat into their dish. Look for opportunities to score interesting, exotic foods for them that you DON'T cook at home: Tell Le Garcon you'll need a ratty bag for the paella. Slip some sushi into your pocket. Get into the habit of bringing Tupperware to cocktail parties and formals.

Remember: about introducing new foods, especially to babies -- since rats eat everything, the way rat children learn what's safe is by paying attention to what mom and the rest of the colony are eating. To introduce new food, nibble on the food yourself, then hand the rat the piece of nibbled food and blow on them a little so they can smell it on your breath.

Here are six of my favorite fun foods to give the rats. Some are perfectly fine to feed every day.

1) Pasta: why do they love cooked spaghetti so much? Maybe they're fantasizing that THEY are eating the SNAKE. Jess introduced me to putting hard uncooked macaroni regularly in their food dish but I gotta tell you: if you give it to them just before you go to bed, it'll sound like they're cracking lobsters all night...

2) Egg. Don't feed too much protein but every now and then, throw a extra egg in the pan and split it among the rats. You can even feed hard boiled eggs with the shell on: they'll nibble on it a little and get some calcium.

3) Scraggy drumstick: Next time you roast a chicken, grab a drumstick, cut most of the meat off, break in half (you may have to saw it a little with a serrated knife) and give the scraggy bone to the rats. The next morning, it will be clean, and inexplainably...hollow!

4) Pistachio nuts: unsalted ones are preferred. It's fun to see which of your rats are really good at getting them open and which find it a little challenging.

5) Shellfish: just hand them each a shrimp and STAND BACK!

6) Corn on the cob: I like to cut it into inch long little cobs but you can put the whole ear in there if it's long enough so that they can all eat at it standing side by side. It's also fun to give it to them unshucked and let them tear it open to find the kernals but you have to be sure the corn hasn't been sprayed.

And todays specials are...

Treating Bumblefoot: Part 3 of 3

The third and final installment of a 3-part article covering: -- VET TREATMENTS OF BUMBLEFOOT using medications you’ll need a presciption for. -- SOME HELPFUL TIPS that will make treating bumblefoot a bit easier -- the GENTIAN VIOLET EXPERIMENT THAT NEVER HAPPENED: a treatment you might want to help evaluate.

VET TREATMENTS OF BUMBLEFOOT

IRBY’S VET’S TREATMENT a) AMOXICILLIN TRIHYDRATE (CLAVAMOX) administered 2 x a day. This is particularly good for soft tissue/skin infections: that’s basically what Bumblefoot is.

b) An ANTIINFLAMMATORY administered 2 x a day. Irby’s vet likes to stay away from the steroidal antinflammatories such as prednisone because even a short course can cause diabetes and cataracts in rats. His vet tends to go with METACAM which has a pain releiver in it as well. Another antinflammatory you can ask your vet about is a corticosteroid called DEXAMETHASONE which is slightly different to prednisone. Discuss this with your vet making sure that whatever combination you go with that there aren’t any side effects or adverse reactions with the drugs used in combination,

c) If your rat’s on antibiotics for more than a few weeks at a time its a good idea to give some YOGURT to help replenish the good bacteria that the antibiotics kill off,

d)Irby also applied BLU-KOTE daily. Condition was cured in 2 months.

CHAD’S VET’S METHOD a) OTTOMAX, a topical antibiotic b) DOMOSO, DIMETHYL SULVOXIDE, an absorbtion agent to get the antibiotics into the surrounding tissue before the rats lick or wipe it off Chad reports that the bumble closed up pretty quickly, and there was (slower) improvement with the size.


SOME HELPFUL BUMBLEFOOT TIPS

BEDDING: Some ratlisters report that bedding on Aspen seemed to make the foot bleed more. During treatment, I switched to shredded paper towels.

LINDA’S TIP: Blu-Kote usually comes in an aeresol spray. You can't spray an area as small as a rat's heel without getting the permanently-staining stuff all over the place. My solution: Go to a stationary store and purchase a tool that moistens stamps so you don't have to lick them. It has a screw-on lid that is a sponge applicator. you fill the bottle with Blu-Kote (sprayed in gently so as to not form a cloud of spray), put the cap back on and dab the blu-coat laden sponge onto his heel. Voila, no mess.

DAUBER TIP: you can get Blu-Kote in a “dauber” bottle, now.

Q-TIP: Some Listers hate touching the wound over and over with the dauber so they’d rather apply with a fresh Q-tip each time.

THE GENTIAN VIOLET EXPERIMENT THAT NEVER HAPPENED

Reportedly, the main ingredient in Blu-Kote is Gentian Violet in alcohol. So I figured, why not just get Gentian Violet, which I could order from Rite-Aid Pharmacy (in New York City) for $3?

Currently, Gentian Violet is used in treating infections inside the mouth of breastfeeding infants. So I figured Gentian Violet should be safe in case the rat licks his feet.

You can get 1% or 2% Gentian Violet in either aqueous (water) solution or alcohol. I bought 2%. The breastfeeding people cautioned me that: <> But remember, this info is about putting the Gentian Violet directly into a baby’s mouth.

I asked Ratlisters what they thought about Gentian Violet and here are the answers I got. Unfortunately, Shadow passed away before I really evaluate Gentian Violet: but it’s something else you can try.

NANCY: Blu-Kote also has some anti-bacterials which keep the open wound from becoming infected until it heals over. You might try adding a bit of iodine or other infection fighter to the gentian violet. Note that before Monistat was available in drug stores: yeast infections were treated by painting the area with gentian violet.

HEIDE: My father-in-law says in the "old days" they used to use gentian violet on kids with tonsilitis. So we know from that its safe to ingest. I don't know what percentage they used, though. The stuff I had was 2% and I used it to get rid of a rash (works GREAT for any rash if you don't mind being purple. I'd call my vet and ask [about the strength of the Gentian Violet solution]. If 1% is safer, you can dilute the 2% with sterile or filtered water (aqueous sol)

hope you never have to use these treatments...but if you do hope this information helps you.