Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / November 2005

A study by Colantuoni et al at Princeton University showed that excesses
of sugar in rats' diets can cause dependency, measurable by withdrawal
symptoms similar to those for withdrawal from heroin or opium. This would
lead a pet keeper to suppose excesses of sugar would be harmful for any
number of reasons, including addiction, but the key word here is
"excesses."

Research by Ulrich-Lai et al at University of Cincinnatti showed that
sweet "snacks" reduced the stress level of rats & improved psychological
states & problem-solving abilities (maze-running) by reducing the body's
stress-generated glucocorticoid, with resultant improvement in overall
health in the rats. This would lead a pet keeper to suppose the special
treats & rewards used to increase bonding, reward good behaviors or
learning of tricks, or just to make the rat happy, is always a good thing
-- but as treats, not as the basic diet.

The Cincinatti study, reported at the  Society for Neuroscience meeting in
Washington D.C. just two weeks ago in November, found that treats
containing real sugar (rather than artificial sweeteners) were the best
"medications" for improvement of physical & psychological health of the
rats for the specific reason of lowering the  stress-related hormone
glucocorticoid, which is associated with obesity, depression, & weakened
immune system.

As with much else in the world "too much" of something is harmful, & the
amount of processed sugar in our own human diets is usually pretty
terrible. A pet rat's controlled diet, however, could well be sugar
defecient, if we did not give them small amounts in treats like cheerios
or yogurt drops or tiny dollops of NutriCal (vitamin enriched high-calorie
paste that contains corn syrup, cane molasses, & malt sugar, & which
causes most rats to do sommersaults of joy) as treats or rewards. Excesses
of such treats would defeat the value.

Obesity in rats is usually caused by a diet with too many fatty seeds like
sunflower seeds & nuts & table scraps of the unhealthy stuff people eat.
Excesses of fat is the most common dietary problem for pet rats. There are
gazillions too many fatty seeds & far too few whole grain seeds in
commercially prepared mixes, without even considering what's in table
scraps. A diet predominantly of whole grains, with restricted treat
supplements, would be vastly preferable.

-paghat the ratgirl

When I recommend cheerios, I mean the multigrain cheerios.
For 30g or 1 cup it contains: 3g of protein, 6g of sugar and only 1g of
fat and 6g of fibre.
Now, there's no way a rat will eat 1 cup of cheerios at one sitting. One
 cheerios or two for a treat is way better than a yogurt drop which is
pure sugar.;)

Joanne
Owned by 17 rats