I’ve just adopted two very overweight girls to join my mischief, thank you for this!!

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Best of luck with the diet

Using hand size to think about and control portion size is really helpful for me! Thank you for mentioning that. I am ashamed to admit that I am an over-treater and this video has boosted my resolve to help my boys get to a better weight. They're not obese but they definitely have some love handles showing up. Thanks for another very informative and useful video.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you, I hope there diet goes as well as twizzels seems to be

Thank you for uploading these videos, they help us a lot, there really isnt much of this useful knowledge and advice about rats online. I really appreciate your work.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you I really appreciate that

Happy Birthday, Twizzle!

❤️. Great video had all info I need.. Thank you very much for your time 👍 I'm thinking about taking the plastic shelfs out of my bucks cage and replacing them with more hangy cargo ropes. I don't have ramps in there but they have 2 plastic shelf levels that I'm getting tired of cleaning down daily, whereas the ropes I can just alternate in the wash 🙂 I came up with a Friday night routine with the rats where I shut me and the rats in the hallway and I just walk up and down for 20 minutes with nowhere to climb and rest, they follow me the whole time

I will so keep this in mind (for future reference). I believe books often say something like they should have food available most of the time or all the time. So this is not true... When I had rats, it did not really occur to me to pay a lot of attention to their weight, I must admit. They tended to be on the chubby side (especially after I had changed to mixing their food (using a rat food recipe) from organic grain flakes etc. - I did that after noticing that they wouldn't touch the oat grains in the rat food mix from the store, but loved the organic oatmeal from the kitchen, so it was not the oat, but the quality). One of my does was definitely obese and I was somewhat at a loss what to do about it without taking the food away from the others. (She just ate a lot, btw. She was a little timid and my theory is that because of that, she was afraid to not get enough where they came from, and when there was plenty, well.... I got her and her sister from the shelter and was just told that they came "from a breeder who had somewhat lost control" - so I guess that meant lots of other rats to compete with about food.) So I'll keep in mind intermittent fasting/limited food/hidden food for more activity are possibilities and (if necessary) a feeding cage for additional feeding of those who need more. (Btw my rats loved coconut water (natural, no sugar etc.) and because I do not particularly like that stuff myself (although it's supposed to be very healthy) after giving them a sip of it, I would make the rest into ice cubes (so that it wouldn't go bad/start fermenting or smt.) and melt one or two of those every now and then; the rats always loved it.) Thank you for all the valuable information you provide in all your videos! So much appreciated and so much to learn by watching!

Ohhh! Thank you a lot for this video! My Maya has gotten chubby after pregnancy 🙈 and it's not going away 🙈 And happy birthday to your little furry baby ❤️🎉

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

They can take a bit to lose pregnancy weight so definitely worth helping if possible.

When you were talking about taking the food down to 100-110g, is that only dry food or dry w/ veggies/fruit? What is the g per rat ratio?

Happy Birthday Twizz!

Can I swap straight over from twice daily feeds to once daily or will this cause my boys issues? ❤ Thank you for all of your videos. You help me so often!! X

I am so grateful that I met you through RRLWTK. I have been watching your videos and today watched this one. I have three brothers one year old next week , they weight 660, 675, 690 They were getting a bowl of pellets , a tablespoon of rice cereal for breakfast, a tablespoon of baby food for dinner, pasta and veggies for late night , omg , I’m a total rat killer! Your video was so helpful ! I pulled all ramps, scatter fed 30 grams of pellets , and the treats and meals stop. I’m determined to get tube like rats! Thank you so much for taking time to educate people, you are truly a blessing! And the description of their ratio / hand size portion , wow! Thank you , you have saved their lives . I am wondering for the rats that go on an antibiotic routine for mico flare ups , what should I put their meds in? I’ve always used babyfood. What would be a low cal substitute to hide the bitter meds? And Happy Birthday to you and your doll! Was your birthday the same day?

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

I’m really glad it’s helped and I hope the boys diets go well. I tend to disguise meds in whatever they will take them in reliably but use as little of that as I can. Mostly it’s malt paste or liver paste as that suits my guys quite well

@christinedonati3711

3 жыл бұрын

@@IsamuRatCare thank you!!

I grew mint and basil from bird water dishes hanging from my bathroom mirror. You can also hang a vial from your shower and the moisture from your baths and showers allows it to grow. Fun things. It just all got mites and I threw it out and will start another when I find someone with fresh mint and basil to propagate from.

Been re-inspired to get some weight off my overweight boy (ironically named Cake...). We were doing well and then I let it slip. Back on it tomorrow!

@ndavies5968

3 жыл бұрын

I have one of 2 boys that needs to lose quite a few grams, he is pear shaped. Looks worse when he's cleaning himself🍐

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Why not weigh in on this post so we can inspire each other! Fat camp rat style

@Cazzah123

3 жыл бұрын

@@IsamuRatCare 640g at last weigh in! Big boy anyway so 40g off would be our goal for now I think 💪

@ndavies5968

3 жыл бұрын

@@IsamuRatCare deal🐭. Il start when I can. I might use a clothes peg cloth bag and some digital fishing scales. My boy won't sit still. He will see it as a hammock 🙂

Super helpful! Love the feeding cage because I scatter feed but I have one girl who gathers the food and puts it all on the top of the hammock for my fat girl to get too easily….

Safi missed the part where you said, " they love the attention more than the treats" as she scaled my leg for the umpteenth time while I make dinner. Well, at least she's getting the exercise part right!

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

lol yes that works very well too

I recently adopted a pair of baby rats from a rat rescue as companions for my 2 year old boy after his brothers died, and the rescue owner was horrified that I restricted the food of my rats and claimed that she has known hundreds of rats and has never seen a single rat who suffered due to being too fat. She told me anecdotes of very fat rats that lived to old ages, and she told me to stop measuring my boy's food. I feel that I did the right thing by putting my rats on a diet when I realized one of them got to over 700 grams and the other two were also pretty round. I was shocked that a rat rescue is telling adopters to always give rats unlimited food. Even if those rats did live a long time, I would worry that a very fat rat would be unable to clean itself or climb around and would therefore have a lower quality of life. I do intend to prevent my pets from getting overweight, but everyone who adopts from this rescue is getting the opposite advice and I'm guessing most of them will follow the rescuer's instructions.

What weight should male rats aged 7-8 weeks

Thank you for this video! I've noticed one of my girls getting a bit plump, so this helped :)

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

I hope her diet goes well

My boys love mint.

My rat Felix thanks you. He getting chunky

Wonderful video, as always! If you have older/senior rats in the cage with young (fat) ones, do you think just pulling out the older one and feeding him extras separately should be enough? I have two 1 yr old rats and a 2 yr 3 month old rat. The older one is slowing down and has lumps, and an old leg injury which makes him slower to get around the cage. The younger ones have gotten fat from the extra food. Is it OK to do intermittent fasting with the younger ones, but still feed the older one in a separate cage?

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Usually it works well yes. Sometimes you need to get a bit creative if they won’t eat in there own but I do do this a lot myself

I was wondering , if there still pellets in the cage the next day should I skip putting more down?

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

I would weigh out a smaller daily portion the next morning including those that were left the day before until you get them eating all there good and maintaining a healthy weight

great video! :) Do you have any tips on how to get rats to enjoy free range? I have two slightly overweight boys who kinda dislike it lol. They love running out onto my knee or sitting on my shoulders but whenever they’re out on the floor I always get the feeling that they’d much rather be back inside :( before I’ve tried using treats but now they’re overweight I can’t use that anymore! I always put out lots of boxes as tubes and stuff for them to play in but they still don’t really like it and just go to sleep lol. Also they seem to be more active when I take them to another room to free range (so they can’t see their cage) like recently I’ve been making them run up the stairs loads everyday to get them to lose weight. So they do get some exercise but they’re still so lazy haha.

@MyPerfectMischief

3 жыл бұрын

I wonder if maybe scatter feeding their food on the floor of the play area would help. I know you said you’ve used treats before, but this would be different because you’re using part of their daily food. Also putting activities in their play area like a dig box with treats (treats meaning food) or a shallow dish with frozen peas, corn, green beans, etc.

@sophie-fy9xz

3 жыл бұрын

@@MyPerfectMischief thank you so much I’ll try that :)

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Got to say that’s a great example, you don’t need to scatter much (say 1/4 there daily food) but it should help. Also look at how you can make free range special, what do they enjoy and get stuff out of, what activities might they enjoy and do you change anything from week to week or does the set up stay the same all the time

@sophie-fy9xz

3 жыл бұрын

@@IsamuRatCare thank you for your reply and I change it up pretty much everyday! Also i have different rooms i free range them in because I use the stairs and the upstairs landing where I can close all the doors and just have a big open space, my bedroom, the room the cage is in just on the floor or I sometimes get the out on the couch. I’ll deffo try the dig box and pea fishing as well and I’ll try get a cat feather wand thing because they seem to like grabbing the strings on hoodies and stuff lol so maybe they’ll like that too. Maybe it’ll convince them to stay out longer lol

how long can rats fast? how often? i have 2 obese girls. they're like squishy softballs with legs but are still happy and energetic at 1.5 yrs old.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

My rats are typically without food (unless they’ve missed a few bits from the morning feed) for most of the day and it suits them generally. However scientific studies have looked at feeding every other or even every third day giving good extension to life span. As pet owners we do need to balance with quality of life too though and the enrichment food brings is important too

@odirex

3 жыл бұрын

@@IsamuRatCare i just found your channel this week and have learned a lot. thanks!!! some of your vids make me cry, very heartfelt. One of my girl rats has a small breast lump & i was trying to figure out if 20 months is young enough for surgery. the lumpy one is not one of the aforementioned fat ones. ❤🐀 I will try fasting the chubchubs but they have so many food stashes in the cages.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

20m very much depends on her health and fitness, if she’s in good shape I’d go for it, however excess weight is an additional surgical risk (and also increases the growth and chances of MTs) so it may be worth putting her on a Struct diet over Christmas then discussing with the vet in the new year

I dont know alot about rats, thanks for sharing your experience. Whats the difference between large, med, small rats? My local, privately owned, pet store sells medium rats. Is there a difference in breeding? My medium rats are looking pretty...larger... I am thinking I like smaller rats..?

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

These are purely distinctions for rats sold as food primarily, usually it related to different aged rats. The larger they are the older they are.