My oldest rat, Abi, is two years old and recovering from an infection that caused her to lose a lot of weight. I have been hand feeding her away from her much younger cage mates for the past week because they push her away from any food I give them, preventing her from eating. To help her put on the pounds (or, rather, ounces) I feed her easy to swallow meals like mashed banana, baby food and porridge. She will nibble on solid food, but prefers softer meals nowadays.
The thing is, I am unsure about how often I must take her out and feed her. I can't just leave food out because the younger rats will stop her from eating it, but I don't want to permanently separate them because they do otherwise get along great and love to curl up together and groom each other. I know rats have a fast metabolism, but how fast? Is feeding her every hour too often, or too little?
I am sorry your Abi is ill . You are going about nurturing her correctly, though. Baby foods are very good. The meat ones are best to put back on the weight. Also, I know of two sites that give ideas on other foods to try. The first one recommends feeding two to three times for a total of six tablespoons of the food. They say two tablespoons per feeding is not unreasonable. The second one says four times per day with their recipe for ill rats. The non-needle syringe method assures a better quantity going in, so it drastically reduces the number of feedings. The links are as follows:
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4510169_hand-fee ... http://www.suite101.com/content/hand-fee ... Pedialyte mixed 1/2 with water or juice is great for keeping your girl hydrated. Give drops as often as Abi will take it. Pedialyte should be used within 24 hours of opening, though, so the one site recommended making ice cubes out of it to prolong its efficacy.
Regarding metabolism, I did find a study done, as my knowledge is limited to, "It is high." It may or may not answer your question on that, but I will include it anyway. It is as follows:
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/24/5 ... I hope your Abi gets better. I hate those infections as they take so much out of them. Mice are prone to the respiratory ones. Is that what your Abi had? I know rats get them, too, quite a bit, though our rat family members have been lucky. My beloved Houdini caught one in November last year, and she was two, like your girl. With hand-feeding, medicine and lots of holding her to keep her warm, she lived until June. I hope your girl lives even longer.
feeding her every hour is a bit to much try feeding her one time in four hours.
