Baby Foods?

[CrazyBird]

My girl Schmoopsie is on antibiotics for a frequent sneeze. I gave it time to clear up on it's own, however it didn't. So I got baytril from the vet.

My 4 are very food motivated, but they do NOT eat, no matter how appetizing the offering may be, outside of their cage.  So in order to dose Schmoops without the other rats getting it I tried direct syringing.

This was literally a ratty wrestling match, with her usually coming out on top. So I armed myself with a couple of different types of human baby food. I started out with stage 2 chicken, a jar of squash, and a stage 3 chicken and veggie mix.

I mixed her baytril in a little dollup of chicken baby food. She L-O-V-E-D it, and I was able to ward off the other three by giving them their own bowls, while Schmoops had her special bowl with the baytril mixed in.

So, since they seem to like the chicken and the squash, I'd like to stock up on some different types of baby foods as treats for those days when I may not be here to give them various things throughout the day..... In moderation, of course.

Are there any I should avoid? Does anyone else feed baby foods, and if they do, what are your rats' favorite kinds?

[anita1216]

My boys LOVE babyfood. I buy a huge variety fo them. The things I stay away from are the tutti fruitti desserts, prunes and the spaghetti types 

They love all the veggies and fruits as well as the chicken and turkey dinner combos (stage 2 and 3).

[Pamnangel]

As much as my boys love their tofu mix and salads, the baby food disappears first.  Haven't found anything they don't like.  So far we've had Gerbers sweet potato, mixed fruit yogurt and rice cereal with apple(?) and egg.

[JR1030]

My boys adore babyfood, too.  I generally just get banana for meds, in case I don't have any fresh bananas, I get lots of veggies, including sweet potato, peas, green beans, mixes...occasional meat, like turkey with gravy.  We always have fresh fruit, so I don't need to buy fruit baby food, and I never give them anything with added sugar.

[italianqt]

I'll throw the occassional chicken dinner in, but they LOVE sweet potatoes and banana. I try not to give it to them very often anymore.

[VanillaLette]

My guys love babyfood!

I use the fruit ones usually when I have to give them meds.They take it no problem then!! But I noticed they really enjoy the fruit ones like strawberry,banana and the blueberry ones too.They also love sweet potatoe.

[Rattiemama]

Sweet Potato is a perennial favorite. My kids also like the meat ones (chicken w/ gravy, turkey w/gravy, roast beef) and they like the peas and carrots mix. My guys didn't tend to like the fruit ones much, but maybe they're spoiled becasue we give them real fruit. I think each rat tends to have favorites. I usually try and hit the store when they have a sale on it and try a bunch of flavors to see what they like.

[RompStompnBoogie]

My kids love the sweet potato, carrot, pea, mixed veggie, banana, chicken or turkey with veggies varieties.....though I'm sure they would not be opposed to eating any flavor, really 

[kalijo]

How often should babyfood be given? I bought a lot of it because they went crazy when i gave it to them for the first time, but i dont want to make them sick from letting them have to much...

[Pamnangel]

How often should babyfood be given? I bought a lot of it because they went crazy when i gave it to them for the first time, but i dont want to make them sick from letting them have to much...

I give 1-2 teaspoons with their dinner.

[Deefar]

My boys LOVE babyfood. I buy a huge variety fo them. The things I stay away from are the tutti fruitti desserts, prunes and the spaghetti types 

They love all the veggies and fruits as well as the chicken and turkey dinner combos (stage 2 and 3).

Why not the speghetti kind? Is it because of the sauce?

[anita1216]

My boys LOVE babyfood. I buy a huge variety fo them. The things I stay away from are the tutti fruitti desserts, prunes and the spaghetti types 

They love all the veggies and fruits as well as the chicken and turkey dinner combos (stage 2 and 3).

Why not the speghetti kind? Is it because of the sauce?

I just honestly dont like the looks of those types of baby foods. I do give the boys spaghetti when I make it, just very light sauce. Most of the time they get just the plain pasta dressed with some olive oil. I think its a preference I have more than the boys would have 

[BackAtTheLab]

There's really no losing with baby food. I've started giving the chicken with gravy dinner to my pregnant girl and letting the boys have a spoonful every so often as a treat. I've been going with the organic types for mommy rat, but letting the boys have more fun flavors.

If my boys are getting too fat, should I remove baby food from their diet? Currently they get Suebee's with organic senior low fat, low protien dog food and a fresh fruit and veggie mix every other day or so.
Thanks,
M.