Can they have a little cat food?

[-Kelly-]

I have a can of wellness cat food that my cat won't eat, she isn't the canned food type I guess. Can my ratties have just this one can split up for 4 of them? Or will it be really bad, I know cat food is high in protein, but will it hurt them just this once?  

PS - it's only a 3 oz can...and here is the "guaranteed analysis"...

Crude protein Min. 10%
Crude Fat Min. 6.0%
Crude Fiber Max. 1.0%
Moisture Max. 78.0%
Ash Max. 1.8 %
Magnesium Max. 0.025%
Taurine Min. 0.10%

[~*Brittany*~]

I wouldn't bet on it... Cat food can give them liver failure or something like that:or so i've been told...

[Kathleen]

Wellness is a very good food; I'm sure it'd be fine as a treat. Just don't give them much of it. If it's unopened, you could also save it back for your rats in case they get sick. I've found that sick ratties with little appetite will often perk up when offered some wet cat food.

[wolfsoul]

Mine love wet cat food! I give it to them once in a while because it's so cheap and the fish kind has iodine in it. I always make a point of giving them some kind of fish once a week, so this is what I usually give them.

[AngelZOO]

Yes Wellness is like one of the top 5 cat food brands out there. Very good food, for cats and ferrets, however if you want to feed this to your ratties, make sure you do so only once in a while, and a SMALL amount. Do not just let them chow down on the whole can lol.

[jatango]

Britt, just curious, but who told you that? Maybe it was something in the cat food that they were talking about?

[Suebee]

I wouldn't bet on it... Cat food can give them liver failure or something like that:or so i've been told...

This is patently false.

Please do not post things like this unless you have a factual article, written by a professional, to back it up.

That cat food actually looks OK. The protein is VERY low for cat food.

[kimij67]

Since I am new to having a hairless rat, I think I read somewhere that my hairless guy needs just a tad more fat and high protein meals to help keep his body fat up as since he does not have any fur to keep him warm his body burns fat faster trying to keep the correct body temp. Now..I dont know if this is true or not and would like some input from other hairless owners, also since he is just 4-5 weeks old (100 grams) I didnt think it would hurt to give him some kitten food..Nutro Natural Choice complete care kitten chicken and liver chunks in gravy broken down  to crude protein 9.00%, crude fat 4.5%, crude fiber 1.0%,...is this ok for him? I thought kitten food would be better than puppy food, and right now since he is caged by himself with towles for bedding I just wanted to help him gain weight and stay warm, I also got the Nutro Natural choice LIGHT to give Nemo and Max for a meat meal once or twice a week since most of the meat in my house is bologna or hotdogs (due to an overabundance of children!) and I didnt think that was to good for them...am I way off base here with this?

[AngelZOO]

Suebee dear, keep in mind we are talking CANNED food here, not dry food, so yes 10% is a normal range for wet cat food

[Suebee]

Being severly allergic to cats, I was not aware of that. Couldn't pay me to touch wet cat food... *yarg*

I've always been told "cat food is high in protein." Never actually looked at numbers, because I have no desire to vomit at the sight of the stuff. LOL!

[AngelZOO]

Well that is true, MOST cat foods are in the 30% Ferret foods I have seen up to 40%
But that's how it SHOULD be for them.

With the wet food, it's not actually lower persay, it is still just as high, sometimes higher then in the dry food, because of what it's made of, and the smaller quantitie. Your compairing often a 5 oz can to a 5 POUND bag. The wet food generally has A LOT more meat in it. So it works out, if you understand what I'm saying at all, lol.

Personally if it was me, i'd just donate that can to some hungry stray cat, much better for them then your ratties.

[-Kelly-]

Thanks for all the replies, I couldn't donate it, it was part way opened. I was about to give it to the ratties, then thought about it and then came here to post. I didn't end up giving it to them cuz I accidentally left it out.     Oh well, I'll stick to dog food for canned treats.