I usually feed my rats a low fat yoghurt (every couple of days as a treat) by dipping the end of my finger in and letting them lick it off, so it’s not too much, but yesterday someone I was talking to mentioned it wasn’t good for them… I’ve been doing this for a while now and there hasn’t been any ill-effects so was this person wrong or is there some long term risk I don’t know about?
Well, rats are not known as picky eaters. It’s not like they only survive on Purina rat chow in the wild. I’d be interested to hear from any genuine rat nutritionists, though.
I’ve heard yogurt isn’t good for rabbits, but rats have a completely different digestive system, AFAIK. Rabbits have a fairly delicate balance of resident microorganisms in their gut that help them break down their food, and adding the live bacteria in yogurt to the mix can throw things off and make them quite sick.
Rats are essentially omnivores, though, so I don’t think it is an issue with them. Maybe your friend is misinformed.