Many pets have known toxicities towards chocolate, including dogs, cats, and birds. However, rats do not fall into this category.
Chocolate is toxic to other pets because it contains theobromine and caffeine. However, rats can digest both substances, and therefore, it is not toxic in moderate doses.
However, that doesn’t mean that rats can eat as much chocolate as they want. Too much can poison your beloved pet!
Keep reading to learn more!
Why Shouldn’t Rats Eat Chocolate?
Chocolate isn’t good for rats. Too much can lead to obesity and diabetes. Like all animals, obese rats are prone to a variety of health problems. Rats that are incredibly overweight likely won’t live to their entire lifespan. Plus, obese rats often can’t fully enjoy life, given that their physical constraints stop them from running around and playing like they are meant to.
To keep your rat healthy, you should avoid chocolate. If they accidentally nibble on a piece, though, there is no reason to rush to the vet.
There is little reason to give your rat any chocolate. There are few nutrients in it that rats can’t get from healthier foods.
Is Dark Chocolate Okay for Rats?
There are several types of chocolate out there. When it comes to pets, dark chocolate is usually the most dangerous, as it contains the most caffeine and theobromine. Milk chocolate is dark chocolate that has been “watered down” with milk and sugar, and therefore, it contains fewer of these other ingredients.
However, when it comes to rats, this logic doesn’t hold. They don’t seem to show toxicity toward theobromine or caffeine in experiments that test for their toxicity. However, they do seem to show some unfavorable long-term effects of high administration of compounds like cocoa (which is used to make dark chocolate).
Do note that experiments that have tested the toxicity of chocolate or chocolate products on rats only use a very small amount of the ingredient in their tests. For instance, in the study cited above, the dose at which cocoa powder showed some adverse effects over time was at 5% of the rats’ daily feed intake.
This means that handing your rat a presumptively “small” piece of chocolate would likely exceed any safety margins used in controlled experiments.
In addition, the safety of chocolate in low doses wouldn’t outweigh the downsides of giving your rat chocolate, like obesity and malnutrition. Chocolate should not make up a regular part of your rat’s diet.
For pet rats specifically, obesity is such a major concern that the prevalent advice is that the non-pellet portion of your rat’s diet should be foods that help increase their fiber intake (this would, in turn, help with weight control). As such, chocolate (dark or not) should be avoided whenever possible.
Chocolate and Theophylline
Chocolate contains a small amount of theophylline. There is a minimal amount in each gram, so this chemical typically isn’t something you have to be worried about.
Interestingly, this is the exact derivative that is sometimes used as an anti-inflammatory for rats. It is also sometimes used as a bronchodilator for them. Of course, these applications would require a veterinarian’s prescription.
It isn’t possible for your rat to eat enough chocolate to feel the therapeutic effect of this medication when they’re unwell. They’d have to eat more than they are physically capable of eating. As such, chocolate will not help a rat in distress. Instead, they should be taken to your veterinarian.
How Much Chocolate Cat Rats Eat?
Preferably none. Rats shouldn’t be provided with such a sugary snack. If they eat them regularly, they will quickly gain too much weight. As you might imagine, obesity can be a severe problem for rats.
Obesity in rats leads to all sorts of medical issues, such as heart conditions and joint issues. Many of these illnesses are similar to what obesity causes in people and other animals.
Technically, rats can eat quite a bit of chocolate in one sitting and seemingly appear fine. However, issues lie with long-term consumption. Eating chocolate one or two times won’t hurt your rat, but you don’t want it to be part of their regular diet.
If you decide to give your rat chocolate for one reason or another, we recommend only a pea-sized amount at a time. It isn’t that more will cause toxicity or similar health problems. You don’t want the chocolate edging out other vital nutrients.
Chocolate isn’t part of a well-balanced diet. Therefore, we recommend avoiding it where possible.
How Often Can Rats Have Chocolate?
Long-term consumption of chocolate can be a problem for rats. While these rats typically don’t have a problem with short-term consumption, the long-term effects of eating such a sugary treat can be a problem.
Lots of sugar can lead to obesity—and all the health problems that come with that. Obesity causes a variety of problems in rats, similar to other species. Even being a little overweight can negatively affect your rat’s overall lifespan. A healthy rat is not overweight.
Plus, the calories from chocolate are mainly empty. In other words, they don’t have nutrients behind them to back them up. The empty calories could edge out other vital nutrients. Once or twice likely won’t hurt your rat. However, if they’re eating chocolate regularly, they could end up with malnutrition, as they wouldn’t be getting the nutrients they need.
Therefore, we don’t recommend giving your rat chocolate often in the least. If you decide to give it to your rat, try to stick to it once or twice per year. This isn’t a weekly treat—it just isn’t healthy enough.
Can Rats Have M&Ms?
M&Ms are milk chocolate – for the most part. They also include other ingredients, but the chocolate is what we’re primarily concerned about here.
Milk chocolate has extra sugar in it compared to dark chocolate. Therefore, it tends to be less healthy for rats. If you’re considering giving your rat chocolate (which we wouldn’t recommend either), we wouldn’t recommend giving them M&Ms.
Rats that accidentally sneak an M&M or two will likely be fine. There is nothing toxic in M&Ms that will cause immediate and life-threatening problems in rats.
However, excess sugar can cause obesity over time. It only takes a few extra calories for rats to become overweight, and chocolate provides plenty of them.
Therefore, while rats can technically have M&Ms, we don’t recommend it. Choose a healthier snack for your rat.
Will Dark Chocolate Kill Rats?
Rats aren’t as sensitive to the theobromine and caffeine in chocolate as other pets, like dogs and birds. However, it is technically toxic to them as well – they’d need to eat a massive amount for it to matter.
For reference, caffeine is also technically toxic to humans. If we over consume it, it can cause similar problems. But ordinary people generally don’t eat enough chocolate for the caffeine content to matter.
When was the last time you heard of someone overdosing on chocolate? It just doesn’t happen!
Rats are the same way. Technically, they could be harmed by the caffeine content, but it would take more chocolate than most rats could eat. You’d have to inject the rat with caffeine for it to matter.
With that said, coffee isn’t the best option for rats. Excess sugar and milk can cause your rat to gain weight, leading to obesity. Like most animals, obese rats are likely not going to be very healthy. Their lifespan will be decreased, and they will be at a higher risk of many different health problems.
Conclusion
Unlike other animals, rats aren’t sensitive to the ingredients in chocolate. It usually isn’t immediately life threatening to them like it is to cats and dogs.
Therefore, if your rat sneaks some chocolate, they will likely be fine. They’d have to eat an impossible amount of chocolate for acute, life-threatening symptoms to crop up. There are no reports of a rat overeating chocolate—though it is theoretically possible. Rats can’t vomit, so even if they have an upset stomach, the toxicity won’t be visible.
Again, we don’t recommend giving chocolate to your rat. It is high in both sugar and milk. These add extra calories that your rat doesn’t need without the nutrients to back it up. In other words, they’re empty calories.
Your rat would be much better off spending their calories on nutritious snacks (such as hard-boiled eggs) and veggies instead. Just like people shouldn’t eat tons of chocolate, our rats shouldn’t either.
Rats can eat chocolate. It won’t kill them—but that doesn’t mean that they should eat it.
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