Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Hidden Soy

I have had many ppl ask me what to look for when looking for soy on labels of things and while the most obvious would be "Soy" or anything that says soy in it, like soybean oil, dehulled soybean meal or something along     .those lines, that does NOT always mean that if you do not see soy on the label that is it soy free.

I learned this week exactly how hard it can be for ppl who truly are allergic to soy. We like to use margerine for things like our mashed potatoes and for making grilled cheese sandwiches and the like, but discovered that the one we like to use, Country Crock, main ingredient, is soy. Great! So, after reading labels on every single type of margerine, we did finally find 2 that we decided to try. Land O Lakes and I can't remember the name of the other one. However, the second one had Soy Free right on the side of it. After having the chance to try them both, we plan to stick with the Land O Lakes from now on. It is much more expensive, but it has a decent taste to it. However, we plan to use butter more than we used to as well, as we KNOW that is soy free.

So, this is the article I found, when looking for soy in fast food. We no longer eat fast food like we used to either because of trying to avoid soy ourselves as much as we can.

Here is an article for everyone who needs to avoid soy and is unsure as to what ingredients are made from soy:




Pure “Soy” Ingredients

While soy is hidden in many vague lists of ingredients, the most obvious word to watch for is “soy” itself. Some manufacturers and restaurateurs contend that soy oil does not contain soy proteins and so does not present a problem for an allergic response. While this may be the case for some who are allergic to soy, those who are intolerant or sensitive to soy will still need to avoid soy oil and all soy-related ingredients.

Some ingredients including the word soy are: soybean oil, soy sauce, soy curd, soy flour, soy grits, soy nuts, soy milk, soy sprouts, isolated soy protein, soy protein concentrate, hydrolyzed soy protein, textured soy protein, soy meal, soy isolate, soy isoflavones.

For chocoholics, the hardest of these to avoid is soy lecithin, which is used as the emulsifier in most forms of chocolate bars, baking squares and chocolate chips. Sometimes ingredients list only list the word Lecithin. This is usually only derived from soy, and should also be avoided.

Some ingredients that are 100% soy, but may not say so, include: tofu, miso, shoyu, yuba, tamari and edamame.



When Ingredients Lists aren’t specific Enough



Food manufacturers are listing ingredients in increasing detail, but sometimes they will simplify their nutrition facts with general terms (which contain a number of ingredients themselves). These generalized terms which should also be avoided include: akara (bean cakes that may or may not contain soy), margarine, mayonnaise, teriyaki, tempeh, and brand-name low-fat oil, Olean.


“Vegetable Protein” and Other Mysteries

Ingredients including “hydrolyzed vegetable protein” and “textured vegetable protein” generally contain either a form of soy, or gluten, or a combination of the two plant proteins.

Similar mysterious ingredients that frequently (if not always) include soy are: hydrolyzed plant protein, isolated vegetable protein, vegetable gum, vegetable broth, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, isolates, methylcellulose, mono- and diglycerides, vegetable broth, vegetable oil, vegetable protein, vegetable starch, and vegetable fat.

“Natural Flavors” Indicates Soy

Again, because soy can be grown organically, and it is a naturally occurring plant, it is not seen as dishonest labelling practice to include “natural flavors”, or “flavoring” when manufacturers really mean soy.

Unless the ingredient is specified, such as “natural vanilla flavors”, or “natural cocoa flavors”, do not trust this catch-all of ingredient euphemisms. The other vague term, “spices”, however does not usually mean soy at all, and is usually used to preserve the proprietary recipe for the special sauce.

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I hope this helps those who are wondering what to look for on labels to know if something is safe to feed to their rats. I am going to work on creating a list of soy free foods that are safe for rats in the near future. Those will be posted here AND on my site, so that everyone knows what is safe to feed their rats (or rodents in general)
 
If you would like to be able to purchase the Social Rats Special Soy Free Rat Food, you can do so here Social Rats Special Soy Free Rat Food 
 
Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Monday, September 20, 2010

Latest Update - including observations of previously soy free rats exposed to soy

August was pretty easy, no real issues. No signs of cancer, no URIs, no health issues. We had 7 births, 6 survived with 1 birth being a single stillborn baby.

September, not even being complete yet, has been a different case, however.

The company I was using to make my rat food from, FM Brown's (I was using the Tropical Carnival for rats and mice), decided to add soy to their food, however, trusting the company, I did not read the label and was alerted to the fact of the added soy, by an adopter. I did try to fight with FM brown's to get them to remove the soy, but was told things like "it is only a tiny amount" or "if you don't like it in there, just remove the little flower pellets", which with the fact that the Tropical Carnival is a grain (not seed) mix, the pellets were half of the mix, plus they are tiny, so would take forever with a 22.5 lb bag, which is what I was using.

I, initially, as I was still recovering from surgery I had on August 25th, did not take the rats off of the mix, because I did not know what I could use that was any better.

Here is what happened due to this "tiny amount" of soy being introduced into my rattery/rescue:

So far, we have lost a total of 14 rats. We lost a few soy free babies because they had a bad reaction to the soy. We lost Mitten's, who was my first velveteen rat. We lost Matty, who was a 4 month old male dumbo lilac, my only lilac. I also lost Bear, my agouti boy. He had been adopted and returned twice, so fell under my 2 adoption policy, so he was to live his life out here, with me. I did not, however, expect that life to be less than 2 years long. I also lost quite a few rescues as well.

Thank the Goddess that I had medication on hand for them, as I have to treat almost 2 dozen rats (24 rats) for respiratory issues. However, I do not normally keep antibiotics an hand for humans, so both my husband and I had to go to the doc to get antibiotics for our own resp issues, less than 24 hours after cleaning cages and inhaling the soy dust.

Jem and Harmony and most of their babies stopped eating entirely, however I did not realize it right away, just as I did not notice with the boys since I am still not back in the rat room on a regular basis as I am STILL recovering from my surgery, which was open brain surgery. My recovery will still take a few MONTHS. I was not allowed to start cleaning cages and such until AFTER my 34 staples were removed. I was able to go in and start feeding on an irregular basis, so did not notice the boys were not eating either. Half of my rats were starving themselves to avoid eating the soy. SMART RATS!

My rats are still recovering, but at least they are now back to soy free. Granted, it is dog food at the moment, but at least it is soy free and they are starting to recover. Tanner, one of my Heart Rats, is finally on the mend and looks like he will pull through. Some of the rats showed little signs from the soy. However, some rats did have strokes because of the soy as well.

I think what disturbs me the most is I went from losing losing a rat or 2 every month or 2, to 14 dead in a matter of days.

I have come to the following conclusion:

If I had any doubts before this month on the safety of soy, I have NONE whatsoever now! I now know, for a fact, that soy is a poison. If it were not, my rats would not have reacted like they did to the soy. I would not have lost so many rats in such a short period of time. From strokes/blood clots, to fatal resp infections, I knew soy was bad for rats, but I did not know how dangerous it could be to completely soy free rats.

It is a little known fact, oddly enough, that rodents will not infest soybean fields. They will go after any other grain, but even regular soybean fields, rats will not eat soy in the wild. It is a poison and wild rats know this, yet humans have not figured out what wild rats have known for numerous generations, that soy plants are poisonous and not to eat it.

Here is what I further know. The average lifespan of a soy fed rat in the UK is 2 years, the average lifespan of a sy fed US rat is 2.5 years, 3 is really lucky if they can make it that far, it happens, but not on a regular basis. However, according to a rescue in Bedford, TX that has been soy free for about 4 years now, her average lifespan of her rescues is 3.5 to 4.5 years. These are rescues, these are rats with unknown genetics, these are INCLUDING in this average, rats with heart issues, rats who have suffered strokes, rats who have been seriously neglected to the point of not always getting a regular meal, rats who are sickly when they come to her. Her AVERAGE is 3.5-4.5 years. I think, for a rescue, that is amazing! I have had a litter of rescue babies that came in and none, NONE of them, lived past a year, when I was feeding a soy based diet. I was feeding the Harlan lab blocks, which is purported to be the healthiest rat diet in the country. Everyone advises using it. However, when I switched to the Tropical Carnival mix (plus a few of my own extras) I did have a rise in strokes, which seems to taper off at about 4 months soy free.

I am also starting to think that the sudden rise (in recent years, as compared to 20 years ago) of respiratory issues in rats is NOT from a weakened immune sytem, but from inhaling soy dust. I feel that it is too much of a coincidence that 24 hours after cleaning the remaining soy from some of our cages, BOTH my husband and I were sick and hacking, coughing, congested. When we went to the doc on Monday, we were both diagnosed with URIs. HOWEVER, our 2 year old daughter, who usually goes to play in her room when we are cleaning cages, was completely unaffected AND still has shown no signs of illness. She is my 24 hour companion, basically. Where I go, she goes. So, if it were a virus, which antiBIOTICS would do nothing for, why would she not be infected?

I plan to double my efforts to make sure ppl are aware of the dangers of soy in rats. Our rats will live much longer being soy free. It is now my belief that a badly bred rat (feeder) could live up to 3 years being soy free, maybe longer. However, that a rat bred by a breeder who is aware of genetics issues, like heart problems, could have the potential to live beyond the almost unheard of age of 5 years plus. The ONLY rats I know of that have hit the 5 year mark have ALL been soy free rats.

I now KNOW that soy is a poison and have changed my adoption contract that any rats from my lines that someone adopts MUST be kept soy free. I was planning something like that for a single litter, but I now have it in my regular contract that rats bred by Social Rats Adoptions (my rattery) must be kept soy free. I have seen what happens to a completely soy free rat when fed soy. Sadly, most of the research done on soy with rats is done on rats that are raised on soy.

Let me explain. Generation 0 is raised on soy, but taken off of soy before conception. Generation 1 is raised soy free, but wills how evidence of soy in the brains, passed from mom during pregnancy. However, once you hit Generation 2, the rats are completely free of soy and those rats are the ones who will have the worst reactions to the soy, because they have not built any type of immunity to it, or tolerance. There is a study that was done about this, that Generation 1 would have traces of soy in the brain. Soy from the fat cells of mom will pass through the placenta and will be imbedded in the brainsof the fetuses. However, since Generation 1 was not actually exposed to soy, when they are bred, they will have no traces of soy at all in them.

So, my new goal, since I am back to square one with the breeding, is to work on lines of soy free rats. I still monitor my breeders for health issues, but it will be a while before I can breed. I would like to breed a masked litter next month, but that depends on the health of the potential mother and room available, as the rescue tends to take up quite a bit of room.

So, STAY SOY FREE for the health and lifespan of your rats!!!

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and  Rescue

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Letter from FL Brown's and my response to them

-------Original Message-------




From: Sue Brown

Date: 9/8/2010 1:22:12 PM

To: Tami - Social Rats Adoption

Subject: RE: Soy...



Dear Tami:



I believe that there is a solution that we can explore together. We could produce a rat and mouse soy-free diet for you and your associates. Instead of the soy, we would have to explore other ways to add protein to the mix so that it is nutritionally sound. If you would like to consider this option, please let me know and we can begin working on this project for you.



You would have to purchase about 2,000 lbs of this item at one time which would be about 88 -22.5# bags.



Is this something that you and your club members would like to consider?



Best Regards, Sue Brown





My Response:


Sue,




I am trying to figure out why you put soy in it in the first place. THis is a NEW thing, not a recipe that you have been using for years. What is wrong with offering us the soy free product that we had been buying for the past year. ONLY this last shipment I got was soy laden, not the product that I had been using for almost a year now. We have not been asking for you to created a new formula, we have been asking you to restore the formula and keep the promise that you made to us:



----- Forwarded Message ----

From: Sue Brown

To: "beccabooscott@yahoo.com"

Sent: Tue, March 16, 2010 7:39:43 AM

Subject: Tropical Carnival Rat Food





Thank you for your comments. We are very happy that your rats enjoy our food. We believe that it’s the best food out there and contains everything nutritionally sound for rats and mice. We do not put soy in our product because there is no research regarding soy for small animals. Until research is done to prove that soy is beneficial, we’ll remain cautious and not put that in our food. Again thank you for your inquiry. Best Regards, Sue Brown





We took this to mean that you would not put soy into your food. This was sent to one of our members in March that you would not put soy in your food. If you refuse to remove the soy from your food, which is now also starting to cause health concerns with some of our asthmatic members, including my own husband because of the soy dust in the food, causing repeated asthma attacks and he has already been hospitalized once, we can not have soy in our rat food.



If you are not willing to keep the promise made that you would not put soy in your food for the health of our rats, then we are prepared to boycott all FM Brown;s products and ask our friends and our families to join us in this boycott. The recent increase in sales in recent months is partially because of Social Rats Rescue network. We are prepared to continue to support FM Brown's if you go back to the soy free formula that you assured us we would have, however, if you refuse, we will boycott ALL FM BRown's products and will use any networking sites and any other web sites, at our disposal, to spread awareness that FM Brown's made a statement that they would remain soy free, then went back on that word for the bottom line.



We use your product, the one that you stated was soy free, because we wanted, for the health of our animals, simply because it was soy free. Because most of our rats were taken off of soy, then reintroduced to it, because you went back on your own statement, that you would keep the food soy free, we trusted your company and you turned your back on us, for the bottom line. What was wrong with the formula that you were using when you issued the statement: "We do not put soy in our product because there is no research regarding soy for small animals. Until research is done to prove that soy is beneficial, we’ll remain cautious and not put that in our food."



We have sent you articles and research showing that soy is, in fact, not only not good for rats, but very bad for rats. Soy has cut the rat life span in half, it has caused the cancer rate in rats to go from 5% to almost 80% in female rats because of the chemical Phytoestrogen and if you think that sounds an awful lot like estrogen, it is because it is a plant made estrogen that causes our female rats to get mammary tumors that are fed by what? By Estrogen and the cancer does not care if it is produced in the rat body or comes from food they ingest. Soy has been proven to weaken the rat immune system as well. It causes our rats to get URIs and increase vet bills and the amount of medication that our rats have to be fed.



If you continue to put this POISON in your food, it is obviously your choice, but then, it is also our choice then to start a national Boycott of any FM Brown's Product because we can not trust what your company says about your food either!



Your decision to keep the soy, or return Tropical Carnival to the original formula used just a few short month ago is your choice, but keep in mind that choice WILL affect your bottom line. Keep it and your sales WILL go down, I guarantee it, remove it and go back to your previous formula and your sale will go up. This is the basic question. How do you want your bottom line to go? Remove the soy, go back to the formula in which, you yourself, promised would remain soy free, and have your sales continue to rise. Or keep the soy in, stay with your new formula that has the poison in it and watch your sales go down. You have seen an example of what my voice does when I complain about something, you were flooded with phone calls and emails. Do you want this to continue on with a boycott of your company as well?



You, personally, not some random person in your company that you can lay blame on, made the statement that the soy would NOT be added to your formula, that you believed, as it was, being soy free, that it was complete and the healthiest diet out there, but now that you have added the soy in, you have gone back on what you told us, that the soy WOULD NOT BE ADDED. You did it to affect your bottom line and we are asking only to be able to continue to purchase the same product that we were purchasing just 2 months ago. We are not asking you to put additional research into anything, no additional money into anything, but allow us to be able to continue to purchase the food we had been able to purchase just a few months ago.



We would be more than willing, over the next year, to commit to purchasing at least 100 bags of that, not all in one shot, as we do this from our homes, but we would be more than happy to commit, to purchase directly from FM Brown's, the soy free food that we had been purchasing from other suppliers, who also are not aware that you have added soy into their food yet, just an FYI. However, this is not something that we can, any of us, commit to purchasing in one lump sum. Not to mention the cost, which I am not aware of what that cost would be at this point, but trying to store 88 bags of food, arrangements would have to be made there as well.





Tami

Social Rats Adoption and Rescue



www.socialrats.com

Follow our Soy and Rats blog at http://socialrats.blogspot.com/

All rats at our rattery/rescue are fed a soy free diet to ensure a healthy life. If you are interested in the Social Rats Special Soy Free Diet, please let me know. I sell it for $2.50 per lb to help support our rescue efforts. We also welcome donations made via www.paypal.com to donations@socialrats.com



I am asking everyone to call Mo at FM Brown's (ext 226) and complain about them introducing soy into their previously soy free Tropical Carnival rat and mouse mix. If you can offer him copies of studies or documented proof on the dangers of soy with rats, that would help make his job easier when he goes to his higher ups to have the recipe changed back.

610- 678-2838 (Phone)



1-800-334-8816 (Toll Free)



Email for Mo currently unavailable.



Up until recently Brown's Tropical Carnival was soy free, however they have recently changed the formula. If you want to know how to remove the soy, please ask, as it is possible to remove it from the mix, tedious, but possible, however, I am asking everyone to call them and ask them to remove it for the health of our rats and give our dear friends a soy free alternative.







Ask to talk to Mo and respectfully request that the soy be removed from their new recipe for the health of our rats. Tell them that Social Rats out of Chicago sent you!!!





You can also follow us on Facebook as well: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Rats-Adoption-and-Rescue/132043696821961



Social Rats for a Social World.

I am always just an email away.

100% Soy Free Rats!!!



Please check out our Rescue page as well for rescues in your area: http://rescues.socialrats.com/

 
 
 
 
 
 
Sidenote: I will give Sue one week to respond, then I will be calling for a national boycott of all FM Brown's product. THey did this for the bottom line, which I was told they did not. So, surprise, surprise, FM Brown's lied to me. If by September 15th, Sue Brown does not notify me that they are returning the Tropical Carnival to being soy free and continue to put their bottom line ahead of the lives of our rats, which mine are now starting to drop line flies, then I will not only have everyone in my network boycott any FM Brown's product, but I will ask that everyone I ever meet in my lifetime will do so as well.

I will be calling my distributor tomorrow and complainig about the food that I was sent from them as well. Their website does not say that they have soy in their food and I was sent food that had soy in it.

ONe week, otherwise, we start a national boycott of ALL FM Brown's products

Tami
Social Rats ADoption and Rescue

Sunday, September 5, 2010

August and September update

Well, things have been hectic around here to say the least. I had surgery on Aug 25th, open brain and currently have 34 staples in my head. To give you a visual, it is from the center of my forehead (behind my hairline) to the bottom of my right ear, nothing but staples. I have no feeling in my head behind the staples for a few inches, so I do have to be extra careful not to hit my head. If I hit the staples, I WILL know it, but if I hit even a quarter inch behind them, I may not. I have been allowed to feed the rats the past few days, but hubby has not allowed me to start cleaning cages and such as of yet and he still helps with watering them.

As far as the rats go, these was a mess up in the food supply, FM Brown's apparently, did not realize that they were the ONLY soy free food on the market, having had it essentially cornered, and put soy into the food. This started an uproar and FM Brown's has been flooded with phone calls and emails about the dangers of soy for rats.

Rebecca of Sweet and Loving Rats (who I will have post an update on her rattery as well because of this) and I both sent Sue Brown links to numerous information and articles and studies online to show them what we see. Although, it does bother me greatly that Sue had stated in an email to a friend, that was forwarded to me, back in March.

This is the email:

"Thank you for your comments. We are very happy that your rats enjoy our food. We believe that it’s the best food out there and contains everything nutritionally sound for rats and mice. We do not put soy in our product because there is no research regarding soy for small animals. Until research is done to prove that soy is beneficial, we’ll remain cautious and not put that in our food. Again thank you for your inquiry. Best Regards, Sue Brown"

Because of this email, we never put any thought into FM Brown's even possibly putting soy into their food, which is why there was such an uproar when this happened.

I called last MOnday and spoke with Sandy and she told me, initially, that the wrong label had been put onto the food, then, calling later, told me (keep in mind, I was on some heavy narcotics trying to deal with all of this) that FM Brown's did, in fact, put soy, a very small amount, into their Tropical Carnival Food.

Wat I find truly disturbing is that it seems that Sue Brown can not keep her story straight. When contacted by one of my adopters, who brought this to my attention, this was the response that Sue sent to her:

"I’m sorry, but we do not have any soy-free mouse and rat diets. This diet has been very successful and many rats and mice are on this diet and they are very healthy.

Not sure why you have chosen a soy-free diet. Is this something that your vet told you about?
Best Regards, Sue Brown"

She states that their diet is very successful and, yes, I agree, it was, WHEN IT WAS SOY FREE!!!

I am hoping that FM Brown's realizes how much damage we can do to their sales, should they chose to keep soy in their food. If I wanted to have my rats on soy, then I could just give them Harlan Teklab lab blocks, which would cost me roughly $100 a month to feed the rats. However, I wanted a soy free food for my rats, because I know that it is healthier for them. So I chose to pay for the Tropical Carnival, and make my mix from that, which costs me $350-$450 per month.

However, since using a soy free food, I have found my rats to be cancer free and very rarely sick. I have found that they can fight off most infection and even had a baby that had his foot eaten off up to the ankle and even though it did get a bit infected, his immune system kicked in and he was able to heal from it.

There have been months at a time that I have gone without treating any rats for URIs, which is the most common rat illness out there. Now I am having to start to treat my guys for resp issues and spending time having to pick the tiny little pellets out of the mix just to keep them healthy. Sadly, because Rebecca also has many sanctuary rats, that depend on a soy free diet to help them just to live, they are slowly, one by one, dying on her, because of some idiot thinking that soy was ok for rats.

I was told, by Mo, that he was unaware of this blog and that he was unaware of the issues that soy caused, but I could not honestly get a straight answer as to why, if they did not know the dangers, then why they added it. Who did they ask if soy was ok for our rats? So many studies out there show how bad soy and specifically GMO soy (which is what 85% of the soy grown in the US actually is) is for rats. Low birth rate, litter deaths, infetility, weaken immune systems, not to mention tumors.

If FM Brown's does not remove the soy from their food, then I will demand a boycott of ALL FM Brown's products and I will no longer be recommending it to my adopters. I guarantee is FM Brown's keeps the soy in their food, IT WILL AFFECT THE BOTTOM LINE!!!

I am supposed to be trying to recover from my surgery and someone over there who does not know what the hell they are doing decides to mess with our food like this? WTF?!?

At this point, I am now back to square one on my soy study. All of my rats have been exposed to soy, including all 5 of my second gen soy free litters. 5 litters of rats that should have had the potential to live up to 5 years and now they have been exposed to soy. I have been set back on my soy free breeding by at least 6 months or better.

I will let everyone know next week if FM Brown's does the right thing or if I will be demanding a boycott of their product. I also have to call my distributor and bitch to them as well, since on their site, they list the ingredients and the list they have on their site does NOT list soy in it.

I am either going to get a replacement for some of the food that I was sent that was laced with soy, or I will get a partial refund and i will go to the head of the company to get it if I have to. Even though I have only lost one rat because of this, 1 rat life was lost in my home because of this. I do not even know how many Rebecca has lost so far, but I believe that it has reached the double digits.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Still think soy is good for your rats?

This information, take from http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Dangers-of-a-Diet-that-Replaces-Dairy-Products-With-Soy--in-Children gives a bit more info about the toxins that are in soy that affects our rats:


Dangers of Soy


Soy products, any soy product, contain a number of chemical compounds that are actually toxic to both humans and animals. They are often called "anti-nutrients". ANti- utrient is merely a word coined by the soy industry to refer to a compound that is bad for you.

These anti-nutrients act in such a way as to block other nutrients from entering the body. In other words, at their best the soy priducts are creating a nutritional deficiency. Soy toxins, such as phytic acid, a protease inhibitor, also target certain organs, cells and enzymes.

Protease inhibitors keep the enzymes of the body from breaking down protien properly so that the body is actually in a quasi-malnourished state and protein deficient. The Food and Drug Administration has not established safe levels for protease inhibitors even though there have been numerous studies on the effects of soy toxins in rats.


In these studies the rats became more susceptible to pancreatic cancer and pancreatic problems which supressed the immune system allowing various other cancers to become established. When the research was made public and presented to the USFDA their response was that it was non-conclusive since the study had been done on rats rather than humans. They stated that because a rat's system is different than a human's the study was invalid. This is interesting since most of the research currently done is done on rats and's validity is accepted by all government organizations.



The Toxins in Soy

The toxins found in soy are:
•Soyatoxin
•Protease inhibitors
•Phytic acid
•Soy lectins
•Nitrosamines
•Maganese concentration levels


This is just an idea of how dangerous soy is and, if you will notice the highlighted portion is about studies done, specifically, on rats. These studies show us exactly how dangerous soy can be to rats as well.

And, from another article that I found, same site, different page: http://hubpages.com/hub/Soy-Benefits-and-Possible-Dangers  Shows that soy actually speeds up the sexual maturity of rats, which causes more energy to be spent on reproduction rather than on normal growth. Sadly, because our life spans are quite often determined by exual maturity and linked to things of this nature, it does cause the lifespan of our rats to be compromised. I have highlighten some important points here as well.


One substance found in soybeans is trypsin, which can inhibit growth in young animals. Adolescent rats that were fed trypsin never achieved normal growth. And though the fermentation process of the beans somewhat neutralizes the inherent growth inhibitors, it does not eliminate them completely.


Soybeans are also high in phytic acid, another questionable substance. Research shows that this acid blocks the absorption of essential minerals, especially iron and copper. Phytic acid can also block the absorption of calcium and magnesium, important electrolytes necessary to regulate blood pH, nerve and muscle function of the body, and hydration. Furthermore, phytic acid partially blocks the absorption of zinc. Why is this important? Zinc is needed for normal brain function and normal nervous system function. It also plays a key role in maintaining normal glucose levels and a healthy reproductive system. And while all beans and legumes contain phytic acid and other phytates, none of the other varieties have the high amount found in soybeans.

In addition, soy contains high levels of goitrogens that depress thyroid function. Studies show that even small amounts of soy protein contain more than enough of these goitrogens to cause a significant effect on thyroid function, especially in pre-menopausal women. Even after women in the study abstained from consuming soy for three months, the negative effects lingered.

Soybeans have also been linked to deadly pancreatic cancer. How? Theprotein molecules in the beans that inhibit trypsin can cause the pancreas to enlarge and perhaps ultimately lead to cancer.

Soy also contains haemagglutinin, a substance that increases the clumping action of red blood cells. This clumping can result in fatal blood clots in the form of aneurisms, strokes, and heart attacks.

When the soybeans are spray-dried and processed, nitrates and lysinoalanine form. These are both powerful carcinogens, and lysinoalanine is a virulent toxin.

Soybeans and soy products are rich in isoflavones. These substances have the ability to mimic estrogen in the body. Laboratory rats fed isoflavones entered puberty at a much earlier age than normal. The concern for humans is the effect on human babies who are given soy-based formula because of allergies to regular milk-based formulas. According to scientific studies, feeding a baby a regular diet of soy milk is like giving the infant a daily dose of five birth control pills. Probably because of these estrogen-like isoflavones, soy has also been linked to breast cancer.

 
THose of us who now are aware of the dangers of soy are now referring to it as poison. It compromises the immune system, it causes cancer and it cuts a rat lifespan in half. What else would you call a produce that does this? Sadly, some rat experts are calling it a miracle food, calling it a way to FIGHT cancer, calling it a God Send, but, then again, to the Nazis, so was Hitler. Just because an expert says that the world is flat or that we are the center of the universe does not make them right, just uninformed of the truth.
 
Please take the time to inform yourself and help your rats to live the long and happy life that Moher Nature intended. She let her friends loose in this world to help us, to guide us, to teach us and, unfortunately, that has resulted in us poisoning them, cutting their lives short, putting them through unneeded surgeries and losing our friends way too fast. I, too, am guilty of it and have lost some great rats because of it. While I will always regret my choice to listen to a vet and use Lab Blocks with my rats, I know now that I can do something to change it. I know now that I can give them good, healthy food that will allow them to live long and happy lives.
 
Join me in saying NO TO SOY! That soy is poison and we REFUSE to continue to feed it to our rats.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Saturday, July 3, 2010

July Update

Things have been doing better yet this month. We have a few more litters ready that are raised soy free. We have had very little use for antibiotics this month at all. Dobi got a bad scratch, got a bit infected, but cleared on it's own without the use of antibiotics. Our little Stumpy was on a round of antibiotics for a missing ankle, but cleared up well without getting worse. Have had 2 URIs both cleared without meds. Slight congestion, bit of porphorin when sneezing, cleared within 48 hours of being noticed.

1 abscess found, cleaned it out, used some neosporin plus on it, cleared up without incidence.

Did have to put some rats down for aggression, but that was hormonal, meaning genetic, not diet.

No incidences of cancer found. Currently there are still more than 100 rats here, plenty of babies available. Do still have some older rescues here as well. All available males have been paired up with younger cagemates.

That is about it for the July update. WIll be posting some more research later today

Tami

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Conclusive evidence!!!!

I have been speaking with Lanyce Suddeth of Pocket Angels Rescue based out of Bedford, TX. She has been running soy free for almost 4 years now and has come up with some astounding evidence. I am still waiting for her email about all of her data so far as she is also doing a soy free study in her rescue, but, keep in mind this is with rats that are born and raised on soy, only taken off of it when they come to her rescue.

Her longest living rescue is 2 weeks short of 5 and a half years old, FOR A RESCUE!!!

Her average lifespan of her rescues is between 3.5 and 4.5 years. Again, this is for rescues!

Her incidence of cancer has gone down dramatically as well. Her rats are healthier and much more active since going soy free as well.

Here is what she told me:
 Here is the deal:   My background is in medicine. before I had to quit working, I was a PA for almost 20 years adn the clinic I worked in utilized allopathic medicine along with holistic, alternative, eastern, etc etc. so we had a LOT of patients come see us that were immune compromised. one thing we found within the first few years is that if we didnt rebuild the immune system via supplementation and nutition, nothing worked. one day it hit me that what the rats deal with is exactly like a human with a compromised immune system due to CFIDS (chronic fatigue immune deficiency syndrome)and LGS (leaky gut syndrome). so I just started trying to work with the same protocol for the rats. took me a couple of years to get it 'right'. But now we are having rats live very long healthy lives.

When I asked her: May I ask how long your rats average lifespan is now?

Her response was: the longest lived rat we've had is 5 years & 5.5 months. But thats not average. Average is between 3 years 6 months and 4 years 6 months. give or take and these are all rescues. there is a breeder I am working wiht testing out the protocol since that would be a better way to really look at longevity

When asked how many rats she is working with, this is what I was told: I have 22 personal rats and the rescue has 139. usually we dont do so many but we had a couple larger rescue situatins from cites around us in the last few months

So we are not talking about just a couple of rats, or ever a couple dozen, we are talking about over 150 rats that she has seen a change in. Between Rebecca and I we have had over 300 rats between our pets, our breeders, our sanctuary and our adoptables and we have also seen a major change.

Sadly some rats do not handle the removal of soy as well as others, but the magority of them do very well and are healthier for it.

So, this is just yet another piece of evidence that going soy free makes a major difference in the rats health. We have also discovered that contrary to popular belief, not all rats have been exposed to myco and it is NOT safe to assume that they have. I had to shut down for a month back in Feb because of something going through my rattery. Come to find out, I had a mess of rats that had not been exposed to myco that I inadvertently exposed because I made the assumption that all pet rats had been exposed to it.

However, going soy free has made issues with myco almost non existant as well. While we do have the occasional issue, it is not something that we deal with on a regular basis. Plus, we have found that our rats get colds as well. One day a rat will be congested, so I will decide to start them on meds the next day. By then, they are cleared up, or clearing up and no need for the meds.

So, I would say going soy free has made a major change and we will be breeding Harmony to Batman today, which will be our FIRST second gen soy free litter. If anyone is interested in adopting from this litter, please let me know. There will be a special form to fill out and special requirements, but I will go into those at a later date. Among them, however, is doing a update every 3 months and the rats MUST be kept soy free. This is one requirement that MUST be upheld.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Friday, May 28, 2010

It has come to my attention...

I have come to the decision that because of a couple of twerps from IN, I am not going to lock my blog. I want to share with the rat community what I have found, what we discover and too many studies are kept private. I do this for the good of rats everywhere and will not let some little twerp keep me from sharing this information. However, I will be posting their info on a spearate blog. I am going to be moving postings and the like, so this is just for the study and we have a separate Social Rats blog for our RIPs and for updates on our ratteries and rescues. The new blog address is: Social Rats Updates and News

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue



Original posting:

Someone has been using the data from the Social Rats study claiming it to be their own, so we will be closing this blog to the public. I will be setting something up so that those interested may read it, but will not be leaving it open to the public. We put a lot of work into this study and I will NOT have someone taking credit for our hard work.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

May and June updates

I know I have been trying to get the updates up, but have been busy. I wanted to do the updates before I get into more RIP postings, as I have more to do yet. Thus far, since this study began, the only rat to pass away that was from our lines, has been Apple, but that was expected. Since March, when I started this, it has been rescue after rescue that has passed, other than some babies that we have lost, but I will explain those.

Our girls are doing well and we have breed Marie to Z and those babies are all doing very well. We still have some of them up for adoption. THis was an experimental litter to see if 2 rats with what is referred to as the "High White" gene, causing various blazes, bred together, on a soy free diet, would come upw ith mega colon, the major fear of breeders who work with high white. Marie had 19 babies, huge litter, we lost one within 24 hours, all of the rest of her babies survived without an issue. We had no runts, all grew at the same rate without a foster mom to help her. She did wonderfully. We did have a virus that went through our rattery back in March, around the time that Marie had her babies, which caused us to lose Squeaka's babies. She birthed 3 of them and absored the rest. Those who were born were stillborn, so the litter died before birth.

We also bred Avi, who is an odd eye, high white tan girl with Tanner, who carries the high white gene, but does not display it. Again, this litter should have been at a high risk of mega colon, but no issues with them either. While this does not prove that a soy free diet will prevent mega colon, it is a good sign in that direction. The only way to prove it is to breed a rat that has had issues with mego colon in the past, but in that case we are also talking about a rat that most likely exposed to soy, which would affect the results. So we will continue to monitor all at risk litters for this condition in the future.

We have also discovered that the soy free diet has increased our litter sizes as well. While the average litter size for a rat is usually 12, all litters born of our rats, soy free for some time, have been 15+.

Donna has had her second litter, a tan/fawn top ear/dumbo mixed litter. Again she was bred with Tanner and had a successful birth. So successful, in fact, that I did not realize that she had given birth right away. Last time she gave birth at 23 days, so the day of transport, May 12th, we were going to move her out of the colony cage when we got back, assuming we still had 2 days before she gave birth. This time around she delivered right at 21 days, so we did end up with some injured from other females trying to steal babies.

Baby #1 had some skin scraped off the top of his head. We lost him (I did not sex them, I tend to refer to unsexed babies as he)
Baby #2 had some skin scraped off of her back. We were concerned about infection, but waited to see if we saw anything. She was just a newborn and though we COULD treat with amoxicillin and neosporin, I wanted to let her get bigger. Come to find out, what I thought was infection developing was actualy scar tissue and she is almost completely healed up, with a tiny scab on her back yet. (I have since sexed this baby and found it to be a girl)
Baby #3 had injuries to his left front leg. I was worried with this little guy that we were going to lose his leg. Our main concern is that a blood vessel had been severed, however it had only been pinched. He recovered without incident and now I can not tell which one he is. I only know that he is a tan one. (he was unsexed)

So healing without infection has definitely improved.

We did have a scare with Simi. She got 3 abscesses on her back from a cagemate, naughty little Taffy as I later discovered when trying to return her to that cage. She also had some lumps on her underside. I feared the worst, of course, believing that it would be cancer. Thankfully, as the abscesses healed up, without incident or return, the swelling went down as well. The lumps were swollen glands fighting the infection. This is good news, meaning that her immune system is fully functioning. I have dealt with abscesses before, but when my rats were on soy, the glands never swelled up. This means that their immune systems are now fully functioning, where before they were not. I also did not treat with antibiotics, as I wanted to monitor to see if she needed them. Normally I would recommend amoxicillin when treating an abscess, but I wanted to see if her body would fight the infection on it's own, which it did.

Respiratory issues have been quite low, although we did lose a few to respitory issues and complications that came with them. Shilo, who had already lost 2 litter mates to issues (I believe that there was something wrong with the litter and all babies from that litter have been adopted out to pet only homes after the first death in litter we had) relating to respiratory issues.

Shilo had fought the good fight, but even with amoxicillin, Baytril and Lasix, it was not enough for her. Even after her respiratory issues cleared, she was too weak to keep fighting. Her lungs were clear and her breathing, a bit fast, otherwise was fine. She had lost too much weight and dispite my best efforts, I could not get her to gaint he weight back. This includes using Boost plus (which does have soy in it, but minimal compared to more health shakes) and giving baby food twice a day. She was eating, and she had friends, but she was not putting on the weight. Mindy, a rescue that had been with us a while went the same route. She started with resp issues, but lost so much weight fighting it, that I ended up putting her to sleep. I could see the same, no coming back from illness, in her as well.

The only litters we have lost were due to the virus and we have had little issues with infertility. The only ones that did have issue were those who came from breeders who do use soy. We also have not had any small litters OR small babies, all babies have grown at an appropriate rate.

I have discovered an interesting fact. The girls who are raised soy free from pregnancy on are hitting their first heat later in life. THis is good news as well as this tells us that their clocks are slowing down. By not going into their first heat until 8-12 weeks of age, it does vary from girl to girl, they will be able to breed longer and will live longer after menopause.

Thus far, we have not seen any signs of cancer in any of our girls and my oldest, at the moment, is Taffy, who is about 18 months old now. We may see signs of cancer in her in the future if we did not get her off of the soy soon enough.

However, I do have some interesting news that we are trying to get a statement from this particular pet owner. We came across someone who adopted from us to replace a rat that she lost. According to what I have been told she purchased the rats at a young age from a  pet store and had them on a soy free diet. The rat that she replaced passed away in her sleep, from what I understand, at the age of 6 years old. Her cagemate and litter mate is still going strong at 6 years old. That is AMAZING news and I will post her story on here as soon as I hear back from Rebecca, who was the one who spoke with her and adopted to her.

So, what we have so far, is that going soy free has made a major difference so far in our rats. THey have more energy, even have some of the boys using wheels now. Olefat and lazy Tanner is starting to use one as well, more or less. He climbs in it, walks 10 feet and gets back out, but at least he is trying. Sugar, our tailless, is starting to get mroe used to using one as well. We just got a shipment of wheels recently, so we are able to provide them to more of the rats now. Some of the cages I have to pull apart to put the wheels in, but we will be doing that in the near future to give everyone a wheel to use. We are finding less illnesses. We do have sneezing, but that is usually from running the vacuum or the AC can set it off pretty easily as well.

Have more RIPs to do this weekend, and will be doing a large one for Memorial Day as well, which I will be  working on through the weekend to remember all of those who pass on.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Friday, May 7, 2010

GMO SOY - New Study and info

This was posted to a Yahoo group I belong to, Ratlist.




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/genetically-modified-soy_b_544575.html <--- This is the link to the article

I want to share just some of it with you, if you want to read the full article, you can click the link above.

What got me the most was the following part of the article, but I am not taking things out of context in this article.

Years of Reproductive Disorders from GMO-Feed




Surov's hamsters are just the latest animals to suffer from reproductive disorders after consuming GMOs. In 2005, Irina Ermakova, also with the Russian National Academy of Sciences, reported that more than half the babies from mother rats fed GM soy died within three weeks. This was also five times higher than the 10% death rate of the non-GMO soy group. The babies in the GM group were also smaller (see photo) and could not reproduce.


In a telling coincidence, after Ermakova's feeding trials, her laboratory started feeding all the rats in the facility a commercial rat chow using GM soy. Within two months, the infant mortality facility-wide reached 55%.

When Ermakova fed male rats GM soy, their testicles changed from the normal pink to dark blue! Italian scientists similarly found changes in mice testes (PDF), including damaged young sperm cells. Furthermore, the DNA of embryos from parent mice fed GM soy functioned differently.

An Austrian government study published in November 2008 showed that the more GM corn was fed to mice, the fewer the babies they had (PDF), and the smaller the babies were.

Central Iowa Farmer Jerry Rosman also had trouble with pigs and cows becoming sterile. Some of his pigs even had false pregnancies or gave birth to bags of water. After months of investigations and testing, he finally traced the problem to GM corn feed. Every time a newspaper, magazine, or TV show reported Jerry's problems, he would receive calls from more farmers complaining of livestock sterility on their farm, linked to GM corn.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine accidentally discovered that rats raised on corncob bedding "neither breed nor exhibit reproductive behavior." Tests on the corn material revealed two compounds that stopped the sexual cycle in females "at concentrations approximately two-hundredfold lower than classical phytoestrogens." One compound also curtailed male sexual behavior and both substances contributed to the growth of breast and prostate cancer cell cultures. Researchers found that the amount of the substances varied with GM corn varieties. The crushed corncob used at Baylor was likely shipped from central Iowa, near the farm of Jerry Rosman and others complaining of sterile livestock.

In Haryana, India, a team of investigating veterinarians report that buffalo consuming GM cottonseed suffer from infertility, as well as frequent abortions, premature deliveries, and prolapsed uteruses. Many adult and young buffalo have also died mysteriously.

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=4888#size  This link also has pics on it as well.
 
 
 
I am coninuing my study on the rats and soy free. All of the rats that I have that I am having to treat with meds so far are still all rescues.
I will be writing up my May update in the next couple of days.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Rats of the Past - Almost 20 years ago (Rebecca's Sweet and Loving Rats Rattery)

This was sent to me by Rebecca, the owner of my sister rattery, Rebecca's Sweet and Loving Rats in Lebanon, IN. http://www.sweetandlovingrats.com/

My rats years ago I used to keep in various sized tanks. I used shredded newspaper bedding because it was cheap.

I used to feed them a diet of various cereals, oats, fruits and veggies, different dog foods and cat foods, chicken, liver, alfalfa blocks and just basic table scraps, not to mention the ratty favorite, popcorn. THey were on a soy free diet because soy was not that popular back then.

I never had to deal with respiratory issues with any of my rats.  I did have 2 male rats that got cancer because of their preferance to eating only dried corn. They got the tumors around 2 years of age, but lived at least 2 years after they first got the tumors. I remember that I did have one male that I gave an orange to and the results were not very pretty. I ended up having to have him neutered and he lived to be at least 4 years old. I did take them to a vet, who at that time was willing to treat rats and even had one of my boys fixed due to the orange thing.

I never lost any of my rats younger than 4 years old. I even had some of my rats that lived to be as old at 6 years old.

I know now that I plan to keep as much soy out of their diet as possible. I now read labels on anything that I feed them and try to feed as much natural food as possible. Some of the things I would never had fed them would have been the massive amounts of corn, oranges or popcorn now. The things I know now are so different from the total lack of information I had all of those years ago that I would not care for my present rats the way I did my old ones.


From my experience with the rats I had then and the rats I have now is that my rats then lived so much longer and happier lives than most rats that are fed soy and soy based foods now.


~Rebecca B.
Rebecca's Swwet and Loving Rats


posted by Tami with Social Rats

Monday, April 12, 2010

Tweeking the Diet

I am working with tweeking my rat diet a bit. I am now adding in ground flax seed (not into what I sell for the moment) because I have been told and done a little research (not enough to expose other rats to it at the moment) that leads me to believe that flax seed should help to boost the rat immune system and help to fight precancerous cells. I was FINALLY able to find flax seed at a Shop and Save, no less. So we picked up 3 bags of it, very reasonably priced, and are now working it into the diet to see if it is something worth looking into and adding to the diet I sell as well.

I do not want to take the chance of hurting other rats, should it not prove beneficial to my rats, but it is does help them, I will be adding it to the diet as well.

In recent news, I had joined the World Rat Day Secret Santa program, that one rat lover had started. I sent, what I thought, was a very nice treat, which was pig skin wrapped around sweet potato and rather than a thank you, because I wanted to send her something soy free, I got an email bitching at me because A) I did not send her enough stuff because she had 8 rats and the treat I send was only 6 treats (5" long and her rats are not all caged alone, so it could have been divided per cage) and that I did not spend enough on it. Anyone who knows me knows that I am willing to help those who need it, I take time out of my day and have spent full days on transports and rescues. I spend hours answering emails, some are not even adopters, but just someone looking for advice. I do not have a lot of money, the money that I do have extra tends to go to help care for the rats.

The upside is that the woman who runs the program emailed me to apologize for the member, that she should have handled things differently.

I think my biggest issue with it was she attacked, without reading the blog, my advice on soy. Her email starts out:

First off, my rats get soy yogurt for breakfast and soymilk with dinner. Every day. I read your first post about the dangers of soy. Here is my opinion on that subject: In research, animals are usually fed very large/concentrated amounts, not what is usually ingested. And I believe that soy has been touted as a "miracle food" for a while now, so people have been over-doing it. I think that, like everything else, in moderation, soy can be beneficial. But when it is taken to an extreme, it can become harmful.


It is one thing to be pro soy, but if you plan to attack my research on it, you might actually take the time to read my blog on it and check out some of the research done.
 
I know that rats are healthier without the soy. Being off of it has allowed many of my rats to start to recover and their immune systems are kicking in. I plan to post more links about the research that I have done about soy and the immune system, which I think is actually the most dangerous affect that soy has on them, when I have a moment to look up the links.
 
For now, Goddess Bless and if you would like to include your stories about soy and your rats (cats, dogs, birds) please feel free to.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

African Soft Furs - a tale of 2 breeders

Breeder A -

I got ASFs to breed as an alternative to ppl feeding rats to snakes because of the loving and social nature of rats as compared to the lack of socialization in the ASFs. While I found the ASFs to be awesome little creatures to watch as they cared for their young and play in their wheels and hideys.

I housed them in whatever tanks I have. I had a 1m 4f colony in a 15 gallon tank, 1m 5f colony in a 20 gallon long tank, 1m 10f in a 55 gallon tank and a 1m 12f colony in a 55 gallon tank. When I separated the males and females from litter, I kept them in 2 separate cages. The boys cage was a 10 gallon tank with a homemade tank topper on it that was twice the height of normal tank toppers. The girls cage was a 10 gallon tank with a standard tank topper on it. All cages had wheels and places for them to hide.

Bedding I used a mix of Pine, Cedar and corn cob bedding. I used cardboard boxes, hamster balls and small toys for them to play and hide in. One cage I even had a large cardboard box that they used for nesting. I felt that just because they were being bred for snake food did not mean that they had to be treated inhumanely.

For food I used a mix of Sun Seed hamster food and fruits and veggies. In all of the ASFs that I bred in the 6 months or so that I was breeding (a family member became allergic to them, so I had to sell my colonies) I only had 1 case of cancer. I had one ASF female that developed a rapidly growing tumor on her chest. In a matter of hours is almost doubled in size. Because I did not want her to suffer, I humanely euthanized her and disposed of her body (she was not fed to a snake because I did not want to take the chance of hurting a reptile by feeding unhealthy food). On the whole, my colonies were relatively healthy. I lost minimal litters, had minimal aggression (that was uncommon for the ASF species) and did not have that many that died.


Breeder B:

How I housed my ASFs: I kept them in 10 gallon tanks and used shredded newspaper and Aspen bedding.

What I fed them: They were fed a diet of cereal, oats, fruits and veggies, dog food, cat food, mealworms, crickets, chicken, Alfalfa blocks, Timothy hay and table scraps. (kept to a minimum) I was not feeding any soy because of my own sensitivity to soy products.

Illnesses: I never had any that got ill while being kept this way.

Diet change: I was in my 5th generation of ASFs when I changed their diet to strictly lab blocks. I figured it would be healthier for them as it contained complete nutrients for them. Up until this point, I had no issues with any of my colonies.

After the diet change: Within a month of the change, I began to notice tumors. Within a very short period of time, my entire colony was suffering from these tumors. Mainly on or around their tails, but it was enough to kill all of them off. It affected not only my adults, but also my weanlings. Any ASF that was eating on their own  was affected. I lose my entire colony from this within a very short period of time. The nursing and pregnant mothers died off, I lost all of the babies due to starvation from the mothers dying and all of the males and weanlings died from the tumors. I lost over 100 adults and weanlings, not to mention the litters that died from the lack of a nursing mother.

My conclusions: I would not recommed feeding lab blocks to any ASF (or just about any rodent) because of this experience.



I would like to thank the 2 breeders for taking the time to share with me their story about their own experiences with their ASFs. While I know that they are not rats, it does show that there may be something to the soy and it may not be just the rats that thie is affecting.


Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Monthly Update - April (month 2 soy free)

Well, I have not had much of a chance to do any meaningful research lately. I am still trying to determine if soy in a diet will affect mega colon, but have not had much luck, so that may have nothing to do with soy.

So, here is an undate on the rattery and the soy study. I am in the process now of treating everyone with Revolution because I had soem rescues come in that looked they had rat lice, so will be treating everyone, just in case. Any rats that are up for adoption have already been treated and I will be doing another treatment on Thursday, once some of my new litters are 2 weeks old. I will be doing the last part of the rattery in 2 weeks, since I had a recent birth just a couple of days ago. This has nothing to do with the soy, but did want to do a rattery update as well while I am doing this. Also, the guys I was planning to have put to sleep, I wanted to hold off on, to see if we could give them just a few more weeks or even days in this life. Meeko has since gotten better, but I do check him daily to keep an eye on his condition. Papa on the other hand, I am not going to have a choice with him and, currently, we are looking at just a couple of days now. Keep in mind, this has nothing to do with adoption status, as these are sanctuary rats. This is because of illness and quality of life.

I hae 2 girls from my first litter of the year, Harmony and Charisma that have been on a soy free diet and are now about 9 weeks old. I have not yet observed estrus in them, so it seems that my theory about the sexual maturity will be correct. Most rats fed a "normal" diet have already have experienced their first heat by now. I am looking for signs of heat like submitting to a mount by a cage mate, bouncing, more hyper, presenting of their rear for mating, anything that could lead me to believe that they are in heat and I have not yet seen any signs of it, which is a good thing.

For breeding, I have discovered a couple of things so far with my rats. One of my males that I purchased from another breeder seems to be infertile as I have put multiple females in with him with no luck. This is not a case of the male and female just being together for a night or 2, but weeks or months. I had Squeaka in with him for almost a month, with no luck. I moved her in with Z, one of my blazed breeders and he got her almost immediately. Mindy who has been in with him for almost 3 months now still has not concieved. So I believe that the soy I had him on actually made him infertile. The research I have done so far has shown me that soy can have 2 major negative affects on males. The first would be, like with NoNo, that he is infertile. It messes with the fertility of male rats. The second, which is likely to affect pet owners as well, is it can increase hormone related aggression. Because soy messes with the sex hormones in all rats, in males it can (not will, but can) lead to hormone related aggression. By feeding a soy free diet, this may be able to be limited. I am not saying that soy WILL cause hormone related aggression, nor am I saying that soy is the ONLY cause for hormone related aggression in males, just that is can, well, make it worse, I guess.

We have only had one major respiratory related issue, but that was our fault, not soy or non soy related. We use modified storage boxes for some of our litters, to save space, money and mess. We have one that has excellent ventilation, however we did not take into account for multiple adult rats in one of the cages when it came to ventilation and it caused ammonia build up. Once I realized how bad it was, I removed the rats into a wire cage, but Squeaka, who was already pregnant, did get a URI from it. It was not a sneezy thing, or even congested, but I could tell that she ws not feeling well from her fluffed fur. It did cause the loss of her litter. She has since recovered without incident. We gave her a 7 day round of amoxicillin and she ws back to normal after delivery and 2 days of meds.

We have had no major sneezing, no congestion this month and all of our rats have been acting healthy and lively. With the fact that we are now 2 months into the soy free, I have noticed drastic changes already in the rats. At this point we have 47 adult and weaned rats and 11 litters of babies ranging from 1 to 18 babies. If I had to make a guess, I would say that we have, goodness, around 120 rats here at the moment, with all of the babies. and even with this many rats in a room, we still have minimal illness. Now, keep in mind that our litters are both those we have bred and those who came to use pregnant and/or nursing. So this is not like I personally bred 11 litters this year so far. Only 4 of those litters are ones that I have personally bred. 1 that will be ready on the 7th, 1 that will be available around the beginning of May and 2 that will be available around the middle of May.

I have actually been using a minimal amount of meds lately, more that was thrown out than I have used, just because I had it mixed for too long. I did a transport to my facility down in IN and we did have some magor issues there with the rats that were transported, but do not believe that to be due to diet or immune system. That would have to be due to 30 rats be backed into a little Ford Focus with 2 smokers. So, cramped conditions, the fact that we smoke, and the weather all had an affect on the rats and quite a few did come down with issues but most have responded well to the meds. I was expecting issues with the transport, simply because of the cramped quarters. Our lab boys, which were among those transported, are the ones having the worst issues and the hardest time recovering. But, you have to keep in mind, they were not raised like regular rats, they had not been exposed to things our rats are normally exposed to in litter, and they were fed a high soy diet for most of their 2 years. All of which has made them weaker, immunity wise. However, other than just a couple out of the bunch, most of them have responded to the meds and cleared up quickly.

At this point, having been open for more than a year now, we have not have 1 case of cancer and I am hoping that feeding soy free, that we will not. My condolences to those ppl who have had to deal with cancer, as I am not one of them. Even though I have raised and owned rats, off and on, for 20 years now, I have never had a rat with cancer, never had to deal with tumors. Even with all of the rats that I have taken in this past year, none had cancer or any type of tumors. We have one rat, a hairless male, that came in with a lump that I thought may be cancer, because it did not come to a head and pop like a normall abscess. He had it for more than 3 months before it finally opened up. Come to find out it was not cancer or an abscess, but an severely ingrown hair, which hairless rats are easy to get. While it was not as bad, gross wise, as dealing with an abscess, it was still pretty gross. Scale of 1 to 10, I would put abscss at a 7 and ingrown hair at a 6.

THat should cover everything, if I think of anything else, I will post a continuation of this at a later date.


Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Monday, March 29, 2010

Soy and the Female Rat Reproductive system (sexual maturity)

I have found a couple of site that I found very interesting and believe them to be in support of part of what I have been saying about the soy messing with female rats.

The first article talks about the sexual maturity of rats from different lines. This was based on research done near the turn of the 20th century, quoting dates from 1911 and 1922. According to this particular article, the rats they worked with average sexual maturity age about about 2-3 months, but this is not based on first observed heat cycle, but the "vaginal aperture". According to a google search: The Vaginal Aperture is the female rat's genital opening that leads to the vagina and uteri. What they were looking for is the apearance of the vaginal aperture, and relating this to sexual maturity. This does not mean that they were able yet to reproduce or that they immediately experienced their first heat cycle, but were physically able to experience intercourse and birth babies.  ***The link I had went dead, so the info is here, but not the link to it, sorry.***

However, I have also found a more current site that, in their FAQs, state that females can breed as young as 6 weeks old, which is far too young for a rat to be able to carry and birth a healthy litter. Don't get me wrong, the World of Rats website is a wonderful resource and should be checked out and I have nothing against them. In my limited time on their site I have not found them advocating the use of soy with rats. THey are not advocating breeding rats at 6 weeks of age, only pointing out that they should be removed from their male litter mates before 6 weeks of age because it is possible. I remember a time when it was no issue for the babies to be with mom until they were at least 8 weeks old with no issues at all.

Well, I have taken 2 girls out of Mitten's litter and moved them in with another mother so I know which 2 are mine and will be able to watch them. I am modifying my study, at the moment, as I will not currently be working with any rats on soy, for now. I have too much currently going on with my own breeding, with my many litters that came in to my rattery (not my rescue)  and trying to keep up with feeding, watering, cage cleaning, socializing and adoptions to try to work with the soy part of the study. I believe that it would be safe to say that we all know that normally female rats experience their first heat between 6-8 weeks of age and I will be watching Mitten's girls to see if they do, in fact, go into heat when I believe they will.

On the upside, I have discovered something about Mitten's that I did not initially realize. That would be that Mitten's is NOT a standard furred rat. She is actually a Velveteen rat, so I did keep 2 velveteen baby girls and 1 boy, as I plan to impliment this into my litters and into some of my lines. Velveteen is similar to the rex, except as they get older, the fur straightens and the whiskers are naturally straight, unlike a rex whose is curly. Velveteen makes the fur softer, like with Mitten's fur, which, I have to say, I have always liked, but did not realize that it was a fur type, just thought it was some fluke. I actually did not realize that Velveteen was a fur type, I had never heard of it. It was not until I was doing some research on hairless rats, for Rebecca, that I realized that Mitten's was a velveteen rat.

I plan to look into adding Velveteen to my lines, but I know that I have to be careful because if the Velveteen is mixed too strong, like with the rex, it can result in hairless rats and I do not want to deal with that. I want to work with Velveteen rats and standard, however Rebecca will be working with the hairless, so we will know genetics and backgrounds and will be able to provide responsible breeder bred hairless rats to both areas.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Friday, March 26, 2010

The final piece of the puzzle

I believe that I have finally solved the answer. Maybe not all of it, but it is a start and I believe that will rats being raised on a soy free diet that they will be a whole heck of a lot healthier.

Here is what I have pieced together from all of my research thus far.

Soy protein affects the pancreas, as I stated in an earlier posting. It enlarges the pancreas as much as 40% and after 24 weeks of soy, the damage has a greater chance of being permanant. If the rats are switched onto a soy free diet before 6 months of age, then the damage can be full reversed.

What your pancreas does, besides help to regulate your blood sugar levels, is it also helps aid in digestion and absorption by creating and excreting digestive enzymes. Soy, in itself, blocks the absorption of some vital minerals, but the reduced effictiveness of the digestive enzymes created by the pancreas make it that much worse.

The most vital mineral that I have discovered that soy and it's damage to the pancreas both prevent absorption of is Zinc. Zinc is needed to maintain a healthy immune system and without it, the immune system can not function properly leading to fragile rats. Since we stopped the soy, although some of our older rats have gotten sick, all of our younger rats have been fine. You may attribute this to age, and this could be, but the rat that got sick at the drop of a hat has not been sick since the soy was stopped and this means something to me.

Now, granted, the soy has made no difference with our lab boys, but this is because these particular rats had not been exposed to most illnesses that other rats are exposed to in litter. The lab breeders ensured this by delivering the babies via C-Section, in a sterile environment and hand raising them (this is years ago) and all lab rats have been bred from these Myco free rats.

I am finding that those who did get sick during a transport are recovering faster. We have had less issues with Myco than before, although this could be considered subjective since I don't have records of who was sick when. I kept it all in my head.

i have definitely seen a major improvement so far and it could take 6 months or longer for them to recover from the damage the soy has done thus far and the older ones may not recover completely. If I am right, however, all of the babies adopted out should be fine and have long lives.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

I believe I MAY have discovered WHY soy is bad for rats and what it actually does

I have doing some more research tonight and I will include a couple of links to some of my research that I have done, but keep in mind I am tired and was just doing research to stay awake until hubby goes to work and daughter goes to sleep.

Apparently soy has a dramatic affect on the pancreas in rats. It can enlarge and, eventually, cause cancer in them. The pancreas preoduces insulin for our bodies, but it also aids in our immune system as well. When the pancreas gets damaged, it affects our immune system and the same holds true for rats. The one animal that the soy affected the pancreas of the most was, in fact, rats. Similiar experiments were done with pigs and monkeys and similiar affects were produced, but to a much lesser extent.

I believe now that what is happening, what is hurting our rats is that the soy is affecting the pancreas, affecting the immune system so they are more suseptable to different illnesses including various cancers, as our immune system does fight cancer as a disease and if the panceas is affected, it can cause a multitude of issues, including URIs, lung issues, myco and various forms of cancer. It may also be why so many rats get cysts and abscesses as well. It may be why they are so prone to getting sick and why they don't live as long as they did years ago.

The Dangers of a Diet that Replaces Dairy Products With Soy

This is the first article that caught my attention. An exerpt from the article:

Protease inhibitors keep the enzymes of the body from breaking down protien properly so that the body is actually in a quasi-malnourished state and protein deficient. The Food and Drug Administration has not established safe levels for protease inhibitors even though there have been numerous studies on the effects of soy toxins in rats.


In these studies the rats became more susceptible to pancreatic cancer and pancreatic problems which supressed the immune system allowing various other cancers to become established. When the research was made public and presented to the USFDA their response was that it was non-conclusive since the study had been done on rats rather than humans. They stated that because a rat's system is different than a human's the study was invalid. This is interesting since most of the research currently done is done on rats and's validity is accepted by all government organizations


And, from the abstract from an experiment done:

We have previously shown that rats fed raw soya flour (RSF) for more than four months develop hyperplastic foci of pancreatic acinar cells, which undergo malignant change if feeding RSF is continued throughout the life of the animals. The tendency to undergo malignant change is augmented by the additional use of a genotoxic carcinogen such as azaserine. The present study has sought to examine the reversibility of the focal neoplastic change in the pancreas. Rats fed RSF for 24 weeks and then given a diet not containing soya flour (NSC) had a normal pancreas when killed after 60 weeks of study. When RSF was fed for only 36 weeks, however, some of the rats developed pancreatic cancer even though the diet had been switched to NSC. Similarly, while azaserine in the dose used in the present study does not produce pancreatic cancer in our strain of Wistar rats, coincident administration of RSF for 12 weeks (but not for six weeks) resulted in progression to pancreatic adenoma. Although change from RSF to NSC after 30 weeks resulted in rapid reduction in pancreatic weight and content of RNA, neoplastic foci persisted and became frankly malignant. We conclude that phenotypic reversion to normal of the RSF diet- and azaserine-treated rat pancreas is only possible if RSF alone is fed continuously for not more than about 24 weeks or six weeks if the rats have been exposed to a pancreatic initiating carcinogen

Which can be found here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1434532/

Although more research needs to be done, my hubby has left for work, my screen is blurring and my daughter is yawning, so I pray to the Goddess that I will be allowed to rest my weary head on my pillow for a few hours and leave this reality behind for some time. Maybe go to a place that our rats share our lives for more than just a year or 3, back to a time when our rats lived full lives, rather than dying before we are ready to let them go.

The upside from what I have read is that if the soy is cut out soon enough, that they may have a chance at a full recovery, but I would suggest, even for older rats, to remove all soy from their diets to help ensure the longest life for them possible. This is where getting from a breeder is all the more important. I suggest asking if they feed a soy free diet in their rattery before committing to an adoption. You may be able to get a rat for a good many years rather than just a couple.

Good luck, good night and kiss your fur babies and hope for a long life for them


Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Monday, March 22, 2010

Extra Soy free treats

Thinking back, all those years ago, I know that mom and I never used any of these treats that are available now and we did so without issue. So, both Rebecca and I (of  Rebecca's Sweet and Loving Rats  who is the other breeder that I am working with) have made a few choices with our study, since we are trying to keep as soy free as possible. We are going all natural with the chews, so we are giving them pig ears to eat AND I even found the most awesome treat at Wal-Mart along the same lines, which is a pig skin stuffed with sweet potato (soy free). I got some wet cat food for my pregnant and nursing girls (a few of my own, a bunch of girls that came in through my rattery) to supplement their diets with. I also picked up some Boost protein drink, to use in place of Ensure for any rats I get that are sick that need it. I would rather expose them to small amounts of soy rather than risk their lives just to keep them soy free.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Friday, March 19, 2010

Soy Free Lab Blocks

Through much searching, while doing my research, I have finally found a supplier of soy free blocks. This is not a commercially produced item, but something that someone who wants to provide the best to the rat community has created. She has taken into account the full nutritional needs of rats into account when creating these blocks. She makes them fresh to ensure that when you get them, that they are the freshest you can get. She bakes them to order, so you do not have to worry about something that has been sitting in her pantry or in her home for many months or even years.

Henry's Rat Blocks

She lists on her site exactly what is in the blocks, so you can be sure that they are the best that your rats can get. She uses whey protein as the protein source rather than soy or corn.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

What F.M. Brown's says about their food

A friend of mine contacted FM Brown's about their Brown's Tropical Carnival Rat mix, which does not contain soy in their food to see why they decided not to include soy in their food. We wanted to see if this was intentionally done of if it was a cost made decision. FM Brown's sent the following response to my friend:

Thank you for your comments. We are very happy that your rats enjoy our food. We believe that it’s the best food out there and contains everything nutritionally sound for rats and mice. We do not put soy in our product because there is no research regarding soy for small animals. Until research is done to prove that soy is beneficial, we’ll remain cautious and not put that in our food. Again thank you for your inquiry. Best Regards, Sue Brown


So, since they believe this about the rat food, it is safe to say that they believe this about all of their small animal food. Social Rats Adoptions and Rescue fully supports FM Brown's in their decision and will continue to show our support by purchasing exclusively from FM Brown's for our food and excourage other concerned small animal owners to do the same. Please support FM Brown's in their choice to provide soy free food for our small animals by purchasing FM Brown's products.
 
Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Sunday, March 14, 2010

CBS does a report on Soy - Research post

I did find that a CBS subsidiary in the UK did an article on soy and breast cancer. I thought that, though it does not talk about any particular study, it does mention that there are conflicting studies. I am wondering how many of the studies are funded by the soy industy and are arranged so that their data while incomplete at best, tend to have parts of the study eliminated because the data does not support the claims that they wish it to support. http://wbztv.com/health/soy.cancer.link.2.1308062.html

I will be updating this posting in a few hours or later tonight. Working on cleaning cages at the moment as well.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Friday, March 12, 2010

Some Soy Research - research post

I wanted to add a few links, so you can see some of the research that I have read, which, to say the least, is disturbing.

http://www.illuminati-news.com/soy.htm

Soy online seems to have just a vast of information that I find useful. Please take a moment to read what they have to say.

Now this is a long article, but worth reading. It gives a lot of informatin about soy, the history, how it was "approved" by the FDA and the actually benefits and side effects of eating soy. http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert/709-third-international-soy-symposium.html


Taken from the site listed above:

The male species of tropical birds carries the drab plumage of the female at birth and "colors up" at maturity, somewhere between nine and 24 months. In 1991, Richard and Valerie James, bird breeders in Whangerai, New Zealand, purchased a new kind of feed for their birds, one based largely on soy protein.47 When soy-based feed was used, their birds "colored up" after just a few months. In fact, one bird food manufacturer claimed that this early development was an advantage imparted by the feed. A 1992 ad for Roudybush feed formula showed a picture of the male crimson rosella, an Australian parrot that acquires beautiful red plummage at 18 to 24 months, already brightly colored at 11 weeks old.




Unfortunately, in the ensuing years, there was decreased fertility in the birds with precocious maturation, deformed, stunted and still-born babies, and premature deaths, especially among females, with the result that the total population in the avaries went into steady decline. The birds suffered beak and bone deformities, goitre, immune system disorders and pathological aggressive behavior. Autopsy revealed digestive organs in a state of disintegration. The list of problems corresponded with many of the problems the Jameses had encountered in their two children, who had been fed soy-based infant formula.



Startled, aghast, angry. . . the Jameses hired toxicologist Mike Fitzpatrick to investigate further. Dr. Fitzpatrick's literature review uncovered evidence that soy consumption has been linked to numerous disorders, including infertility, increased cancer and infantile leukemia; and, in studies dating back to the 1950s48, that genistein in soy causes endocrine disruption in animals. Dr. Fitzpatrick also analyzed the bird feed and found that it contained high levels of phytoestrogens, especially genistein. When the Jameses discontinued using soy-based feed, the flock gradually returned to normal breeding habits and behavior.


Have fun reading and I will try to post more links that I find within the next few days. I want to kind of walk you through some of my research so you are seeing what I am seeing, as most ppl still believe that soy is perfectly safe. We are keeping the rats on a soy free diet and keeping our household on a low soy diet, as a soy free with human food is even more difficult that I would have first imagined.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue

Thursday, March 11, 2010

An Outline of our Study - Study post

Our Theory:
Soy causes many health issues in rats including but not limited to: early sexual maturation, early menopause, birth defects, cancer and tumors, lower immune response or damaged immune system, thyroid issues, respiratory issues, kidney problems and decreased life span.


History:

Rats have been kept as pets for many decades. They have been domesticated through selective breeding and socialization. 20 years ago the average life span of a domestic rat was 3-5 years. In the last 20 years, however, this has been decreased to 2-3 years average estimated lifespan, with many rats passing away before the 1 year or 2 year mark. There has been an increase in cancer, tumors (both benign and cancerous) and respiratory issues in the last 20 years. There has been increased knowledge about the nutritional requirements of rats in general. There is more information available about the housing of rats, including the toxicity of Pine and Cedar bedding, which was used very often 20 years ago when rats had a longer life span. There is vet care available now, and medications that are considered rat safe.


Personal History:

I got my first pair of rats in 1990. 1 male and 1 female who were litter mates. They came from a private breeder, meaning that they were bred and raised by a 12 year old boy and sold them to me because he had to reduce his number of rats. Lady, my female who was an agouti Berkshire (brown with a white belly), and the Tramp, my male who was a black hooded, were at least 6 months old when purchased. Both were fully grown and full sized. Tramp’s fur had turned course and he was experiencing buck grease on his fur as well.

My rats were housed in a home made cage of galvanized metal and a wooden bottom. This means that they could have been exposed to zinc oxide and their urine could build up in the wood of the cage. They were also housed on cedar bedding, males and females in 1 cage. Females were moved out when they showed signs of being pregnant. Although some did give birth in the colony cage without issues of fighting over the babies. As soon as the nests were discovered, they were moved out with the moms within hours.

For food we fed them whatever we could. Popcorn was a favorite as the local theater always had extra left over, so I would snag some on the weekends that would usually last them for about 3 or 4 days. Yes, there were times that my rats ate nothing but popcorn for a few days. They got large amounts of lettuce, as my mom figured that lettuce would be good for them, so on average they would get a head of lettuce a couple of times a month. They were also fed table scraps, pizza crusts, left over fast food or take out, fruits and veggies that were getting ready to spoil (give it to the rats rather than throw it out). They were also fed dog food, cat food and parrot food as well.

I had very few miscarriages or reabsorbed babies. We had 1 litter that was still born, a litter of 19 babies, but that was believed to be because the mother was 4 months old and not large enough to carry a litter that large. We rarely if ever lost babies after birth, if they were born alive, they survived. Most babies were sold to pet stores that did not sell feeders as we played with them constantly and all of our babies were very well socialized. We did keep some of the babies, which also lived to be at least 4 years old, usually passing away peacefully in their sleep.

What we didn’t have was any health issues. We never lost any females during delivery, we never had any types of health issues, no respiratory issues at all. We never medicated them, we never took them to a vet, because no vets that we knew of dealt with rats at that time. We never had issues with aggression with the ones we bred, but this can be attributed to genetics, not their food source. All of our rats were social and loving, most giving kisses and eating from our plates.



March 6, 2010



This is the beginning of the experiment. Currently I have a variety of rats, including rescues that are of varying age, some as old as 2.5 years or so. We have 3 lab rats that are about 2 years old. We are a breeding facility, so we do have multiple litters as well, currently 3. We have 1 litter of 3 babies born to PEW (Pink eyed white) who was pregnant when she was adopted. She was adopted for the breeding program. Her past genetics are unknown. She will be bred for one more litter in May, 2010, then will be retired. We have 1 litter of 17 babies born of a deep brown Berkshire top ear and a black silvered dumbo male. 4 of her babies are being fosters with the PEW mother. We have 1 litter of babies that most of which will be going to new homes tomorrow that are tan/fawn mix, top ear/dumbo mix and are Berkshire/veriberk mix. Of this last litter mentioned we will be keeping 1 male and 2 females.



Currently all of the rats are on a soy free diet, consisting of Brown’s Tropical Carnival Rat mix, with bran cereal, multigrain Cheerios and Crisp Rice cereal added daily and a protein supplement given twice per week. I also raise mealworms which I will be using for the protein for them in the future. Most of the rats who have tried the mealworms love them and can not seem to get enough of them.



We will be using Harlan Teklab (2018) lab blocks for the soy fed portion of this experiment. 2 males and 2 females will be kept from Mitten’s litter for this experiment. Mitten’s is on a soy free diet currently with treats of meal worms given infrequently.



Harlan Teklab lab blocks were, until recently, given to everyone on a daily basis, however due to the research done, I believe that this is detrimental. Thus far, when I switched to a soy free diet, I had 12 rats who were exhibiting signs of respiratory issues with sneezing and congestion which were being treated with Amoxicillin, Doxy, Lasix, Baytril or a combination of the afore mentioned medications. All rats have shown signs of improvement since changing their diets to a soy free diet. The Harlan Teklab lab blocks will be what is to be used for this experiment since they are widely accepted as the healthiest form of rat food on the market, not commercially available, and are used in the lab setting.

The Dangers of Rats and Soy - Study post

This is an article I wrote not too long ago, and what I believed to be the dangers of soy when it comes to our pet rats. I am just copy and pasting this so you have a good starting point to see where I am coming from. It is a long article, so grab a drink, grab something to uch and read on.


The Dangers of Rats and Soy


I have been wondering, well, more than wondering, I guess, as wondering does not cause me to go to the lengths that I have as of lately, about why our rats are having such a bad times as of lately.


Let me tell you about my first pair of rats, Lady and the Tramp. Just an FYI, I still name rats in pairs or groups, as I have Taffy and Apple, Bo and Luke, Hewy, Duewy and Louis, Tigger, Eeyore and Pooh, well, you get the idea. Anyway, Lady and the Tramp were wonderful rats, loving, social, sweet, Lady was a rododentist, while Tramp was as his name suggests, lazy and alpha, mating with anything in site, however, he would only snuggle with his Lady.



This is 20 years ago, keep in mind. THey were in a colony cage (meaning males and females mixed) of about 12-18 rats (all of their offspring). The cage was homemade of a wooden bottom and galvanized metal for the bars. We used cedar bedding, we fed them scraps, popcorn, loads of lettuce, pizza crust and food about to spoil out of the fridge. When we got them, we knew very little about rats, there was no internet and the best information we could find was a page in the back of a hamster book telling us to use cedar and that they were best housed alone. Keep in mind, I do not treat my rats this way now, but want to make the point about the difference in care as compared to now and then.



Lady bred til she was at least 3, assuming that she was 6 months old when I got her, both her and Tramp were full grown when I got them, so exact age is not known. I got them from a 12 year old kid who, like us, housed them all together. They would, as rats do, breed and breed and breed, so he sold me the pair for $5 just to get them out of his home. To be honest, I believe that there were a couple of pet rat only pet stores that we kept in stock of healthy, social rats for them to sell. Lady and Tramp passed away within a month of each other (they were litter mates) 4 years after I got them. It was a sad day when Lady passed and broke my heart even further when Tramp passed. All of their offspring that we kept until passing lived to be no less than 4 years old. We never lost babies in litter, we lost only 1 full litter, but believed this to be because a 4 months old rat had 19 babies and the babies sufficated inside of her.



Of all I have listed above, you will notice that I never mention cancer, that I never mention URIs, that I mention no illness at all. THis is because the ONLY illness we experienced was what finally claimed Lady. She had massive abscesses that would pop, clear out and come back. THe last abscess that she had is what killed her (in which case, I do not doubt that the cedar was a contributing factor in it) consumed her entire abdomen. Her ratty family kept her clean and comfortable, rallying around her to care for her. Someone was ALWAYS lying with her to keep her warm, the would clean her wound for her, they would bring her food, they loved her and it was, at the moment, that I realized how wonderful these pets were. (as I had only had a gerbil for half an hour before gettign my rats, pet store, unsocialized, bit me and my mom had to kill it to get it off of my finger, it locked its jaws on me when I was 6 years old and she broke the jaw, accidently killing it, trying to get it off of my finger).



I was used to dogs and cats and even parakeets, knew about them, how to care for them, how to feed them, etc, but none of them ever showed the loving and compassion that this colony showed to it's matriarch when she was dying. They even buried her in the bedding when she passed, which just amazed both me and my mom.





Now, 20 some odd years later, I want to start breeding again, I want to share the experience of rat ownership and raising with my own daughter. Squishy, as we call her, is now 2 years old and very gentle with them. She helps with cleaning cages (sort of) with feeding (or at least tries) with socializig the babies (still have to remind her to be gentle) and filling water bottles (she pulls them off of the cage for me). She is learning abotu compassion and animal ownership from a young age and does very well with it. We have had a few litters, we take in rescues (those we are unsure of or I have not evaluated for socialization yet are kept out of her reach) and we adopt out to new homes. She knows that some rats will stay here, but most will go on to new homes where they will be loved and cared for. She knows that sometimes they come back and those may stay or go on to find a new home. She knows when a rat comes back a second

time that it won't be leaving again.



So, a year ago, I decide to get some new rats. It take me about 2 months to convince my husband to let me. I take him to animal shelters, trying to push a dog, knowing that he is not ready to get a dog. I keep telling him I want an animal in the house again. He finally tells me that we can not afford a dog, but that I can get a caged animal. I tell him rats and he tells me (keep in mind his

parents are our landlords, we live in the upstairs apartment, separate, but close, which is a good thing that we are a true family and get along) that I would have to ask his mom. He tells me she will never go for it, and it is up to her. I ask, she says yes, right away. Ha Ha, I win...lol. The deal is, now, that I can get them, BUT he will not pay for them. So, now, I have to find them for

free. Which, through CL, I do. I find someone who is trying to reduce numbers and get a pair, from 2 different litters, of girls. Taffy, a tan hooded, very social, total personality and Apple (You know, Taffy Apple...lol) who is a black capped with a head spot. Apple is more skittish, but has calmed greatly in the last year. They are now retired, Taffy having had 2 litters, Apple just one due to health concerns. However, they are now my Auntie rats. They help with raising my litters, once the litters have their eyes open, mom and the babies are moved in with them and they teach them all about humans and how to care for their own humans. They are wonderful about doing it and my litters are always very social with them. I try to introduce pregnant and nursing rats that I take in as rescues to them well before I move them in with them, so there are no issues and they can help with the socialization.



After I got Taffy and Apple I started to do more research online, since I am a learning freak and like to expand my knowledge about things. I was shocked and a bit worried to find out that Taffy and Apple may pass away before they are even 2 years old now, because the life expectancy is so much shorter. Every site that I went to stated that it was genetics, it was from too much inbreeding, that it was the feeder breeder's fault and pet stores and I have discovered that this may be true, about the feeder breeders and pet stores, but not in the way that everyone seems to think. I will get to why in a minute. However, it seemed that even rattery bred or accidental litters were suffering the same issues. Cancer, URIs, Kidney issues, Myco, SDA (rare, but still an issue) all of these illnesses that just were not an issue 20 years ago.



I NEVER took my rats to a vet, partly because no vet in my area would see a rat, but also because they were never sick, other than Lady at the end, which is how we found out that no vets would see rats, so we were left on our own. And we did NOT live in a small hick town out in the middle of nowhere. We lived 20 miles from Muskegon and 45 miles from Grand Rapids in Michigan, in a little town called Grand Haven. We raised, I would have to say and this is ONLY a guess, over 800 rats. We, at one point, have more than 150 rats, most of which were

babies. We rarely had a litter less than 10, most averaging about 10-15 babies. 17 being the largest surviving litter.



What, then, is the one common factor in ratteries, breeders, pet stores, feeder breeders and private pet owners? What could have changed that no one took into account for the drastic change in lifespan and health? Could it really be genetics? With rats, because of their particular DNA, it takes 20 generations of inbreeding (brother to sister, mother to son, etc) to actually be detrimental to their genes, meaning that if you wait until the female is 6 motnhs old to breed, so 2 generations a year, and you breed as soon as mom is 6 months old, it would take 10 YEARS for this to be a factor. But in ALL rats?!? Something did not seem right. The other thing that got me was that it was global, not just the US. Again, what is the common factor?



I actually think I have found it. It was actually, by chance, that I was led to it by a friend who plans to adopt from me in the future, when I can make a mass trip up near her. Looking at maybe this summer sometime. Anyway, she said that she thought it was great that I offered a rat food that was soy free on my site because she and her sister were both fed soy formula as babies and both now have hormone related issues. A 15 and a 19 year old both have endometriosis, among other hormone related issues and she thought that it was a good idea for me to be selling soy free food because of how dangerous the soy was for rats. I was floored, because I never even considered soy to be an issue. I am not vegan, so don't eat soy. I have tried tofu and, to be honest, I would much rather have a big thick steak. It was never my thing, so never thought much about it.



So, I started doing some research on it and wanted to see if what she claimed to be an issue really was. I WAS AMAZED AND DISGUSTED BY WHAT I FOUND!!!



This is the article that I first found and started my whole research into thedangers of soy:

http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/2009/01/disturbing-findings-in-rats-fed.html







If you read the article, you will find that soy is far from the miracle food that everyone thinks it is and, even Deb the Rat Lady will tell you that soy is good for your rats. Please, don't think that I have issues with Deb, because I think she is a great lady and a wonderful resource for any rat owner and I think she had been fooled about soy, as have all of the rat community.





Now, many rat owners will get down on feeder breeders, but I think that some wonderful rats and rat owners have come from feeder breeders. I have even met some that have bred rats in the past for feeders and discovered that they loved rats more than their reptiles and have turned to frozen thawed for their reptiles and no longer feed live, or even get rid of their snakes altogether because their hearts have been melted by that one special rat. We all know that rat, it is the one who opened our hearts to rat ownership. It is the one rat that left it's little pawprint in our hearts. It is the one rat that led to a lifetime of ratty love. Mine was Lady, although I prefer males to females, Lady was something special. She still lives on, in my heart. Feeder breeders are also, quite often, rat lovers thenselves, having their favorites or their own rat pets that they would die before feeding to their snakes. I have taken in a few rescues from feeder breeders because they knew they could not care for them and they wanted them to have wonderful lives. That, actually, is where I got Sugar from, my sweet tailless rat.



Soy, I have found, especially Genetically Modified, is very dangerous to rats AND is in almost every lab block on the market, including the Harlan Teklad, which everyone raves to be the best. GM soy is what is used for ALL pet food in the US. Brown's Tropical Carnival rat mix uses ZERO soy. This is why I feed it exclusively and am trying to get rid of all of my Harlan (5 big bags worth, over 100 lbs)



Here is what the research I have found has taught me. Soy can be the cause for ALL of our rat issues, including URIs and cancer. Soy can cause a host of issues and the DNA in GM soy is very unstable. Changing from one plant to the next and 1 part of a plant can be genetically different than another part. The DNA is GM soy can cross the placenta and can be found in the brains and organs of newborn rats if the mother ate it during pregnancy. (The same holds true for piglets as well.)



Soy causes depressed immune systems, cancer (or at least precancerous cells), kidney issues, liver issues, heart issues, lung issues (are you seeing where this is going?) It is my belief and that of another rattery that soy is the cause and the one common factor between almost all rat owners, that is causing our rat related illnesses and issues. Another rattery and I are going to be doing an experiment that we will be keeping 1 cage of males and 1 cage of females on the soy, those of rats we have bred, same bedding, same water, same conditions as the rest of your rats, except the food.



Here is why pet stores and feeder breeder rats do not live as long AND have more health issues. They are fed nothing but the lab blocks. Don't get me wrong, most feeder breeders care about their stock because healthy rats lead to healthy snakes, so as long as their rats are healthy, so will their snakes, so they will feed a complete diet, meaning good quality food, hence why most feeder breeders actually feed the Harlan. However, unlike most ratteries and pet owners, they do NOT offer treats and supplements of fresh fruits and veggies and meats, eggs,

etc. They are fed entirely lab blocks, so get the most soy, which causes the most issues.



I have come to believe that it has less to do with genetics and more to do with what we are feeding out rats. Even the Sue Bee homemade rat diet uses soy as the main source of protein. Deb, the Rat Lady, advises using soy with rats, everyone advises feeding soy to them, but no real goverment research has been done about the effects of soy. THe soy industry is too big now and I doubt it will be done for many years to come, however, the studies I have found are very disturbing.



I have had ppl ask me why I did not get rats from established lines when I wanted to start breeding and now, I am even more glad that I did not. Now, I have the chance to prove that the common issue is soy and not genetics. I believe that the reason why Apple had so many URIs is because she eats primarly lab blocks (or did). Taffy is more of a scavenger and will store them, but prefers other food to lab blocks, however, both girls have gone through menopause and are less than 18 months old.



Here is what I have observed so far. I had, before I quit feeding the soy, 12 rats on meds for varying degrees of repiratory issues. From sneezing to congestion. Once I stopped the soy, everyone has cleared up (I completed the round of meds for each of them, just to be safe), but the issues all cleared within 72 hours of stopping the soy and since I stopped the soy, no one has been having issues. THat is close to a month ago now. I have seen more energy is some of my more lethargic rats. Ethel, a rescue rat who is in sanctuary (meaning that she will live her life out here) is about 2.5 year old and gets sick at the drop of a hat. If I get a draft, if I don't clean her cage on time, if I bring in a new rat, if she does not sleep under the blankets, if I look at her wrong (you get the idea) she gets sick. I have had her for about 8 months and she had been on meds 5 different times for resp issues. However, since I stopped the soy, she cleared up amazingly faster (she usually lingers when sick, taking at least 2 weeks to full recover) this last time, I stopped the say 3 days into her meds and she was better within a week, which is half the time it usually takes for her to recover.



I will be documenting any illnesses that I have, I will be keeping track of all of the rats and their health and I will be doing monthly reports on the progress of this experiment. I will be posting it online, but will not be sending out the link to the data until Xmas time, to give us (as I have another rattery that will be doing the sale experiment) time to get enough data up to prove my hypothosis.



The 4 rats of mine and the 4 rats of hers will be fed, like most rats, stricly soy. Harlan Teklab lab blocks (2018) as a diet, while the rest of our rats, rescues included, will be fed a soy free diet. Here is our preliminary diet, as we have figured out so far:



Main diet base: Brown's Tropical Carnival rat mix

Added in:

Multigrain Cheerios

Total Bran cereal

Crisp Rice cereal

Rolled Oats



With supplements of protein twice a week in the form of mealworms. We will be using live, roasted and powdered and will also be supplementing with ground flax seed as well within the next month. The powdered mealworms and ground flaxseed can be mixed in with yogurt, eggs or into a recipe for homemade yogurt drops. We both raise our own mealworms, so this will help to cut the costs of that feeding. If we are right, we will see a dramatic improvement in health of our rats over the next few months and by Xmas can prove, at least some what, that it is the soy that is an issue.



If you are a breeder and would like to join us in this experiment, please let me know. I would like ppl that used to breed or own 15+ years ago and currently breed or own now. I am looking for ppl who are willing to adhere to our standards for this experiment to get the proper data.



Thanks



Tami

Social Rats Adoption and Rescue