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
Monday, September 20, 2010
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
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
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
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