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
