# Yogurt



## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

Whats the view on yogurt and mice?

I have some here and i just wondered if it contains anything that wouldn't be recommended to give mice?

Ingredients are:

Strawberries (10%)
Sugar
Invert sugar syrup
Cereals (3%) (Barley, oats, wheat, rye, rice)
Glucose-Fructose syrup
Buckwheat
Modified maize starch
carrot and beetroot concentration 
flavouring
thickeners (pectin, guar gum, citric acid, acidity regulators (sodium citrate, calcium citrate)

Contains cows milk and gluten

also contains live cultures _Streptococcus thermophilus_
and live probiotic cultures (_Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum_)

I know Cows milk is risky, particularly for grown on mice that have not had it before.
But i see a lot of people giving yogurt to rats and you can buy yogurt drops for rodents and rabbits.
Is there actually any goodness in it? or is it just another silly money maker...


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## maddeh (Jul 14, 2011)

That sounds really sweet to me, I would worry about the sugar content. I gave one of my bucks some plain probiotic yogurt once as he seemed really interested in what I was eating lol, and it didn't have any negative effect on him. It was only a tiny bit though. My mice don't like the yogurt drops you can buy either.


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## Kingnoel (Apr 23, 2011)

I give all my mice plain yogurt 2-3 times a week. It's a great source of protein and readily available calcium. All my guys clean it all up, I give about 1/2 teaspoon each.


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## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

Surely the fact its strawberry and not plain wouldn't be too much of a problem though?

I won't give it them if theres a slither of doubt, it was just on offer 3 for 2 and we can't eat it all as they're big tubs! :roll:


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## maddeh (Jul 14, 2011)

Hmm... as it all sounds like natural sugars, etc. I suppose it wouldn't be too bad for them, but you might have some hyperactive mice on your hands!


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## spitfire (Jan 25, 2012)

Yeo valley natural yogurt is a good one. I have used it in the past in an attempt to build up my stocks friendly bacteria after they had been on baycox, which kills off all different types of bacteria and 'can' leave them infertile. The yogurt is probiotic, making it ideal for the situation I was in. Mixed 50 50 with water then soaked into stale wholemeal bread, the mice loved it! However I've no idea if it actually did anything beneficial.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Yogurt is much easier to digest than uncultured milk. Even cow's milk should be fine. Personally, I'd use unflavored and unsweetened yogurt, but then I have that around anyway.


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## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

Watering it down sounds like a good idea. They get wholemeal bread quite regularly, i could spread a bit on and see what they think


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## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

> Surely the fact its strawberry and not plain wouldn't be too much of a problem though?


I would really use the plain...some yogurts do have a ton of sugar and the plain is the healthiest.


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## Emfa Mouse (Dec 14, 2011)

I thought mice were lactose intolerant...??


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## spitfire (Jan 25, 2012)

Mice are only lactose intolerant when thats been bred into them, by mistake of course. Mine are fed on milk daily and develope very well due to it.


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## Emfa Mouse (Dec 14, 2011)

OK, thanks!


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## AyJay658 (Jan 15, 2012)

spitfire - Are you sure? I thought the enzyme which breaks down lactose (lactase) was an adaptation that arose in humans and maybe a couple of other animals. I have been taught at uni on my animal care course that most animals lose the enzyme once they mature into adults and stop feeding on their mothers milk. If yours are now used to it that would explain why they can drink it. Animals can develop a tolerance to it. But if you took a mouse that had never been given milk before and gave it a big drink of it, it would get very runny faeces and possibly get ill because of it. I am not doubting that your mice benefit from it, but in general milk should not be given to a mouse unless it has been raised on it from weaning. And then only introduced gradually. As someone said earlier, yoghurt and cheese are slightly different when it comes to lactose content. But I would be very careful about giving my mouse drinks of milk (obviously you dont have to worry about it because they are tolerant) but keeping the enzyme lactase into adulthood is a mutation which humans have developed (and not even all humans, a lot of asians are intolerant becase they do not drink much milk throughout their lives). I dont mean to contradict you but I think people should be wary of it.

Also on a side note, only plain yoghurt would be ok. They cannot handle too much sugar and additives and flavoured yoghurt is packed full of it!


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## spitfire (Jan 25, 2012)

Your spot on about the yoghurt. Only the plain and most basic.
It could easily be that my lines have had to become tolerant to milk. Prehaps my stock is bred to tolerate it, as aposed to mice being bred an intolerance. Having said that, I do believe mice can in general can safely drink milk. I only say this because when ever I obtain new stock from seperate breeders, they tend to be fine on milk. It may be a 50 50 thing with mice.


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## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

Well the mouse that visits my kitchen every winter sure don't have any problems! :roll:

Decided to pop in first time this year last night, and helped itself to some dairy milk chocolate, a packet of Mcoys chargrilled chicken crisps and some of the fat out of the George Foreman tray!

The mouse is either deaf, or that sonic rodent repeller thats plugged in in the kitcken is useless!!!

All edibles now safely in the high cupboards! pft.


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## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

> The mouse is either deaf, or that sonic rodent repeller thats plugged in in the kitcken is useless!!!


My husband (ex-pest control) said those are a scam! :lol:


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## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

Bahh humbug.

Does he have any tips for something more effective apart from poisons and traps?

We have an old abandoned quarry over the back of our house, so they'll just keep coming unless we can repel them!


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## Autumn2005 (Apr 21, 2010)

Velvet_Meece said:


> All edibles now safely in the high cupboards! pft.


Even that's not a guarantee when it comes to mice! :lol:


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