We all know that chocolate is toxic to dogs and cats. But can the other animals under our care eat it? Can we, for instance, feed chocolate to our pet rats?
Yes, you can feed rats chocolate – but we don’t recommend it. While chocolate isn’t toxic to rats as it is to canines and felines, it’s still a highly fattening food that can cause both short-term and long-term problems in a rat. If you insist on feeding your pet chocolate, do so sparingly.
Join us as we discuss why it’s a bad idea to let a rat consume chocolate on a regular basis!
Sugar: The Main Reason Chocolate Isn’t Great for Rats
Technically, rats can eat chocolate; they won’t drop dead from ingesting this delicious treat, and they’ll probably even enjoy its sweet taste.
Unfortunately, chocolate isn’t good for rats due to having enormous amounts of processed sugar.
Any rat that consumes sugar frequently or in excess can experience the following concerns:
Digestive problems
Like all animals, rats require sugar to remain healthy. However, the type of sugar that’s best for them is the natural sugar found in fruits.
The processed sugar found in chocolate isn’t natural; the rat’s digestive system didn’t evolve to process it efficiently. As a result, if your rat consumes an abundance of chocolate, it can suffer from digestive issues such as:
- Stomachache
- Gas
- Diarrhea
The severity of these symptoms can range from mild to extreme. The latter is particularly worrying, as it can lead to water loss and consequently dehydration. And dehydration, if left untreated, can be deadly.
Chocolate’s high sugar content can make a rat gain unnecessary, potentially unhealthy weight. So if your rat eats chocolate often, it can grow obese.
Obesity leaves a rat increasingly vulnerable to serious chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, which can adversely affect its quality of life and even shorten its life span.
An obese rat also becomes prone to joint pain, fractures, and back issues, all of which give rise to many difficulties whenever it moves around, discouraging the exercise it needs to lose weight and become healthier. In other words, obesity creates a vicious cycle that can end in the rat’s premature demise.
High blood sugar levels
A rat that ingests an excess of sugar-rich chocolate can end up with increased blood sugar levels (a.k.a. hyperglycemia), which can result in dehydration, extreme thirst, depression, lower energy levels, seizures, or even a coma.
Worse, if a rat eats chocolate often, it will end up having elevated blood sugar levels for extended periods. This can increase the risk of various medical issues, among them kidney disease, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Sugar addiction
Feeding a rat chocolate regularly can cause it to develop a sugar addiction, which can reduce its appetite for healthier foods. If your rat refuses to eat a balanced, nutrient-rich diet due to its love for chocolate, it can end up with nutritional deficiencies, which can make it prone to illnesses and diseases.
Dental cavities
Believe it or not, rats can suffer from rotten teeth, too.
When your rat ingests sugary food, its mouth bacteria release acid to break down the sugar. The more sugar it consumes, the more acid these bacteria produce.
Eating chocolate therefore encourages the production of excess acid, which, over time, can erode enamel (the hard outer layer of the teeth), creating holes in the teeth known as cavities. If left untreated, cavities can lead to infection, pain, and the loss of teeth.
What About Theobromine: The Killer of Dogs and Cats?
Cocoa solids are among the main components of chocolate, and cocoa contains the organic compound theobromine.
Theobromine is what makes chocolate toxic to dogs and cats. When consumed, this compound wreaks havoc on these animals’ cardiovascular, respiratory, and central nervous systems, resulting in myriad problems and ultimately death.
Interestingly enough, rats are similar to humans in that they have no trouble processing theobromine. This is why chocolate isn’t toxic to rats.
This doesn’t mean theobromine can’t kill rats, however. In fact, there’s a deadly dose of this compound for rats – it’s just much higher for them than it is for other pets. On average, your rodent would need to eat loads of chocolate for the theobromine levels to become lethal.
This also depends on your rat’s size. A larger rodent can consume a higher dose without growing ill. This explains why chocolate is more dangerous to mice than it is to rats.
On average, a deadly amount of theobromine for rats is around 1,265mg for every kg of its bodyweight. A rat weighing around 450g would therefore need to eat about 569g of theobromine to get lethally poisoned.
For the average male rat weighing 650g, 823mg of theobromine is the lethal dose. For the average 350g female rat, that dose would be about 442mg.
Should your pet ever ingest enough chocolate to experience theobromine toxicity, keep an eye out for the following symptoms:
- Diarrhea
- Increased urination
- Seizures
- Internal bleeding
- Heart attack
If theobromine poisoning isn’t resolved quickly, it can result in death. For this reason, rush your pet to the veterinarian as soon as the above symptoms arise.
Different chocolate varieties also have varying theobromine levels. So of the three major types of chocolate – milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate – which ones can your rat eat?
Milk chocolate
Milk chocolate is among the most sugar-rich chocolate varieties. It also contains a fair amount of theobromine.
About 100g of milk chocolate has around 211mg of theobromine, so a rat would have to ingest around 629g of this candy to die from theobromine poisoning. This is a ridiculous amount of chocolate that most rats wouldn’t be able to consume in one sitting, so it’s extremely doubtful for theobromine to kill your pet after it snacks on some milk chocolate.
The amount of sugar in milk chocolate is far scarier than its theobromine content.
White chocolate
Despite what it’s called, white chocolate doesn’t contain cacao. Therefore, it has the lowest theobromine levels of the aforementioned three types of chocolate – and a rat that eats white chocolate is extremely unlikely to suffer from theobromine toxicity.
Unfortunately, white chocolate contains high levels of sugar, cream, and other ingredients that can make your rat sick. If your pet consumes a significant amount of white chocolate, expect concerns such as diarrhea and indigestion.
Dark chocolate
For humans, dark chocolate is far healthier than milk or white chocolate. Not only does dark chocolate contain less sugar but it also has significantly more cacao, which means it has a lot more antioxidants that can boost our immune system, among other benefits.
Unfortunately, dark chocolate has a different effect on animals. This is because it has considerably higher amounts of theobromine, making it exceptionally deadly to dogs and cats.
Thankfully, dark chocolate still doesn’t have enough theobromine to harm a rat. 100g of this stuff contains around 705mg of theobromine, so a rat would have to eat around 81g of dark chocolate to die from theobromine poisoning. It would be exceptionally difficult for a rat to consume that much food.
In fact, because dark chocolate has the least amount of sugar of the three main chocolate types, it’s the safest type of chocolate your rat can eat.
What About Theophylline?
Chocolate also contains theophylline in small amounts. This chemical is used in rat medication, typically to treat respiratory problems such as breathing difficulty.
When used for therapeutic purposes, large amounts of theophylline are required. For a rat to obtain the same levels from chocolate, it’ll have to ingest a whole lot of it. Therefore, if your rat has no respiratory concerns and it eats some chocolate, it won’t experience any adverse effects from theophylline.
A rat will have to consume an ungodly amount of chocolate to suffer a theophylline overdose. Thankfully, most rats won’t be physically capable of eating that much of any kind of food.
So, is it possible for a rat to die from consuming chocolate due to theophylline? Maybe. But the chances of that happening is close to zero. It would probably die from theobromine poisoning first – which is also extremely unlikely.
Can Chocolate Benefit Rats in Any Way?
If consumed in small amounts and as an occasional treat, chocolate can be good for rats.
According to studies, chocolate can:
- Boost their mood
- Suppress pain and discomfort
- Improve the concentrations of intestinal antibodies
- Enhance the thymus gland’s antioxidant defenses
- Reduce the visceral fat (the fat wrapped around the abdominal organs)
- Influence thymocyte differentiation
- Increase B cell percentage and reduce T-helper cell percentage in the spleen
While these are all great for rats, keep in mind that there are various foods that are far healthier and more suitable for rodents. For instance, many veggies, fruits, and meats can boost your rat’s health without causing any of the problems associated with excess sugar consumption.
If you do decide to feed your rat chocolate, don’t do it every day, and don’t give it too much. Instead, provide it with a pea-sized chunk of chocolate every couple of days.
FAQs About Chocolate for Rats
Let’s answer more frequently asked questions about chocolate for rats!
My rat ate chocolate. What should I do?
Remain calm. It’s highly unlikely your rat will perish from chocolate consumption. For your pet to suffer from theobromine poisoning, it’ll have to eat an amount of chocolate that most rats won’t be able to finish in one sitting.
If your rat experiences diarrhea, it may be due to the ingestion of too much sugar. However, you should contact a veterinarian for advice as diarrhea may also be a symptom of theobromine toxicity, especially if it occurs alongside increased urination and/or seizures. If the vet instructs you to bring your pet to their clinic or hospital, do so as quickly as possible; hesitation could have deadly consequences.
If you can’t reach a veterinarian, those in North America can call the Pet Poison Helpline at (855) 764-7661 or Animal Poison Control at (888) 426-4435.
On average, chocolate chip cookies don’t have much chocolate. However, they do contain plenty of sugar, so eating too much of a cookie can lead to digestive concerns, while eating cookies regularly can cause more serious problems such as sugar addiction, dental cavities, high blood sugar, and obesity.
Therefore, we don’t recommend feeding your rat chocolate chip cookies. If you absolutely must, do so only occasionally, and never give it an entire cookie – just a tiny bit should do.
Can rats eat chocolate ice cream?
Chocolate ice cream is not the best of foods you can give your rat. Like chocolate, ice cream is high in sugar, which can cause a rat a range of short-term problems (such as stomachache and diarrhea) and long-term problems (such as obesity, which increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes).
For these reasons, don’t give your rat chocolate ice cream.
Can baby rats eat chocolate?
Don’t feed chocolate to a baby rat, as these high-sugar candies can harm its extremely sensitive digestive system. A young rat also has different nutritional requirements than adult rats, so ingesting chocolate could lead to its body absorbing unnecessary and dangerous amounts of nutrients.
A baby rat should only consume milk or formula. Once it has been weaned, you can start giving it vet-approved commercial pellets.
A veterinarian can tell you when a young rat can start eating chocolate.
Conclusion
Yes, rats can eat chocolate, but this isn’t the best food you can give them. Chocolate is loaded with sugar, which can cause your rodent a broad array of problems, including digestive issues, sugar addiction, dental cavities, hyperglycemia, and obesity.
As for chocolate’s other contents – specifically theobromine and theophylline – these aren’t present in amounts that are toxic to rats.
If you must absolutely feed your rat chocolate, do so occasionally and only in tiny amounts. This can ensure your pet enjoys the benefits of this candy without putting it at risk of developing any serious concerns.