Food Fit For A… Mouse?

By Cait McKeown

I have personally received compliments from several judges about how ‘well fed’ my mice are: apparently many exhibits they see are 'far too scrawny'. This surprised me because I thought that exhibitors would feed their mice well if only to win their classes. Admittedly though, I do get laughed at by friends and family for the extensive variety of foods I feed my mice.

I prefer to mix my own food so that I know it’s balanced, healthy and free from old and dusty ingredients. I can also tailor the mix to each mouse’s needs – for example the fattier mix used for pregnant and nursing mothers and their babies. Many fanciers make their own mixes because sadly we are unable to put our confidence in any of the commercial ‘complete mixes’. Although larger pets like cats and dogs have many special foods made for them with added vitamins and other supplements, scientifically tested and balanced, even with easily digestible brands available, mice have to make do with leftovers. Commercial mixes often contain unacceptable amounts of ‘filler’ such as alfalfa pellets and large quantities of flaked corn and peas. These are often produced primarily for other pet food mixes such as rabbit and guinea pig diets, which should have their own individual ingredients. Unfortunately, mice end up with hand-me-downs, poor quality ingredients and an altogether unappetising choice.

The only solution I have found to my satisfaction is to use ingredients that are intended for consumption by humans or larger pets (i.e. dogs and cats). The pet shop can still provide mousers with some good ingredients as long as they check the quality and freshness, as well as the nutritional value. For example, packs of single ingredients such as sunflower seeds are readily available. Other useful foods available in these sorts of bags sold by weight (and measured by the pet shop) can include; bran, flaked peas, flaked corn, rolled oats, dried meat, egg flake, yellow millet, 50/50 mixed budgie seed, dog biscuits (especially the ones with a marrowbone type centre), mixed corn, oat groats and safflor seeds. These can be mixed in suitable proportions calculated by the fancier for the needs of their mouse. Foods for human consumption that I have personally incorporated into my mix are porridge oats, sultanas, raisins, museli, crunchy nut cereal and chopped mixed nuts. I find these of better quality – and even cheap brands have much better ingredients than those intended for animals. They are also easily available and can be bought at the same time as the weekly shop, rather than on a special trip to the pet shop.

Overall, I tend to go by the rule that I will not feed anything to my mice if it would not be suitable for human consumption, or in the case of some ingredients (e.g. dog biscuits), I make sure I use quality brands and store them properly. No food is fit for consumption if it is not stored properly - in an airtight container out of direct heat and sunlight and used before its sell-by date. These simple rules may sound easy to remember, but you would be surprised how many people do not abide by them.