Yogurt, walnuts, almonds, and raisins

by qwerty Sat 11 Nov 2017, 5:16 pm

I've recently read somewhere that walnuts and almonds aren't safe for mice. However, I have been feeding these as treats to my mouse for a while. So I did some research but got conflicting reports. I also read that yogurt and raisins were unsafe. So now I'm just confused. Can someone clear things up for me?

by AnonymousMouseOwner Sat 11 Nov 2017, 5:54 pm

Walnuts, as far as I know, are safe. I actually feed walnuts to my mice myself, I see no reason why they'd be unsafe. They make great enrichment. I feed them whole and just drill a small hole in the shell of the walnut, and the mice have to do the rest of the work, chewing their way into the walnut to get the yummy "prize" inside Smile

Almonds, now almonds are a different story. Certain varieties of almonds are safe, and certain ones are not. We generally recommend staying away from almonds, just to be safe. I'm not sure exactly which ones are dangerous and which ones are not.

Any type of dairy is not very good for mice. It can cause upset tummies and diarrhea. Mice are basically lactose intolerant, and like lactose intolerant people, dairy causes upset tummies. If you want to feed yogurt, try greek yogurt, it's much better than normal yogurt. I made my own "yogurt drops" out of plain, unflavored greek yogurt, and flavored them myself with real fruits, the mice loved them, and they are much healthier than normal yogurt drops!

The toxicity of raisins is not well understood. They may or may not be toxic to mice, no one really knows for sure. Some people choose to stay away from them, some don't. I usually choose to stay away from raisins as much as possible. There have been reports of dogs being poisoned by eating grapes and raisins, even in small amounts, so we know they can be toxic to dogs, but we aren't sure about mice. It's just safest sometimes to stay away from things that are unknown, better safe than sorry in my opinion.

by CallaLily Sun 12 Nov 2017, 12:55 pm

English walnuts are safe. Black walnuts are to be avoided.

Sweet almonds are safe. Bitter almonds are to be avoided. Though many feel both varieties should be avoided, but in all my research roasted sweet almonds in moderation (like anything else really) are perfectly fine.

Plain, unsweetened yogurt as an occasional treat should be perfectly fine. Lactose can upset tummies, but yogurt and aged cheese are easier to digest because the process used to make them already breaks down the lactose some. So as an occasional treat, it should be fine. Some may be more sensitive than others though.

Raisins I'm unsure of. They're considered toxic to many animals, causing kidney failure. From what I understand, it's not really known why. In dogs for example, some seem to become very ill after eating just a little, while others don't after eating a lot. I think it's likely not a problem for mice but without being sure there aren't lasting side effects, I choose to skip grapes and raisins all together. There are plenty of other things they enjoy that are known to be safe. I don't see the need to risk it.

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Yogurt, walnuts, almonds, and raisins

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