Can I feed my mouse vegan food?

Mice can be fed a vegan diet without any problems, as they also eat practically exclusively plant-based foods in nature. A balanced plant-based diet provides them with all the nutrients they need.

While mice can eat meat and other animal products, they don’t need to. The rodents can do just fine without eggs and cow’s milk – in fact, it’s healthier, a study has shown.

What do mice eat in the wild?

Mice eat many kinds of plant foods in the wild, such as seeds, roots, grass, vegetables, grains, fruits, stems, and herbs. Some species also eat insects and other small animals when available. So, like us humans, fancy mice are omnivores; they can feed on both plants and animals.

What can you feed the fancy mice?

What should not be fed to fancy mice?

Can you feed mice vegan?

The vegan diet means avoiding animal products such as meat, milk and eggs and instead feeding purely plant-based food.

Fancy mice that are kept at home are usually fed a complete food mixture. This is usually vegan except for a small amount of mealworms. Some feed mixes also contain chicken, beef, fish or cheese. These animal products do not contain anything that would not be covered with a plant-based diet. In the meantime, you can also find purely plant-based food mixtures from various manufacturers – it is worth studying the composition here.

Like most rodents, mice are coprophages, i.e. they do not manage to absorb all the necessary nutrients in one intestinal passage and subsequently eat part of their feces.

Mice synthesize vitamins B and K in the appendix and excrete it with the feces. Re-absorption of this appendix feces makes the vitamins usable by the organism. In most cases, eating the appendix feces looks like a grooming motion. Through this intelligent process, animals get, among other things, vitamin B12, which is otherwise only found in animal products and wild grasses, which pets often do not get.

Along with a balanced plant-based diet, mice have all the nutrients they need for a healthy life, all things considered.

Can mice eat meat?

Fancy mice can eat meat, but in nature it would only make up a small portion of their diet. These are insects and small animals, but never chickens or even cattle. It is absurd that mouse food in pet shops contains such ingredients.

Fancy mice can easily live completely without meat. This is not only possible, but also healthier: In one study, mice were fed meat exclusively, and within six weeks they developed osteoporosis (bone loss).

Meat contains no fiber, which is important for their digestion, only unnecessary protein, fat and possibly residues of hormones, drugs and others. Meat does not contain nutrients that mice do not get from a varied diet.

Can mice drink cow’s milk?

Mice can digest cow’s milk, but it goes against their nature to drink the milk of other species. Mice suckle at their mother’s milk for about weeks after they are born. After that, they no longer need the milk and, like us humans, break down the enzyme lactase, which they need to digest the milk sugar lactose.

Nevertheless, mice can still digest small amounts of milk at an advanced age, but it can trigger allergies. In a study, it was also shown to have adverse effects on the reproductive system in male mice that were given 10 ml of cow’s milk every day.

Do mice need milk?

So it’s quite possible that your own mice can tolerate cow’s milk in small amounts. In pet shops you can also buy food that contains cheese. In addition to lactose, such industrially produced milk products often contain residues of substances such as hormones or drugs. These make the milk from cows and other so-called farm animals unsuitable for rodents. Mice are such small creatures that even small amounts are sufficient to develop negative long-term effects.

Therefore, mice should never be fed cheese, yogurt or lactose-free milk. In addition to the undesirable residues already described, dairy products also contain too much fat and calcium for the small animals. Cheese in particular also contains a lot of salt.

Mice do not need food mixtures with cheese or other milk-containing treats for their health – they can even harm them.

However, if the mouse has accidentally eaten a piece of cheese or other dairy products, it is no big deal. The mouse will not die from it. However, if the mouse has never eaten cow’s milk (products) before, it is quite possible that eating dairy products will upset the little animal’s digestion and cause constipation or diarrhea. To spare the mice this stress as much as possible, you should make sure that there is no unsuitable food lying around in the run.

Can mice eat (chicken) eggs?

Chicken eggs do not contain any nutrients that a mouse does not already get from species-appropriate food. It is therefore not necessary to give mice eggs or products with egg components – even if they could actually survive on eggs alone, as a Japanese study has investigated. The researchers fed the mice exclusively eggs for six months. After that, they found concentrations three times higher, as well as more total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. Otherwise, they were equally healthy as the control group.

However, it makes little sense to want only the best for one’s own mice and at the same time to sacrifice so-called farm animals for their eggs or milk. Vegans believe that all animals have the right to life – not only mice, but also cows, pigs, chickens and bees.

Can mice eat honey?

Mice can eat and digest honey, it is not poisonous for them. However, it is not necessary to feed honey to the Fancy mice. It was collected by the bees in countless hours to bring their own hive through the winter. The beekeepers take away the honey in autumn and replace a large part of it with sugar water. This contains no nutrients other than sugar, which weakens the bees.

Quite apart from the possibly related problem of bee mortality, it is simply immoral to intervene in the lives of bees in this way. They are intelligent animals with complex social behavior – vegans see no difference to other animals such as the cow, whose milk they also prefer to leave to the calf. Since vegans believe that all living things should have basic rights, including bees, they do not consider honey to be vegan. Who would like to nourish its mice vegan, leaves thus also the honey away. They do not need this anyway for a healthy, long life. Some food mixtures or treats contain honey – here again it is worth studying the composition.

What should be considered when keeping mice vegan?

There are the following points to consider when keeping mice vegan:

Fancy mice naturally live in clans, so they should never be kept alone. Species-appropriate is when the mice live at least in threes.
The fancy mice should be kept in a cage with bars. Terrariums promote respiratory diseases because the air cannot circulate well and odors accumulate.
Never get the fancy mice from a breeder or a store, because there are many animals that need a loving home. Who buys them however with Züchterinnen, supports thereby that further animals for the domestic animal husbandry are put into the world. Veganerinnen would like to give a beautiful home to animals, which cannot live anywhere else. Mice from animal shelters, laboratories or from private persons, which must give away the animals e.g. due to a developed allergy, are suitable for it.
For the same reason, animals of different sexes should never be kept. The simplest solution is to castrate male animals so as not to encourage pet ownership.
Last but not least, mice are happy to have as much space as possible. In nature, they would also cover several hundred meters, so you can only imagine how small the cage must seem to the mouse. As soon as the animals are hand-tame, one can grant them also well in the room run. But be careful: mice like to nibble on everything. Place poisonous plants and cables out of reach.

This question could also arise:

As a vegan*, are you allowed to kill unwanted mice in the house?

No, nowadays there is no reason to kill animals. Find an exterminator to take the mice out of your living space alive and release them far enough away. Every animal has a right to live. Vegans see no reason to slaughter animals for their meat, skin or fur. There is even less reason to kill an animal that is just in the wrong place and whose dead body is disposed of afterwards.

It is exactly the same with spiders, wasps, and other small animals that may stray into the house. There is always a way to do justice to the animal. Remember that you are smarter and can do better than using force or poison.

If you still need some convincing, watch a documentary or informative video on YouTube about the specific animal. Did you know that mice sing songs to each other in the ultrasonic range? Or that a small trembling spider in the corner of the room makes sure that no other spiders – even significantly larger ones – are squatting there? For you it may be just a small spider, but for the spider it is its whole life.

The animal world thanks you, and you set a good example in your environment and perhaps inspire one or the other to a more loving treatment of animals.