Hi!
here's a list of what several animals' milk consists of:
Water (W), Protein(P), Fat (F), Carbohydrates (C)
A few rodents (unfortunately nothing on hamsters/gerbils):
Mouse: W: 60% P: 12-13% F: 21-33% C: 2.0%
Rat: W: 68,0% P: 12,0% F: 15% C: 3,0%
Guinea Pig: W: 81,9% P: 7.4% F: 7,2% C: 2,7%
Human milk in comparison:
Human: W: 87,7% P: 1,03% F: 4,4% C: 6,9%
And this is what we may be able to get hold of:
Cow: W: 88,5% P: 3,2% F: 3,7% C: 4,6%
Sheep: W: 81,6% P: 5.6% F: 7,5% C: 4,4%
Goat: W: 86% P: 3,6% F: 4,2% C: 4,8%
Kitten milk replacer is probably made to similar to cats' milk:
Cat: W: 82,3% P: 9,1% F: 3.3% C: 4,9%
Rodents' milk seems to be fatter than anything we can get hold of.
How about condensed milk? Or maybe cream? This is what I gave a baby
rabbit:
1 half condensed milk and 1 half Milumil for babies. Perhaps it would do
for gerbils, too?
It's interesting that Reindeer's milk has nearly exactly the same
percentages as mice's. (Sunni and Gunvor, maybe you can get hold of
this?)
Elephant milk is quite simiar, too, but has a bit fewer protein and more
Carbohydrates.
If anybody knows the figures for hamster/gerbil milk I'd love to add
them to the list in my book.
Thanks,
Eva
