Weight Loss in Rats Continuously Deprived of Food, Water, and Both Food and Water

Abstract

Weight measurements were taken on four groups of rats treated according to a factorial design that combined presence or absence of food with presence or absence of water in the home cage. A 12-day deprivation period was followed by ad libitum recovery for 22 days. The main findings were: (1) Ss deprived of both food and water lost more weight than Ss deprived of either food only or water only, (2) weight loss for Ss deprived of food only and water only did not differ significantly, (3) the deprived groups were not significantly different in weight at the end of recovery, but they all weighed less than the non-deprived control group. The results were related to those of previous studies.