Toxic to squirrels?

[ShereeJacobi]

I have gone to the Squirrel Board nutrition forum and it states that all fruit trees are okay for squirrels but I am just wondering since they contain cyanide(not sure if it's just the seeds or includes the stems too) and are harmful to cats, dogs, and horses for sure. I am expecially wondering since I have given my squirrel the plum branches and he sure isn't eating! I have noticed the wild squirrels never touch the plum tree either so?? Here is what ASPCA put on their website for toxicity to dogs, cats, horses. I just need to know if this could be part of my problem too!!
Anyway, I am removing it from his cage and if it is toxic for some reason how do I handle of getting it out of his system? After I originally posted this a few minutes ago I called the vet to find out about toxicity and plum tree branches and if they chew on them too much they cause kidney failure so I would take all fruit trees off the nutrition forum cause now I am having to take my squirrel to vet to see if that's the problem with his eating!

Plum


Additional Common Names: similar plants: apricot, peach, cherry

Scientific Name: Prunus species

Family: Rosaceae

Toxicity: Toxic to Cats, Toxic to Dogs, Toxic to Horses

Toxic Principles: Cyanogenic glycosides found in some species

Clinical Signs: Stems, leaves, seeds contain cyanide, particularly toxic in the process of wilting: brick red mucous membranes, dilated pupils, difficulty breathing, panting, shock.

[CritterMom]

I believe you may be right.

The best way to get anything like this out of the system is to flush with fluids. Water, or water with a little juice to give it some flavor by syringe, as much and as often as you can get it down him.

Kidney failure would result in no pee. Is he peeing?

[ShereeJacobi]

I believe you may be right.

The best way to get anything like this out of the system is to flush with fluids. Water, or water with a little juice to give it some flavor by syringe, as much and as often as you can get it down him.

Kidney failure would result in no pee. Is he peeing?
He is not in kidney failure that we can tell, but the vet put him on critical care food to see how he does the next day or so. So, we shall see. He is actually tasting the critical care food where he hasn't eaten much else. He has pee'd a little and if he will eat this food he only has to eat 1 1/2 tablespoons a day to get the nutrition he needs. If he doesn't eat that amount, it will be stuffed down him by the vet which she doesn't want to do cause it will stress him out. But he seems to be tasting it so she told me to leave him alone with it for awhile and see what he does. He did drink some water so that is good. She told me to get him some little alfalfa bales and he could eat all the sweet potatoe and carrots he wanted. Cause he has nibbled on those. She said not to worry about the vitamin A excess cause his body will just throw it off. He really went down after going outside today for 1 hour in 62 degree weather. Ugh! I want him to get all the real sunlight he can before it gets too cold to take him out. I just wasn't sure if it was the plum tree bark he DID eat this am off the limb or what caused him to lose his spunk. Probably a combination of not eathing and then eating what he shouldn't. He is not very perky right now but hopefully tomorrow he will start getting some spunk back. He is such a cutie. :thankyou

[CritterMom]

Don't worry about sunlight. He will get all the Vitamin D he needs from his food. He should NOT be in cold temps while he is not in good health, in fact if he was mine I would be giving him access to additional warmth.

I agree that getting too much Vitamin A from vegetable sources is very hard. May I suggest that you cook his sweet potato for him? Put a couple slices in a container, add a little water and nuke for 60 seconds. Theylike it better cooked.

I completely disagree regarding alfalfa bales. Tree squirrels are not grass eaters. He needs to get onto a rodent block of some kine, eventually.

If he does not like the Critical Care, get a can of Ensure in vanilla. They usually love it and it will put weight on quickly. Feed ALL of these things warmed up. And no more outdoor time - keep him WARM until he feels better.

[ShereeJacobi]

Don't worry about sunlight. He will get all the Vitamin D he needs from his food. He should NOT be in cold temps while he is not in good health, in fact if he was mine I would be giving him access to additional warmth.

I agree that getting too much Vitamin A from vegetable sources is very hard. May I suggest that you cook his sweet potato for him? Put a couple slices in a container, add a little water and nuke for 60 seconds. Theylike it better cooked.

I completely disagree regarding alfalfa bales. Tree squirrels are not grass eaters. He needs to get onto a rodent block of some kine, eventually.

If he does not like the Critical Care, get a can of Ensure in vanilla. They usually love it and it will put weight on quickly. Feed ALL of these things warmed up. And no more outdoor time - keep him WARM until he feels better.
He is a little mess! Right before bedtime last night he must have been really hungry and licked up 3 tablespoons of formula I offered. 1st time in a week he actually drank more than a sip here and there. I guess he weighed in on his options of rodent blocks, critical care, veggies, or the formula and ate the formula. I thought this morning he had eaten his rodent blocks and critical care during the night but I found the rodent blocks underneath some bedding and his cage is such a disaster come daylight I can't tell if he ate the critical care. It was missing off plate tho. I've been so worried about him I put in some more fresh veggies in his cage at bedtime. That's why his cage is a disaster come daylight! He got his nut out today and tore into it. Didn't touch the fresh critical care or rodent blocks nor drink formula this am. Got his formula he was use to in today and he wouldn't touch it. Who knows! I am not going to give him any veggies today or tonight. No nut either. He will have an option to drink formula tonight if he wants. But only thing that's going to be in his cage is his chew stick, rodent blocks, and critical care. I really want him to actually eat a whole rodent block and not chew on it in places. I think he likes the rehab to wild release blocks. I throw them away every day from the day before. They aren't any good are they after a day or so? He seemed to be doing fine today (but then he ate some formula last night too). One day at a time with this fellow. He does have heat all day and night under part of his cage which he sleeps on the floor cause he knocks his house box to the floor and prefers to sleep under a towel. Only time he's on the 2nd floor of his cage is all day looking out the window watching everything. I am really hoping he will get full function back so he can stand up on his back legs so he can be possibly released next spring! I think he is so use to people now he will probably never be able to be released. He would be running up their legs and all around them! That's scary in itself! Thanks for all your help. If you think I need to put veggies in his cage tonight let me know!

[CritterMom]

OK, I just did a search on your name to remind me who your squirrel is (so many on here I get confused).

I'm getting ready to start a day of exhausting hard labor and won't be on much but it would eat at me if I didn't post this. I'm gonna be blunt because I don't have much time.

It is great that you have a vet to use for your squirrel. BUT. There are only a few vets in the country that actually have much in the way of stufy and experience with squirrels so most use rats as a guideline. Squirrels aren't rats. The very fact that squirrels are dyatime and rats nighttime creatures is HUGE.

Your vet is underestimating the need for added calcium right now. A few weeks on added calcium will NOT repair MBD. And x-rays will NOT show MBD unless it is so advanced that they are being done at necropsy (after the animal has died of it). That your squirrel's x-rays look fine is not an indication that there is no MBD. It takes MONTHS to repair what MBD does. We aren't vets on here but we have the advantage of seeing TONS of this.

Your BEST BET is to contact the lady at the henryspets site where you got your Fox Valley and see if she will mail you a packet of her vitamin powder. MBD is not JUST a calcium issue - there are lots of other things involved in replacing bone, like Vitamin D and magnesium (I am fighting osteoporosis, which is basically MBD for women, so I do a lot of research on this). Since it is a powder, you can add a bit to boo balls, mix it into the Fox Valley, add a little to some almond butter, etc.

Until your squirrel is eating rodent blocks and the Fox Valley daily, you need to make up the difference. PLEASE re-read the MBD sections on here. The vitamin powder (instead of using straight calcium) is inexpensive and you don't need much - if I remember, an adult squirrel's RDA is in 1/4 teaspoon of the stuff.

If you get your squirrel eating rodent blocks, Fox Valley, and for the next couple months, supplement with decreasing amounts of the vitamin powder, with added fruits and veggies and very few nuts, if this is MBD it should slowly improve - the leg, too. And if it is not MBD there is no downside to this diet. Please, re-think your treatment.

Now off to work. Leaf blowing a yard that grows in size as I do it, I swear...