Thank you for saving my baby girl's life!

[Pumkinismysquirrelygirl]

Pumpkin the squirrel has been with me since October. She was given to me by a neighbor that knew about my "squirelly-ness" She had MBD when I took her in. She suffered paralysis then seizures. That is where TSB came in:) I was desperate for help and couldnt find it. I found TSB and promptly gave my furry baby a tums. Within a day she seemed a lot better! We are soft releasing her now. Troiuble is she thinks she belongs in the house:o
We are still not sure if shes releasable because she suffered some permanent problems presumably from her mbd:( As of now she goes outside during the day but always shows up at bedtime, trying to get back in the house.. So we let her sleep inside. Shes a sweet little girl! Thank God for sending this little one to me and Thank God for sending me to TSB)
I Salute you ALL for the work you do to save our bushy tailed friends:)
Kimmi
mjs

[astra]

:wave123 This place does have wealth of info, doesn't it?:thumbsup :)

Could you describe more in detail her MBD, how it went, the symptoms, how you treated her, and what her current diet is?...
The thing with MBD is that even though initial symptoms might be gone, the disease itself might still be present "inside". I.e., full recovery takes rather long (meaning, for the bones to regain their strength and be 100% healthy). And it's crucial that it is 100% gone, because squirrels often fall etc, and if her bones are weak, she will end up breaking something.

Sometimes, in severe MBD cases squirrels might end up being non-releasable because the damage from MBD turns out to be irreversible.

So, if you could give a detailed description of how her MBD manifested itself, how you treated it and what she eats daily, that could help experienced ppl evaluate the situation.

You mentioned "permanent problems" - could you describe what they are?

And it will be better to post it in Non-Life Threatening forum - will get more and faster attention.

[island rehabber]

I'll move the thread for you. SO GLAD she's better! Astra asks some very good questions, though. MBD recovery is a long, long process and she may not be ready to be outdoors full time.

'

[UDoWhat]

:wave123 Hi so glad you found us. :Welcome I have 2 MBD squirrels that were turned over to me in mid- October. They too were in terrible shape. The male was about 5 months old the female about 4 months old. I followed the emergency MBD protocol for the full prescribed time suggested. Then I went to the MBD maintenance diet plan. They are doing well now but I have learned from this site and my Vet that it takes about 9-12 months to rebuild bone strong enough to be able to be released. My female was in worse shape than the male. She took weeks before she could move without crying in pain. My 2 had not had seizures. I might suggest that your little one may need to stay a while longer with you. I have had other MBD squirrels in the past but I am not an expert. I followed the advice of TSB and my Vet. There is one member of TSB who in known for her work with MBD. I wish we could put you in touch with her but I am not sure if she is available at this time. IMO, I would keep your baby a little longer to give her the best chance. Perhaps some one could notify JIT for help and advice for you.

Marty, Licensed Maryland Master Wildlife Rehabilitator

[island rehabber]

:goodpost

[Pumkinismysquirrelygirl]

Wow. Its been a long time-sorry guys:0 Pumkin basically was very malnourished and was crying for days before a neighbor finally brought her to me. She began showing signs of MBD(of which I had very limited knowledge and still probably do not know enough) At first they were mild. She would look as if she was having a hard time holding her back legs up . I knew her diet was probably a culprit but as this is my first experience with MBD I was unsure how to fix it. We believe her Mom was killed in the road in front of the neighbors house:( and I dont know if she had siblings because the neighbor brought her. Anyway, she went downhill FAST after a couple days. Seizures, paralysis of the back legs and she seemed to be weak. I think she was extremely close to death-I gave the Tums as a last effort to save her and to my RELIEF and amazement she improved outwardly pretty fast. The Low phos High Calcium diet was also a huge help with the inside aspect of weak/brittle bones..We also started getting her AT LEAST 1-3 HOURS of sunlight per day! That was SO IMPORTANT!! I think she did have a few issues with weakness for many months but we kept her on a VERY STRICT diet and kept her on a STRICT SUNLIGHT regimen-I dont know if artificial UV/Broad Spec light was helpful because we only used that as a supplement on rainy days or excessively cloudy days{IMPORTANT NOTE-Using those CAN be dangerous because they can burn the baby if they are not used properly so I Dont recommend them but if used, use EXTREME CAUTION} Shes actually doing well as a mostly released adult now. This is her first winter so Im still very worried for her though. She lives in our back yard which backs up to a very large park. She did have an incident a month ago that scared me to death-she was injured(not MBD Related-other squirrel related):dono So we had to keep her inside again to monitor her and apply neosporin and to make sure she didnt get those wormy things that like to embed in open wounds but she has healed up nicely and is back to her antics. She comes in everyday to visit but she doesnt want to stay inside for too long. We think shes doing very well with her MBD because shes been so successful. She knows she can come here for love and a nice plate of veggies and a pecan or two:multi shes been bringing friends with her lately so I hope she can room with them when it gets too cold. Since we are in the South we have some mild afternoons but the nights are cooler than what shes been used to:O Hopefully I gave you an idea of our experience with MBD I know there are LOTS of things Im forgetting(senior moment:rotfl ) Thanks for all the help the site offers and to the individuals that keep it going!! I do NOT recommend raising a baby wild animal to just anyone but in my case I had some experience. She doesnt take animals now because her mother became ill but my mother in law is a licensed rehabber that lives within minutes-Interestingly enough, even she had NO idea Pumkin's symptoms were MBD at first!:thinking I was the one that caught it, The Squirrel Board is the one that gave me the emergency info to treat my lil girl and develop an effective treatment plan...It was a case of the student teaching the teacher:alright.gif Important note on artificial light that I forgot: NEVER use on pinkies and NEVER USE DIRECTLY on ANY ANIMAL:soapbox

[island rehabber]

:goodpost Pumpkin is one lucky squirrel girl to have found her way to you. Good job, mamma! :bowdown
I would keep a very careful eye on her, though -- MBD does take a very long time to cure and sometimes not completely. She may do fine -- especially because she is, thankfully, in a warm climate. But so long as she's succeeding in the best of both worlds, she's got it made! In fact I am going to put a copy of this thread in TSB Success Stories. :thumbsup

NOTE: re the artificial lights, my vet is a wildlife specialist as well as avian & exotics. He doesn't believe that UVB lights do a damn thing for any creature with FUR. (Herps only, in other words.) Just thought I'd save squirrel folks some of their hard-earned $$.