Sick Squirrel. Please HELP!!!!!

[Carla]

I have a male grey squirrel we raised from a baby. He is 5 years old now. He was in very good health Three weeks ago he started having these episodes. His body goes limp, He gets a stunned look on his face, and he falls to his side with eyes open looking at me. After a couple of minutes, he will run get on his perch. He will stay there for several hours not moving as if he just wants to be left alone. He then bunks up in his bed for hours as if he is exhausted. This seems to be happening once per day. Also, he has been going around in circles sometimes. He never did that before. He also has an itch, he will itch his feet and tail and everywhere else a lot. When I let him out to play, he acts afraid. Any ideas or help for our family member???

[Apple Corps]

Carla - some experienced rehabbers will be helping you shortly. There may be several and unrelated issues going on. You will get some questions on his diet, is he getting enough calcium, does he get enough sunlight (not through a window) or do you use a full spectrum light, any parasite eggs in his stools or on his skin, any recent falls, and so on.

The more info you can provide the more help the rehabbers can be.

Check back frequently - help is on the way.

[Carla]

Thanks for the quick reply, By the way, I have contacted my vet and they prescribed some antibiotics (Septra). He has taken them for 10 days. Does not seem to have helped. He is still having these episodes.

[island rehabber]

Hi Carla...I don't think antibiotics are going to help because it doesn't sound as if he has a bacterial infection. It does sound as if he is having seizures, however, which indicate some sort of neurological problem. Since he is an adult squirrel, if he hasn't fallen recently or been injured it is possible that his diet is lacking in calcium which will cause seizing in a squirrel. What does he eat regularly? The good news about diet-related seizures is that often they can be treated and cured....the more detail you can give us the better.....

[henrismom]

Carla, hang in there, I see that we are from the same place. I can't give you
any help but you can be sure that I will keep coming back to see how you are
doing. Apple Corps is correct you will be asked a lot of quesstions, but this is
so they can try to help you figure out what is wrong and try to help you.
Wishing you all the best...As I said I will be keeping an eye on this. How did
you find a vet here? you can answer that one much later.....

[Carla]

No falls or injuries. His diet consists of hard shell nuts such as filberts, almonds, walnuts, and pecans. Also fresh broccoli, and lots of sweet potato. Cheerios and wheat bread crust. Thats about it. He is very picky and hard to get him to eat anything else.

[Apple Corps]

Carla - what about sunlight - without direct sunlight (or a full spectrum bulb) his body can not absorb / use the calcium.

[island rehabber]

No falls or injuries. His diet consists of hard shell nuts such as filberts, almonds, walnuts, and pecans. Also fresh broccoli, and lots of sweet potato. Cheerios and wheat bread crust. Thats about it. He is very picky and hard to get him to eat anything else.

Well that's not a bad diet, Carla....but he could use more calcium rich veggies like kale, chickory, or escarole. Since he has been ill for 3 weeks, maybe your vet could give him a one-time shot of calcium to boost his level quickly. Then, going forward, you might see if he will chew on a cuttlebone -- the kind you buy for birds? That will give him calcium, also, as will deer antlers to chew on. If all else fails there are the Prime vitamin supplement drops, sold in the bird section of pet stores, which contain calcium as well and can be added to his water. The more of these things you try, the better your chance of success with him taking at least one of them. We can only assume that his seizures are from lack of calcium, Carla, but we can't be sure. Treating him for that will at least eliminate one common cause of seizures. I would not give him any more antibiotics, though -- they will mess up his digestive tract.

[Carla]

Probably been three weeks since he has been outside and had sunlight. Believe it or not, he doesn't like to go outside. We have a cage for his outside trips but after a few minutes he acts like he is scared so we take him in. We do have a UV light that we purchased from Chris' Squirrel Store. We leave it on several times a week for about fifteen minutes. Problem though is he gets under his blanket and doesn't get the benefit of the light.

[island rehabber]

And yes, I agree with Apple Corps -- if your squirrel does not get at least an hour of REAL sunlight every day, NOT through a window, it will affect his body's ability to absorb calcium even with the most perfect diet. The full-spectrum light bulb on him during daylight hours is the best way to avoid this problem with a pet squirrel. Please remember that if he were out in the wild, he would be in natural sunlight all day long and would be chewing on all kinds of bark, twigs, buds, seeds, etc......getting nutrients we can only hope to approximate when we feed them in our homes. It's a guessing game....so we try to cover all the bases.

[Carla]

Thankyou so much, will contact the vet first thing tomorrow morning about the calcium shot. Also will go to the pet store and get some of the calcium supplements.

[island rehabber]

Probably been three weeks since he has been outside and had sunlight. Believe it or not, he doesn't like to go outside. We have a cage for his outside trips but after a few minutes he acts like he is scared so we take him in. We do have a UV light that we purchased from Chris' Squirrel Store. We leave it on several times a week for about fifteen minutes. Problem though is he gets under his blanket and doesn't get the benefit of the light.

Carla I think he definitely needs more natural light....both from the sun and from a full-spectrum light bulb. If that UV light does not say "full spectrum" on it, it is useless to him. You're in Louisiana, so it can't be that cold I hope.....place him in his cage outside for at least 45 mins per day in a sunny spot. He will get used to it. If you have to be tough with him and remove his blanket so that he has to be in the sun, do it. Seizures are very serious as I'm sure you know, and we need to try and reverse this quickly!

[henrismom]

Carla, I know that we have had rain for the last 2-3 weeks, no sunlight.
henri, is scared of outside. I use a Full Spectrum Light, which I leave on most
of the day. He may sit in the light for a hour than go in his cube and sleep,
than on other days he will sit for hours in the light.
Just trying to hold your hand while you are getting some help.
You can get the cuttlebone and other calcium at Walmart to put in his cage.

[Carla]

OK. We have an action plan. We will get calcium to add to his water first thing in the morning. We will also contact our Vet to see if she can give him a calcium shot. The forecast for tomorrow is partly sunny and we will start getting him out for at least an hour. The light that we had bought is an 18 watt OTT-Lite from The Squirrel Store. Do we need another type as this one does not say anything about full spectrum???

[Apple Corps]

Carla - check the owners manual / hang tag on the light or email Chris and ask if it fuul spectrum - maybe some of the rehabbers could also comment on the calcium dose you need to give - probably don't want to over due it either.

[Mars]

To easy options for a FS light are
1- to go to the pet store and get a bulb rated FS for reptiles. Any fixture will work. I use the cheap under the counter ones from Wal mart.
or 2- Big lots has both FS table and floor lamps for under $30.
I would also recommend picking up a timer and leaving the light on for at least 6 to 8 hours a day.

[island rehabber]

Carla, just keep reminding yourself that to reverse a calcium deficiency takes more than just a few days, and you might not see any results for a while. You may even want to replace his water intake with a calcium-rich supplement such as Ensure, which he will have to drink, since it will be the only liquid you give him. But you should see some improvement in him eventually and, if we all hope & pray, he'll be good as new. Remember that if he does have MBD (metabolic bone dissease) his bones may be brittle and any falls will result in fractures -- so be careful with him just for now. You can do a search on this site for "MBD" and read a lot about this illness and its cause and treatment. Good luck -- please keep us posted as to how he's doing! :peace

[island rehabber]

OK. We have an action plan. We will get calcium to add to his water first thing in the morning. We will also contact our Vet to see if she can give him a calcium shot. The forecast for tomorrow is partly sunny and we will start getting him out for at least an hour. The light that we had bought is an 18 watt OTT-Lite from The Squirrel Store. Do we need another type as this one does not say anything about full spectrum???

Just an afterthought, Carla -- if your vet is normally a cat & dog type vet and is not familiar with dosages for wildlife, it is probably best not to ask her to inject your squirrel with calcium. Too much all at once can be worse than too little in his condition.

[zippy96444]

If it is MBD, and you have had him for 5 years, why is he getting it now? Did his diet change? I am a rehabber and if he was going to get it it would of been years ago. Cuddle bones are great for calcium, the kind you get for your pet bird. They chew on them and my rehab squirrels loved them.

[zippy96444]

I don't think it is MBD unless somethng in his diet has changed drastically. Neuralogical yes. I wouldn't rush into calcium shots, xrays will tell if it is MBD, do that first, don't try to fix what is not broken.

[Gabe]

I agree with Zippy. Since you have a vet willing to work with you, could you suggest x-rays to rule out MBD?

[muffinsquirrel]

You might also want to try him on some yogurt for his calcium intake - I use Dannon LaCreme, any flavor. Just make sure the yogurt has live cultures. Yogurt will also help get his tummy back in shape after the antibiotics.

muffinsquirrel

[myflyer]

If you can't get him into the sun, try vitamin D supplements. It dosent matter how much calcium he is getting if his body can't absorb it. The vitamin d is what the sun gives the lillet beasties in the wild to help with calcium absorption.
My flyer gets it in his water and he has the cuttlebone as someone before me sugested. Just remember it took him a while to get this way and there is no overnight solution. Adjust the diet, and just watch him.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

You want to be careful if you decide to give your squirrel Vitamin D, because I have read that it builds up in their fatty tissue if you give them too much. A natural source from being outside or with a full spectrum light would be a better solution to get the squirrel Vitamin D.

How is your squirrel doing? Have you gotten any X Rays taken?

[squirlymomma]

too much calcium supplement could give the little mite kidney stones so be careful, Have you tired grinding zupreem primate chow with a handful of pecans, then mixing it with motts apple sauce? Mould it into small balls just larger than marbles & let him eat that - thats a sure fire way to get a balanced diet and enough calcum into him. It may take a day or so but he'll eat it.

[Gabe]

Has anyone heard from Carla? She hasn't been back since her initial question.

[C*ndy]

I Pm'd her to find out where in La. she is.. maybe she is near me, thought I could help somehow. Have not heard anything.

[Carla]

Thanks to everyone for all of their replies and messages. Good to know that there are people out there where we can get answers when these kind of problems come up. Now for the update on "Huey". For the last 4 or five days, Huey has been seizure or episode free. From the beginning post we began adding calcium to his diet and working hard to get him into the sunlight. Not alot around lately but we have been supplementing with the UV Spectrum light. We were also told from one of the rehabbers that posted that we should start him on an antibiotic called "Clavamox". Hopefully this has permanently resloved the problem. Thanks so much to all of you that care so much and have given your advice and help.

Carla

[Mars]

Carla thta's great news!:thumbsup Just a hint - when giveing antibiotics it'ss a good idea to also give probiotics at the same time and for at least a week beyond. It will help keep the diarhea away. A very good source is organic live cultured yogurt. Mine like vanilla or banana.:)

Hope this helps.

[C*ndy]

Good to hear from you Carla! And glad your babe is improving!

[island rehabber]

GREAT news, Carla -- I will move your thread now into "Non-Life-Threatening Help Needed" so that we will still see your posts immediately but they won't trigger emails to rehabbers. Thanks for updating us with the good news!! :thumbsup

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

:wahoo :thumbsup Keep up the good work!