Pine Squirrel - shaking

[cheyenne10]

I have a pine squirrel that is 6 years old and raised from 2 weeks old. She has gotten nothing but natural food since birth and raised on Esbilac puppy formula with monkey zupreme. Her diet consists of nuts, fruits, vegetables and items that are seasonal, fresh berries, tree seeds, clover, pine cones. She has developed a seizure like spell. She will be playing, running or eating, then this shaking like Parkinson's disease comes on. They are getting more frequent. This has normally happened when she came in cycle and has always went back to normal. but this time, it won't go away. She has no weakness, legs ok. Can you help... she has never had any sweets or salt food. She is failing....

[Jackie in Tampa]

do you have a tums or any calcium tablets?

she is low calcium...get one of the above NOW, not later...

she is showing metabolic bone disease...
seizure are one of the final stages...
Get an eye dropper, syringe or spoon...
crush the tablet in water..
ideally want to give 400-500 mg within the next 24 hours, so adding about 6 ccs water to a 500mg tums would be good/ideal...
will send this now..
are you still here, will she shallow?
describe her condition please. DETAILS

[cheyenne10]

She is showing no signs of weakness and legs ok. When she has the shaking, she will let out a lil cry and stretch the one hind leg or raise straight up. sometimes she will pee a lil drop at the end of the shaking. The urine is normal and smells normal.

[rygel1hardt]

I am not sure this squirrel has MBD as she is six years old and up til now was only symptomatic when in season. I know the MBD protocol will not hurt this squirrel and it might save her if I am wrong. She mentioned that she pees a drop at the end of tremor/seizure, maybe bladder infection, or blockage, or reproductive related? Does anyone know of a squirrel friendly vet that might look at a urine sample or...... in Ohio? Is she still in season right now? When did she come in season in relation to symptoms? Stacey

[Jackie in Tampa]

I know you do not know me, But I promise I know what is wrong...that diet is death...in some sqs they can assume what appears to be a normal life, please trust me...not all sqs go down in the legs.
I know ...I really do.
I have been rescueing sqs for almost ten years and have brought many back from MBD. My sq rocky has MBD and always will, he will be ten next month..
I promise...this is what you need to do.
The issue is not that you have done wrong by feeding her wild foods, but without D3...calcium cannot be metabolized, and unless she eats alot of dairy, fish or mushrooms, other than the sun these are the only foods with D3 naturally...

I wioll copy paste the emergency MBD treatment...
plaese follow the instructions NOW!!!

[Jackie in Tampa]

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34495

[Jackie in Tampa]

I am not sure this squirrel has MBD as she is six years old and up til now was only symptomatic when in season. I know the MBD protocol will not hurt this squirrel and it might save her if I am wrong. She mentioned that she pees a drop at the end of tremor/seizure, maybe bladder infection, or blockage, or reproductive related? Does anyone know of a squirrel friendly vet that might look at a urine sample or...... in Ohio? Is she stilll in season right now? When did she come in season in relation to symptoms? Stacey
Rockys first seizure was when he was almost 6 y/o.

[cheyenne10]

She has been in this shaking/seizure for a good 2 1/2 to 3 weeks and normally she would have been out of this zone. but the shaking is lasting longer. I think she came in heat last around March..

[rygel1hardt]

When this has happened in the past how many times and how long ago? How long did the episodes last? When they stopped how long was she symptom free? Stacey

[cheyenne10]

She is 6 years old now and the first shaking was about 2 years ago. The first shakings only lasted about 4 days and then she would come out of it....she was good for about 6 months. so I would say about 3 times a year.

[cheyenne10]

She is 6 years old now and the first shaking was about 2 years ago. The first shakings only lasted about 4 days and then she would come out of it....she was good for about 6 months. so I would say about 3 times a year.

[CritterMom]

Please, please, PLEASE. Do the calcium protocol that has been suggested. Perhaps there IS something else happening here but it will not hurt in any way to give additional calcium for a few days to find out.

You said that she was raised on esbilac and the Zupreem primate biscuits - but have you given her any sort of rodent block like the biscuits as a staple part of her diet? If the answer is no, dollars to donuts this is MBD and the treatment described will very likely save her life.

Jackie knows what she is talking about - has a lot of experience with this. I will tell you that even before I read your post I assumed it was MBD...

[cheyenne10]

She hasn't been given the monkey zupreem only a few times since little and have always put it inside her cage. She refuses to eat it, so occasionally I'll grind it up and put it in her water bowl. I bought calcium pills and have been putting it in her water to try something different. I will purchase a rodent block tonight and try to put it on her veggies. I have lowered everything in her room from being high to low on the ground since she is not climbing as in the past, her nails are getting in the danger zone also. I was afraid she was going to fall and get hurt...she wants to be held alot now...she gets plenty of kisses...

[rygel1hardt]

I think Jackie is right with the new symptoms you describe I would start the MBD protocol IMMEDIATELY!!!! Time is of the essence! Getting her nails caught in things is one of the symptoms as is less activity and not climbing as much. Plus you said that she has been doing this for about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks but came in season well before that, so the two things may not even be related. Please start treatment ASAP! Also moving her to a low cage is smart and where she should stay for now. How long have you been giving her the calcium and how much, how often? Eventually after she is much improved her diet will need a major overhaul. Stacey

[Jackie in Tampa]

nails...very typical...does she try to itch her middle back?
that would be achey bones...
monkey biscuts would have helped, however as a daily sup, they have too much sugar and are not actually porportioned correctly nutrition wise...but they do have some calcium in them...so if she will eat them now, yay!

yes, she probably has brittle bones, so containing her and not allowing her to be high is good idea!
please do not ever put anything in the water bottle, they have been known to clog , allowing no water flow.

It is hard to diagnose with out seeing her... and having so little details,
however this is really common in captive sqs that are not on a healthy diet.
I understand you thought she was, and bringing all natural foods in would seem to make sense, but we will never be able to suppliment what they really eat in the wild..
they have so much variety and bugs too...
very hard to keep a sq healthy without a rodent block..

again, I would hand feed her the calcium as I posted earlier, with a syringe or eye dropper.
Please do not use calcium with vit D...the human ratio is far different than what a sq needs...
you can actually overdose the D and that will stop all absorbtion of the calcium. so a wash...:shakehead
a tums or a plain calcium citrate or calcium carbonate is what you need NOW.
:grouphug

[cheyenne10]

I thank everyone for sharing a bit of your time today to help me with my pine squirrel, Baby.... You all seem like very nice people and caring. I will follow the advice given to me and will post an update tomorrow.

[Jackie in Tampa]

I thank everyone for sharing a bit of your time today to help me with my pine squirrel, Baby.... You all seem like very nice people and caring. I will follow the advice given to me and will post an update tomorrow.TY ...sending good vibes to you and your sweetie!
Please keep us in the loop. We care:Love_Icon

[CritterMom]

Whoops - a miscommunication. When I say "rodent block" I mean a manufactured diet made to the specification of rats, which have similar needs to squirrels, NOT one of the mineral blocks they make to attach to the cage.

There are a number of them available. The chain pet shps like Petco and Petsmart carry Kaytee Forti Diet for rats and mice - it is in a blue bag - looks like giant rabbit food.

Harlan Teklad makes a good diet they call their "lab blocks" sold to the public by www.thecraftyrat.com.

Henry's Pets sells a home made squirrel diet at www.henryspets.com

All of these are balanced diets with the vitamins and minerals they need to thrive. It is almost impossible to put together a complete diet of wild foods because nobody knows everything they eat... The "blocks" are an easy way to accomplish that, and her diet can be supplemented with the wild stuff.

[cheyenne10]

Baby was given 500 mg of Tums last night. I could only find the flavored which I got asst fruit. I got her out of bed early to give her the Tums, she looked normal, snappin her tail, whippin here and there like squirrels do. Within about 2 minutes she's in a spell. I didn't see improvement in her shaking nor did she eat much before she went to bed. Our Pet Supply store had none of the items you all mentioned, rodent block or squirrel block. I will continue with the Tums until I can order the blocks on the web. thanks to all

[Jackie in Tampa]

try to spread the 500mg of TUMS calcium throughout the day
you will see up and down times...it will take months to get blood, organs and brain calcium balanced.
When sqs are calcium low, the body will steal calcium from the blood first to feed the entire body, when there is not enough there from daily nutrition, the body will start stealing from the organs , and bones...then the brain, which is when the seizures present them selves..
the last stage before death usually.
I would look for Ensure or Boost at the grocery store as well, will she still take a syringe, try letting her lap these from a bowl if not. Most sqs like these suppliments because they are sugary, but they are seriously good during critical times..they give major boosts and help make the sqs feel better..
I hope your baby continues to improve...it will take dedication and commitment. Sending good vibes!
Please do keep us in the loop!:)

[Jackie in Tampa]

forgot..{I am lousy slow typer, sorry for not being more social}
I wanted to add that some foods are very high in calcium.. and some are not..
Object is to feed high calcium foods and stay away from HIGH PHOSPHORUS foods..
phos depleats calcium..it is needed, but in very small amounts in ratio to calcium.
Nuts are high in phos, so limiting them is advised..
corn is high, sunflower seeds are soooo bad!:nono
I will post a link to the HEALTHY DIET CHART..
you can compare and feed the better veggies, limit fruit to one small chunk a day too!
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15397
phos to cal ratios

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32218
healthy diet

[Jackie in Tampa]

and lastly...well worth the money
HHBs
Henry's Healthy Blocks

These are the only MADE FOR SQS food you can buy!
The owner of Henrys will also give you the recipe if you want to make them yourself. The ingrediants are pricey to buy all at once, but then it's smooth sailing to keeping your sq healthy..
IMO, one of the wonders of the world :) ....HHBs
without these, I am not sure how I would keep my NRs healthy..really.
My sqs are my life...so their health is major!:Love_Icon

http://henryspets.com/