Tunero
11-17-2012, 07:37 PM
Hello, my name is Al. I just registered as a member today while surfing the 'Net searching for guidance on how best to deal with a squirrel I have at home.
He is a 3 yr old Eastern Grey, which we took into our home as a baby after someone else tried abandoning him in a neighborhood park. I was fortunate enough to find information at the early stages, on a squirrel rehabbing website to guide me in the proper care and feeding of my little guy.
Up until now, he has been quite well. He has been, and still is active, frisky, eats well, and exhibits all the typical squirrel behavior like exploring, climbing up furniture, a large tree branch which I rigged up like a tree by securing it to a xmas tree trunk holder/base. He climbs, changes directions in the blink of an eye, hangs upside-down. He likes perching on my shoulder, while I give him walks around the house, all the while craning his little neck and at the ready to jump onto any potential landing area if given half a chance.
What really alarms me is that within a week's time, he looks and feels noticeably thinner. Before, whenever he would nestle between the small of my back and the palm of my hand, I could feel a certain heft to him, and feel his plump, roly-poly body. Now, he feels considerably lighter. I gently run my fingers over the length of his body, and I can feel bones that I couldn't feel before.
Something that sticks out in my mind, that preceded his current physical state-whether or not there is a connection, I don't know, is on the preceeding weekend, while loose in what I refer to as his "playroom", after having finished gnawing on a pistachio, about a couple of minutes later, he was crawling over a pair of light-colored shorts of mine, and he started rubbing his snout, from one side to another against the shorts. He kept circling around the shorts, rubbing his snout from side to side, then I noticed blood on the fabric where he had rubbed the sides of his snout. After a while, he stopped the rubbing, and continued with his play until I put him in his cage momentarily to tend to household chores. The rest of the evening went on as usual, and eventually we all called it a night.
Something I've also noticed in the last week or two-since I wear a dark fleece that he can comfortably climb and scurry around on without snagging his claws, I also noticed a lot of tail fur hair strands on it, and in place of the beautiful, bushy, ticked fur that he used to sport, his tail is now just a tubular-looking, 2 in around tail, with only a slight trace of fullness at the very tip. When I first noticed it I thought that was probably due to the change of seasons, and that he was just molting, but when I think about it, the opposite would be happening, he should be getting plumper and bushier, not thinner. (At least that's what I've observed of outdoor squirrels).
Since I try to let him loose in the house a couple of times a day (supervised of course) to give him a little exercise and let him do his squirrley thing (hide nuts) I notice that he has a little bit of trouble climbing up things, and the claws on all four paws snag a lot, while climbing, so it takes him a little longer to reach his intended destination.
Aside from that, he exhibits no signs of lethagy, or loss of appetite. He has no loose stools; just nice little firm pellets of varying sizes. His nose feels a little wet and cool to the touch, and I haven't spotted or manually detected any tumors, although, when he was plumper, and even now, he has some flabby areas around the upper nipples in the chest area that gave him a "big breasted" look and on the bottom portion of his belly.
We were feeding him exclusively pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans (all in shell), supplementing with veggies and fruit, like carrots, celery, grapes, watermelon, broccoli, cilatro, beets, strawberries, blackberries, honeydew, canteloupe, mango - anything that he would accept. Since I've heard of MBD though, we've reversed the food hierchy, with the emphasis on veggies and fruits first and nuts secondly, hazelnuts and almonds only for now, since these I've read are higher in calcium, and lower in phosphorus which if the information I've read is correct, tends to deplete, or block calcium absorbtion.
I am trying to get him seen by a vet in the area that has experience dealing with wildlife re-habbers and maybe have a blood work-up done to see what might be going on inside him. In the meantime anyone ever had an exprience like this in their years of dealing and caring for indoor-kept squirrels. I am anxious for answers, and some reassuring words of encouragement. I've come this far with him and want to make sure he has as long and satisfying a life as is within my power and means.
Thanks.
Guardian by Destiny of one of God's many beautiful, unique, little creatures.
He is a 3 yr old Eastern Grey, which we took into our home as a baby after someone else tried abandoning him in a neighborhood park. I was fortunate enough to find information at the early stages, on a squirrel rehabbing website to guide me in the proper care and feeding of my little guy.
Up until now, he has been quite well. He has been, and still is active, frisky, eats well, and exhibits all the typical squirrel behavior like exploring, climbing up furniture, a large tree branch which I rigged up like a tree by securing it to a xmas tree trunk holder/base. He climbs, changes directions in the blink of an eye, hangs upside-down. He likes perching on my shoulder, while I give him walks around the house, all the while craning his little neck and at the ready to jump onto any potential landing area if given half a chance.
What really alarms me is that within a week's time, he looks and feels noticeably thinner. Before, whenever he would nestle between the small of my back and the palm of my hand, I could feel a certain heft to him, and feel his plump, roly-poly body. Now, he feels considerably lighter. I gently run my fingers over the length of his body, and I can feel bones that I couldn't feel before.
Something that sticks out in my mind, that preceded his current physical state-whether or not there is a connection, I don't know, is on the preceeding weekend, while loose in what I refer to as his "playroom", after having finished gnawing on a pistachio, about a couple of minutes later, he was crawling over a pair of light-colored shorts of mine, and he started rubbing his snout, from one side to another against the shorts. He kept circling around the shorts, rubbing his snout from side to side, then I noticed blood on the fabric where he had rubbed the sides of his snout. After a while, he stopped the rubbing, and continued with his play until I put him in his cage momentarily to tend to household chores. The rest of the evening went on as usual, and eventually we all called it a night.
Something I've also noticed in the last week or two-since I wear a dark fleece that he can comfortably climb and scurry around on without snagging his claws, I also noticed a lot of tail fur hair strands on it, and in place of the beautiful, bushy, ticked fur that he used to sport, his tail is now just a tubular-looking, 2 in around tail, with only a slight trace of fullness at the very tip. When I first noticed it I thought that was probably due to the change of seasons, and that he was just molting, but when I think about it, the opposite would be happening, he should be getting plumper and bushier, not thinner. (At least that's what I've observed of outdoor squirrels).
Since I try to let him loose in the house a couple of times a day (supervised of course) to give him a little exercise and let him do his squirrley thing (hide nuts) I notice that he has a little bit of trouble climbing up things, and the claws on all four paws snag a lot, while climbing, so it takes him a little longer to reach his intended destination.
Aside from that, he exhibits no signs of lethagy, or loss of appetite. He has no loose stools; just nice little firm pellets of varying sizes. His nose feels a little wet and cool to the touch, and I haven't spotted or manually detected any tumors, although, when he was plumper, and even now, he has some flabby areas around the upper nipples in the chest area that gave him a "big breasted" look and on the bottom portion of his belly.
We were feeding him exclusively pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans (all in shell), supplementing with veggies and fruit, like carrots, celery, grapes, watermelon, broccoli, cilatro, beets, strawberries, blackberries, honeydew, canteloupe, mango - anything that he would accept. Since I've heard of MBD though, we've reversed the food hierchy, with the emphasis on veggies and fruits first and nuts secondly, hazelnuts and almonds only for now, since these I've read are higher in calcium, and lower in phosphorus which if the information I've read is correct, tends to deplete, or block calcium absorbtion.
I am trying to get him seen by a vet in the area that has experience dealing with wildlife re-habbers and maybe have a blood work-up done to see what might be going on inside him. In the meantime anyone ever had an exprience like this in their years of dealing and caring for indoor-kept squirrels. I am anxious for answers, and some reassuring words of encouragement. I've come this far with him and want to make sure he has as long and satisfying a life as is within my power and means.
Thanks.
Guardian by Destiny of one of God's many beautiful, unique, little creatures.