Food to improve eyesight?

[thomsen246]

Hi all fellow Squirrel-lovers :-)

It's been years since I have posted, but our little Modesto is still doing very well!

6 years old now, which I guess in Squirrel years is what? 42? Are dog years applicable here? :-)

Anyway, we noticed a few days back that Modesto sometimes can be a little slow in the uptake when offering food or reacting when hand wrestling.

First thought was that he might have trouble with his vision. After testing with a flashlight and moving a pencil around in front of him, I'm quite sure he is fine. He definitely follows the pencil (even when it's quite far away). He jumps from tables to chairs etc. and is indeed very lively! I've read other posts on this forum from blind squirrel owners and don't really recognise any of the described symptoms.

Still, prevention is obviously better than a cure, so I thought I'd ask if there is any known foods out there that will help him see better. If I was concerned about my eyesight I'd eat carrots, but what would a squirrel do? :D

I don't think I would do dramatic changes to his current diet, but am just wondering if I'm missing anything vital...

[CritterMom]

Can you list the items in his diet? I am particularly interested in what he is geting as a solid food with a stable calcium source. Sometimes the first signs of MBD are clumsiness and being slow on the uptake.

[thomsen246]

Thanks for replying CritterMom,

We try to vary the diet as much as we can, and he gets very excited when we introduce "new food", so there is no strict diet...

Here is a list of what I can remember right now:

From the supermarket:
Brocoli
Blueberries
Raspberries
Strawberries
Corn on cob
Carrots
Cucumber
Iceberg salads (and sometimes other salads and spinach)
Advocados (occasionally)

From the wild (depending on the season):
Bramble
Different leaves, bulbs and sticks etc. from trees
Acorns
Different pine cones
Conkers

Just to clarify, the food from the wild are all things we go out and forage in parks and woodland; he is an indoor squirrel and doesn't go out.

We also give him calcium tablets with vitamin D - he is not crazy about them, but they do go down and we make sure he gets his usual sunbaths in the window (although in London the Sun isn't really out that much)..

He does get different nuts, as well, now and then as special treats, but we try to limit this as much as we can, and do try to stick to almonds as they have more calcium.

We find he much prefers whatever we can find in the wild, which is why we allocate the time to go out and find it!

[Charley Chuckles]

Healthy Henry Blocks (HHB) are excellent and a preventive of MBD :thumbsup
http://www.henryspets.com/

[farrelli]

You should watch it with the vitamin D. They do need some, it's actually often used now as a rodenticide. My research indicates that you need a fair bit of it to kill (I can share it with you if you want), but because it's fat soluble, it's stored in the body, so it can build up.

Also, spinach can be bad in that it can block calcium absorption.