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View Full Version : Won't eat and won't drink!?



AJandJR
08-20-2013, 09:29 AM
Good morning all. With the help of this great board we have battled MBD for the past two years. Her last episode was around January or so when it was really cold out. Well my little one got out about two weeks ago and was roaming the woods all on her own. This was a very happy/sad moment for me as her release was coming up in the early spring. I left her cage as it was and continued to put food out daily. I put blocks out the first two days but due to the ants I started leaving only unshelled pecans and fruit. The first day I left 5 pecans on top of her cage and happily found that they were all gone. There were no wasted shells laying around the cage so I imagined that she was taking them off into the woods and eating them or burying them. This was a major :grin3 moment for me!! I continued to do this over the next few days and all of a sudden it came to a stop. I set up a game camera to monitor the activity but absolutely nothing was happening. I continued to put fresh fruit out there as the pecans were all remaining in the cage. Then this weekend I happened to look out of the window to see my little girl standing about 10' from her cage just staring at it. I quickly ran outside and approached her slowly hoping it was her. She just looked at me in a very calm way and jumped onto her cage and just looked at me. I turned around and went back inside to grab a bag of pecans and approached her slowly. I spoke softly to her trying to contain my excitement and reached out to give her a pecan. She jumped onto my arm and climbed on my shoulder and just sat. I reached up offering a pecan and she gladly took it and leaped back onto her cage, running down the fence, jumping onto a tree on the back side of my property and off she went. She stayed within sight so I watched closely to see where she was going and maybe even where she had been this whole time. She ran under a low lying tree and quickly began digging a hole. She placed the pecan down inside of the hole and quickly covered and began patting the freshly placed dirt. This was a huge :thumbsup for me!! My girl proved that she could make it in the wild and blend with the other squirrels and even looked like a natural. She came back for a second pecan and she allowed me to hold her in my hands this time. I noticed that she was extremely thin and little to no meat on her bones I placed her back into her cage (which she didn't like!) and brought her inside. I tried giving her a very tasty Henrys Block and she wasn't interested. I took it back out of the cage and put in the microwave for 10 seconds so it was nice and soft and warm but nothing. I found this to be very weird because she always devoured her blocks. I gave her a strawberry and she ate some of it but left 75% of it laying there. I thought this was very strange and just hoped that it was her telling me she wanted to be wild and free. The next day I woke up and back on routine with the squirrel heated up a block and offered her breakfast. Nothing. She didn't want anything to do with it. I left hoping that her stubbornness would be overcome by hunger and when I got back, she now had 2 blocks untouched in her cage. At this point I'm beginning to realize that maybe it's nothing to do with attitude and may be something more alarming.

At this point MBD episodes are running through my head and I'm thinking with her being gone for so long and not eating her blocks and her still not eating it's lurking around the corner. I decide to whip up some yogurt/calcium and put it in her cage to let her destroy as usual. Nothing. She left the yogurt untouched. Wanted nothing to do with it. I went ahead and loaded a syringe and gave her a small dose of calcium to be on the safe side.

The first day she drank quite a bit of water. Since then I haven't seen her drink anything at all. I've put two different types of pedialyte in her bottle and she doesn't touch it. I put a small dish of sugar water in her cage and she doesn't touch it.

I'm lost right now and don't know how to get her to eat or drink anything! The only thing that I have really gotten her to eat and it's just trying to get some calories into her little body is raisin bread and broccoli. Those are the only things that she will eat as of right now.

If anyone has any ideas at all please let me know because at this rate I don't know how much longer she will make it! She is skin and bones. I will try to get some pictures up today.


Oh, I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not but something else I've been thinking about is, I live in the south and the past two weeks it has been 100°+ with little to no breeze!


Thanks in advance.

Shewhosweptforest
08-20-2013, 10:24 AM
:bump hopefully someone that knows more than me will see this :thumbsup

:help

Starfish
08-20-2013, 10:43 AM
Apple slice with peanut butter on it? I recall some suggesting it in another thread

TubeDriver
08-20-2013, 10:44 AM
Not an expert but if she is eating wild foods and getting tons of daylight I would not think that MBD would be an issue? I would limit the nuts and fruit, if she gets hungry enough she should eat a HHB.

There could be a ton of reasons why she is not eating, hopefully some experts will chime in shortly with ideas. I Hope she starts eating and feels better. :)

farrelli
08-20-2013, 10:54 AM
I'm less concerned about an obstruction because she's at least eating and drinking something. Obstructions have killed one or two here lately. Can you take her to a vet?

NutraCal and Ensure (pecan or vanilla flavor) are what a lot of people use for squirrels who won't eat much but need to get some calories/nutrition. Have you offered her fruit juice to see if she'll drink that? Perhaps some watermelon or cantaloupe seeing that both are mostly water?

AJandJR
08-20-2013, 12:15 PM
I'm less concerned about an obstruction because she's at least eating and drinking something. Obstructions have killed one or two here lately. Can you take her to a vet?

NutraCal and Ensure (pecan or vanilla flavor) are what a lot of people use for squirrels who won't eat much but need to get some calories/nutrition. Have you offered her fruit juice to see if she'll drink that? Perhaps some watermelon or cantaloupe seeing that both are mostly water?


There are no local vets that will take exotic animals. I hate that. I will try the nutracal or ensure this evening. After failing with the two different flavored pedialytes I gave her some v8 fruit juice and she wasn't interested in it either. Being that it's been so hot this summer and I keep her outside, I would give her 50/50 pedialyte and water every other water replacement. She would drink up when she had pedialyte. That is why I'm really concerned with her not drinking.

I don't really know that she was eating much wild food either because she was only gone about 9 days and a few of those days she was coming back and forth getting the treats I left. Not to mention that she came back borderline starved.

I don't know if it's just coincidence or it's because they just know, but I really feel like she has come back because she wasn't feeling herself. I'd at least like to think so anyways lol.

CritterMom
08-20-2013, 12:25 PM
There are no local vets that will take exotic animals. I hate that. I will try the nutracal or ensure this evening. After failing with the two different flavored pedialytes I gave her some v8 fruit juice and she wasn't interested in it either. Being that it's been so hot this summer and I keep her outside, I would give her 50/50 pedialyte and water every other water replacement. She would drink up when she had pedialyte. That is why I'm really concerned with her not drinking.

I don't really know that she was eating much wild food either because she was only gone about 9 days and a few of those days she was coming back and forth getting the treats I left. Not to mention that she came back borderline starved.

I don't know if it's just coincidence or it's because they just know, but I really feel like she has come back because she wasn't feeling herself. I'd at least like to think so anyways lol.

You better believe they will come back to mama for help!

Can you bring her IN the house (if you have A/C)? This may be temperature related. One of my verfriends almost lost one of her dear releases earlier in the summer with +100 degree temps - he came home for help and she just happened to see him outside...another hour and he would have been gone.

farrelli
08-20-2013, 12:40 PM
You might also try some sugar water, water flavored with juice, or some juice instead of the Pedialyte. The salt in that becomes counterproductive after awhile. 24hrs max is what we advise.

AJandJR
08-20-2013, 02:41 PM
You better believe they will come back to mama for help!

Can you bring her IN the house (if you have A/C)? This may be temperature related. One of my verfriends almost lost one of her dear releases earlier in the summer with +100 degree temps - he came home for help and she just happened to see him outside...another hour and he would have been gone.


Well yes I have A/C haha... She was just a little chunk before she got out but without water and food maybe the heat took her home, in this case to papa lol.

AJandJR
08-20-2013, 03:10 PM
You might also try some sugar water, water flavored with juice, or some juice instead of the Pedialyte. The salt in that becomes counterproductive after awhile. 24hrs max is what we advise.

I mixed some warm sugar water and left it in her cage. She didn't even pay it any attention even after I dipped my finger and put it on her lips. I have it 50/50 right now and it is orange/cherry or something like that and it smells really good but I'll grab some peach juice or something today along with the ensure.

I went home today for lunch and broke up a block into tiny pieces and she picked up a small piece and ate it but it was a crumb. She left the rest lay. She also drank a little but it was literally two sips and done. She has been in the house since Sunday. She moves around fairly decent but she is just so bony and frail!!! This is driving me crazy....

Will peanut butter increase risk of MBD? I'm pretty sure she will not pass that up as I gave her a little when we first reunited. I quit giving it to her because I know peanuts block calcium etc. I just want to get her wait/appetite up!!

CritterMom
08-20-2013, 03:14 PM
I mixed some warm sugar water and left it in her cage. She didn't even pay it any attention even after I dipped my finger and put it on her lips. I have it 50/50 right now and it is orange/cherry or something like that and it smells really good but I'll grab some peach juice or something today along with the ensure.

I went home today for lunch and broke up a block into tiny pieces and she picked up a small piece and ate it but it was a crumb. She left the rest lay. She also drank a little but it was literally two sips and done. She has been in the house since Sunday. She moves around fairly decent but she is just so bony and frail!!! This is driving me crazy....

Will peanut butter increase risk of MBD? I'm pretty sure she will not pass that up as I gave her a little when we first reunited. I quit giving it to her because I know peanuts block calcium etc. I just want to get her wait/appetite up!!

Mix powdered calcium in with the peanut butter for her. It isn't idea, but peanut butter also has lots of magnesium and that is also important for MBD.

CritterMom
08-20-2013, 03:18 PM
Also, try some avocado. NO pit and NO skin - put them in the outside trash so she can't get to them, but the meat is quite healthy and has lots of fat - plus they usually just love it.

farrelli
08-20-2013, 03:20 PM
How long has it been since the MBD episode? Peanut butter ain't great, but if it's been awhile and proper treatment was given, it's better than nothing. Hydration is key though, dehydration causes lack of appetite. It's just a bad spiral. Try fruit juice and the melons. Also, try giving her some molasses. Rub it on her gums if you can. It often can kick start an appetite. It has sugar and a lot of important minerals.

Starfish
08-20-2013, 03:51 PM
I mixed some warm sugar water and left it in her cage. She didn't even pay it any attention even after I dipped my finger and put it on her lips. I have it 50/50 right now and it is orange/cherry or something like that and it smells really good but I'll grab some peach juice or something today along with the ensure.

I went home today for lunch and broke up a block into tiny pieces and she picked up a small piece and ate it but it was a crumb. She left the rest lay. She also drank a little but it was literally two sips and done. She has been in the house since Sunday. She moves around fairly decent but she is just so bony and frail!!! This is driving me crazy....

Will peanut butter increase risk of MBD? I'm pretty sure she will not pass that up as I gave her a little when we first reunited. I quit giving it to her because I know peanuts block calcium etc. I just want to get her wait/appetite up!!

Try molasses. Not a lot but if it gets her attention, situation looks brighter.

Starfish
08-20-2013, 03:53 PM
How are the bowel movements?

Sounds like somewhat hungry but afraid to eat.