My flyer has an oily look to his coat.

[MallardsFly]

I have two flyers and by my own stupidity i did not give them the correct diet. and one had signs of mbd. i tried to take it to the bet but the vet wanted 600 dollars before he would even see him. needles to say i could not afford 600 plus whatever the doc would charge me. i did a ton of research on here and started treating the flyer. i changed his diet immediately and he showed such great improvement. i know this does not go away over night but he has begun to look rather oily. I have been giving him a veggie smoothie made from veggies and fruit, mealworms and wax worms, fruit and bone marrow, also added rodent blocks, i have been putting small very small doses of zoo meds reptivite in his smoothie to help get vitamins in him. maybe i am doing something wrong. i feel like im a bad flyer dad. He is not showing any problem in movement or anything like that he can now climb on my clothes without his claws getting stuck and is becoming hard to catch, awesome. but his coat looks like it is becoming oily and i am worried. I am in Charleston S.C i tried to get a picture to show but the picture does not turn out well i will try again an post as soon as i get a good clear one. Please help my poor little flyer I dont know what i would do if i lost him. Can also email me directly at rodger.wanke@gmail.com

Thank you so much
Rodger Wanke

[MiriamS]

:Welcome Rodger. The good news is that now you are doing what you can to remedy the situation and it sounds like you're doing a very good job. I'm honestly not sure about the oily coat but have you changed out his bedding recently? I've never heard of anyone making a smoothie out of all of these ingredients because the flyers will just eat everything separately. I'm wondering if the flyer is just grooming smoothie into his fur by accident and that is what you are seeing.

[MallardsFly]

ok well that is reassuring i can not get him to eat veggies so i made a veggie and fruit smoothie here are some pictures of his coat they are better but not like looking at the real thing. yes i change the bedding every two day and clean the cage twice a week. the yogurt picture is from about a week and a half ago the others from today. the yogurt picture is not that great but i can see a difference. 213888213889213890213891

[MiriamS]

Oh you don't need to change his bedding that often. They like to keep it and have it smell familiar :grin2

Honestly, he looks really healthy to me. I'm thinking this is just a new coat coming in. I've alerted one of our other flyer experts to your need for advice and he should be able to give some useful input.

[MallardsFly]

Thank you so much....... can i give him a bath maybe?

[MiriamS]

I wouldn't. For the sake of your fingers!

[pappy1264]

What was his diet before? Did he get alot of nuts/seeds? When I first got Rocket, he had lived on a diet of nuts (out of a can, with added salt no less!) I immediately changed his diet, and his fur got oily too. It took a little while but got to look like everyone else's coat. What are you feeding now? Are you mixing that all together? How many worms are you adding in? If the mix has a lot of fat, that could also be why you are seeing a greasy coat.

[MallardsFly]

i give him about three of each worm split between morning and night. fresh fruit. mango orange kiwi apple avocado fresh. the smoothie is fresh veggies and fruit mix i change up the ingredients so he can have variety. rodent blocks he does not have much to do with them but i see they are being eaten. chicken bones with marrow. i stopped nuts except maybe one to two acorn a week as a snack. once a week i give some peanut butter. i tried to give him fresh veggies but he wont eat them. neither of them will eat the fresh veggies but they love the smoothie.

[MallardsFly]

his diet before was nuts and bugs bird food very bad and very stupid me.

[Unikorngrrl]

I've seen the Skuls recommend adding avocado and 5 meal worms per day, the worms only coated in Calcium, to their diet. They swear by it for their coat! Worked beautifully for mine!! :thumbsup

[lilidukes]

:Welcome to TSB

We have a member Lulu2010 who is in your same area.
She has a wonderful vet there. $600 is ridiculous we have
quite a few vets around the state you can use and none
charge like that.
I had the same look to my flyers and I upped their protein
levels and the oily look went away.

[MiriamS]

FYI-acorns are not the same as nuts. I give mine acorns every day because it would be a large part of their diet in the wild.

[Skul]

He actually looks pretty good.
You might consider reducing the amount of fruit. Might be to much sugar. Just a couple small pieces, is all you need.
Avacato is good. Not sugary. If you think of it, offer a slice of fresh mushroom. Mine love it.
Keep offering the fresh greens.

[MiriamS]

:goodpost Mushrooms! I totally forgot about the mushrooms.

[IrishHarps]

I agree with Skul - try to ease up on the fruit (they should really only get one small piece of fruit a day). See if you can get him to eat Greek yogurt instead of Yoplait. That brand tends to be very high in sugar. Greek yogurt will get him more of the good stuff (protein, probiotics) and less of the bad (sugar). If he doesn't like it, try a few flavors until he finds one he likes.

Try bringing in some branches (maple and/or oak) from outside. He will love to play with them and it will get some wild food in his diet.

Avocado and yogurt are great - they will help his coat to look good.

Also, cut out the peanut butter. It is a legume (not a nut) and is not really very good for them. Try small pieces of pecan or walnut instead, as a treat. Mine also loves pumpkin seeds for a treat.

Thanks for coming here for help, and keep up the good work!

[MallardsFly]

You are awesome thank you. what type of mushrooms? and what kind of greens do your flyers like? I have tried a variety of mushrooms, and all types of veggies cooked and un cooked. they just wont eat it.

[Unikorngrrl]

You are awesome thank you. what type of mushrooms? and what kind of greens do your flyers like? I have tried a variety of mushrooms, and all types of veggies cooked and un cooked. they just wont eat it.

You have to give tough love. Nothing but the greens until they start eating them. I had to do it and it sucked but my guys are healthy!! We have nutrition info. Let me grab you the link...

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?37700-HEALTHY-DIET-for-PET-Flying-Squirrels

[IrishHarps]

What uni said; make sure he only has access to healthy food for a week or so. He won't starve himself! Go to your grocery store and pick up scraps of veggies to get a larger variety for him to try. Favorites tend to be endive, insides of sugar snap peas, carrots, portabella mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms. Try ordering the picky eater squirrel block from Henry's Healthy Pets - that will give him good supplemental nutrition.

[pappy1264]

My flyers fav mushroom by far is ****ake (I know the filter will take some letters out..lol) They devour them! Mine love their greens, also like cucumbers, a little sweet potato, some squash, a very small piece of apple or a blueberry. I do maybe once a week offer a few black stripe sunflower seeds, as well (as long as they have been eating the other stuff well). Oh, and a fav treat is a small amount of Nutella! lol They also all get Stoneyfield Whole Milk Cream on Top French Vanilla, which they all love as well. Bugs I give as treats in the morning, I alternate between mealies, waxies and supers. I also give a small piece of henry's flyer blocks and also give them regular rodent block (Mazuri). I give other veggies, those are the ones that popped into my head (just woke up...lol)

[MallardsFly]

ok i will try what you have suggested. thank you so much all of you such a great help....

[IrishHarps]

Let us know how it goes! :thumbsup

[MiriamS]

I've been inspired by this recent conversation to improve Cocoa and Chip's diet. They don't eat enough veggies but I'm going to be strict and only give them healthy veggies and less fruit. Thanks for the inspiration squeeples. :thumbsup

[MallardsFly]

Ok it is day two for the flyers water veggies rodent blocks tough love. they still have not touched the veggies. they have asparagus, cucumber, egg plant, bell pepper, thia eggplant, yellow squash and zucchini. this is all from my garden as fresh as it gets. they also have spinach, lettuce, kale, colord greens, green beans. not from my garden but fresh. i have been giving them three meal worms and three wax worms in the morning. They only eat the bugs they have not even nibbled on any of the veggies. But on the plus side my little mans coat is already beautiful and not oily anymore. Thank you ms skul i think the vitamin supplement was a problem. but i am curious to why they still will not even eat any of the veggies i have offered. I will continue to wait and see if they will at least try the veggies. I give it to the end of the weekend then i think i may slip them something i know they will eat. By no means are they starving, but i feel bad to see they have not ate any of the food. The rodent blocks have very little sign of chewing also.

[MiriamS]

Flyers are notoriously picky eaters. Once they are used to something, they take a long time to warm up to other foods. Know that your thread has inspired me to make adjustments to my flyers' diet, taking out some of the fruit and adding veggies. And are mine eating the veggies? Nope. But I'm taking the tough love attitude for at least a week. I think that's how long it will take. Plus, I have a new little girl that I'm pretty sure used to live on nuts and she won't even eat fruit so it's tough love there too. She will get hungry eventually and touch the healthy foods. Remember, it's harder for us than it is for them because we worry but they'll eat when they get hungry.

[IrishHarps]

Miriam is right- just stick it out a bit. Gotta be tough love squammy :)

I think the eggplant is not good; pull that out. Everything else sounds great. Good job :thumbsup

[MallardsFly]

oh now rocky is looking bad agian. he looked so great. but now he is very sluggish his eyes are slouchy and he keep rubbing the side of his face against the cage, almost like he is trying to get something off his lips or something. His eyes are a little glazed over. he still wants to move when i take him out of the cage bt he seems like he has the flu or something. i know someone had told me about someone in the area that had a vet i am going to contact them and see if i can get an appointment but has this happen with any of your flyers before?

[IrishHarps]

No, I haven't had that happen. Did you remove the eggplant from his food? Have you tried calling Mrs Skul? She is our flyer expert. I can pm you get number if you don't have it.

[MallardsFly]

Yea i have spoken with her i just messaged her to find out when is a good time to speak with her. Yes i removed the eggplant. Man my poor little guy is having such a hard time. i also messaged lulu2012 to see if she can turn me on to a vet in my area. i hope he will be ok. i have beeen giving him watter with a dropper to try and at least get some liquids in him. he does not even seem to want to eat.

[MiriamS]

Hang in there! :grouphug

He has a calcium source right? Cuttle bone, deer antlers, tums or Fox Valley?

[MallardsFly]

yes he had everything that had been advise to me by you guys. you guys are so great but little rocky passed away today. my own stupidity just was to much for him to recover from. thank you all so much for your help Fiona is still healthy as an ox. but i wonder if i should put a small stuffed animal or something in the cage with her. i know it must be even harder on her.

[MollyBear361]

ohmigosh I am so sorry!!!!! :Love_Icon:grouphug

[IrishHarps]

Aww, I'm so sorry. It could have been anything, really. These little guys are good at hiding illnesses, so sometimes it's just too late to help them when they get really sick.I'm really sorry to hear he didn't make it.:grouphug

[schrislip00]

I'm really sorry to hear about your squirrel. I think flying squirrels are so cool. I have two plain ol' grey ones. Good luck with your other one. You're in the right place for advice. Mine would not have made it without TSB. So sorry for your loss.

[MiriamS]

Oh my dear, I am so sorry to hear that you lost him! Please don't be too hard on yourself. Like IrishHarps said, it could have been anything, something congenital that had nothing to do with diet. We've had flyers on this board fed the best of everything and then they just drop dead one day. They're so little that you just can't know. Don't beat yourself up. You're in the right place now and you should start a thread in the flyer forum about Fiona. We'd love to meet her and follow her life. And if she's lonely, there are often flyers that come up needing new homes that we could send your way.

[IrishHarps]

:goodpost