5 yr old pet squirrel not eating, going on 4th day

[red reddy]

first ill give you a short history about jimmie. i acquired himwhen he was about 6 wks. he had fallen out of tree and was paralyzed from the middle down. slowly he ragained movement, not quite up to par but pretty close. jimmie usually gets a variety of fruits and vegies each day. i.e. broccoli,romain,celery,brussel sprouts,fresh green beans, apple, grapes, avacado, he then has biscuits (fox valleysq blocks) available all the time. he gets peanuts,almonds,sunflower seeds, and walnuts. now ill give him (and the 2 babies i am preparing to be released) all those fruits and vegies at one time. found out from the rehabber thats not the thing to do. so even though jim has all these choices he really only eats the avacado, sweet potatoe, hell nibble on a grape even brocoli, but thats all he does is nibble. of course he eats his nutsand a biscuit now and then. he hasnt eaten in the last 4 days. took him to the rehab lady last night. she looked at his teeth, felt his insides, basically did all she could. she doesnt know what could be wrong with him. she gave me the emergency food supplement, jim doesnt want anything to do with it. there is fresh poops today but they r very small. i started him on the calcium (tums) trmt yesterday. he is weak, clumsy, and he acts like he's on a mission to do something, like hes looking for something. he had a nest in a 8inch tube that was so packed full of stuff and custom made by him that hes had for awhile, well day b4 yesterday he threw his whole nest out the tube. any ideas. thank you

[CritterMom]

Continue the calcium - the diet is very deficient, as you now know. Make sure he is warm and comfortable. You said emergency food supplement - what was that exactly?

Sometimes they like Ensure - the meal replacement shakes they sell for humans - and grocery or drug store has it. It is an excellent short term emergency food and since it is sweet many of them really like it.

I have alerted one of our members who is in Vancouver - lucky you - he is wonderful. Sent him a link to this thread.

[SammysMom]

So sorry about Jimmie...
This is the treatment that I would recommend trying if you think it might be MBD. Does he get Henry's Healthy Blocks on a daily basis?
Emergency Treatment for MBD

Get calcium into the squirrel IMMEDIATELY, not later, not tomorrow, NOW.
Delaying treatment can cause death or permanent paralysis.

You will need:

Tums, rolaids, or calcium supplement (any kind)
a syringe or spoon


Crush one pill and add a little water or fruit juice to make a paste. Use the syringe or spoon to force-feed the mixture, a little at a time, until it is all gone.

After you give the initial dose of calcium, give 100 mg calcium every 4 hours. If symptoms return or do not improve, try dosing more often: every 3 hours. Severe cases may need 50 mg calcium every 2 hours.

Your squirrel's symptoms should improve within a few hours; within 1-3 days your squirrel should be alert, active, and eating, with no seizures or paralysis. You should be giving 500-600 mg calcium per day (250-350 mg for flying squirrels). Keep track of how many doses you give so you can adjust the dosage if needed. You should work with someone knowledgeable about MBD.

Important!
Any kind of calcium pill is okay for the initial dose. But you must use PLAIN calcium carbonate (without Vit D) from then on.

Many small doses of calcium throughout the day/night are best to keep blood calcium levels as steady as possible.

If symptoms worsen or return, give an emergency dose of 100 mg calcium, then consult with TSB members or a rehabber or veterinarian to adjust the dosing schedule. Relapses are very serious and often fatal.

White feces or a white film on dried urine may mean the dosage can be reduced, as this indicates not all of the calcium is being absorbed. It may also mean you need to give smaller doses more often.

The acute symptoms (weakness, lethargy, seizures, paralysis) will usually improve within a few hours, but this does not mean the squirrel is cured. It will take many months to rebuild the calcium in the bones. (See the "Long-Term Treatment for MBD.")

More Tips

MBD causes brittle bones that break easily. You should pad the bottom of your squirrel's cage and keep him away from high places, where he might jump and break a bone.

Heat is very soothing for a squirrel with MBD. A heating pad turned to low and placed so they cannot chew the pad or cord, or a rice buddy (a sock filled with dry rice/beans and microwaved for about 20 seconds) will work. Squirrels with hind-end paralysis may benefit from gentle massage of the legs and hips.


Long-Term Treatment for MBD

The next step to curing MBD is to fix the diet.

1. Remove ALL seeds, nuts, corn, and treats, including stashes.

2. Follow the Healthy Diet For Pet Squirrels, which can be found here: http://www.henryspets.com/healthy-di...pet-squirrels/. Your squirrel MUST eat rodent blocks or squirrel blocks every day (either 2 Henry's Healthy Squirrel Blocks per day, or a small handful of commercial rodent block per day). If you choose to feed commercial rodent blocks, which are extremely hard, you should crush them up with peanut butter, yogurt, fruit juice, avocado, baby food, etc., to make them easier to chew and improve the taste.

3. You will need to continue giving extra calcium every day for many weeks. You can use a syringe or spoon, or you can mix the calcium with a small amount of peanut butter, crushed nuts, yogurt, baby food, or any food the squirrel likes. An easy way to dose the calcium is to mix 500 mg of calcium powder with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter or other tasty food and roll it into 5 little balls; each ball will contain 100 mg calcium.

Calcium Dosage:

Continue to give 500-600 mg calcium per day for 1 week (250-350 mg for flying squirrels). Once the squirrel is starting to eat blocks on a daily basis, reduce the total daily amount by half. If the squirrel remains stable for 2 weeks, reduce the daily amount again by another 50 mg. Continue reducing the dosage every 2 weeks until the squirrel is only getting 100 mg of extra calcium per day. If at any time symptoms return, give an emergency 100 mg dose, then go back to a higher dosage for 1-2 weeks.

The treatment for each squirrel may be slightly different and you should work with a rehabber, vet, or other experienced person to tailor the treatment to your squirrel's needs. Depending on the age of the squirrel, severity of disease, and other factors, your squirrel may need extra calcium for many months, perhaps for life.

Important Information
The MBD treatment is a "standardized" treatment that will get most cases on the road to recovery. But every case is different and the treatment should be customized to each squirrel. Severe cases sometimes need more aggressive treatment. There is a limit to how much calcium the body can absorb at one time, so lower doses of calcium given more often is the key with severe cases.






What is MBD?

Calcium is a very important nutrient. It strengthen the bones, but also plays a vital role in all body functions. Every cell in the body contains water plus small amounts of dissolved minerals such as calcium, sodium, magnesium, and potassium. These minerals allow the cells to transmit small electrical signals. Without this cell-to-cell communication, the organs can't function: your heart can't beat, your nerves can't transmit impulses; in fact, you would die.

When there isn't enough calcium in the diet, the body will dissolve the calcium from the bones and use that instead. This eventually causes the bones to become depleted of calcium. Eventually the bones become so depleted, there isn't enough calcium left to maintain sufficient calcium in the cellular fluids, and the organs can't function properly. This is what causes the symptoms of MBD: loss of appetite, lethargy, muscle pain, paralysis, seizures, and eventually death. Humans don't get this type of severe MBD, partly because our calcium requirement is lower and our bones are much bigger, allowing us to store more calcium.

By giving high doses of calcium orally, you are artificially maintaining your squirrel's blood calcium levels because his bones no longer contain enough calcium to maintain his calcium levels normally.

Once the emergency calcium is given, your squirrel's blood calcium levels should normalize fairly quickly. He should "bounce back" and act normal or almost normal. If you are still seeing symptoms such as seizures, loss of appetite, lethargy, or paralysis, the calcium levels may still be too low. This means the body will try to pull the remaining calcium from the bones, which means the MBD is actually getting worse. So stabilizing blood calcium levels is critical. The next step to actually curing the MBD is rebuilding bone. This is the part that takes a long time.

Stabilizing the blood calcium levels can and must be done quickly. In severe cases, calcium may be needed more often throughout the day and night, as often as every 2 hours.

[Duckman]

I am going to PM my contact info. I don't know if I can do anything more, but would be willing to help, if possible. I am in Vancouver as well.

[red reddy]

Continue the calcium - the diet is very deficient, as you now know. Make sure he is warm and comfortable. You said emergency food supplement - what was that exactly?

Sometimes they like Ensure - the meal replacement shakes they sell for humans - and grocery or drug store has it. It is an excellent short term emergency food and since it is sweet many of them really like it.

I have alerted one of our members who is in Vancouver - lucky you - he is wonderful. Sent him a link to this thread.

at what point do i force feed him and what do i feed him. the emergency food was a powder stuff given to me by the rehab lady

[SammysMom]

You may have to force the calcium mixture. Making it a little more like paste so that he doesn't aspirate it may help. If you can get some Ensure,you can try to see if he takes that readily. It has a lot of nutrition in it and will give him the calories he needs. You will really need to get fluids into him so he isn't dehydrated on top of all of this. Duckman is a wonderful source of information and is contacting someone to try to help you. We are all here to help!:grouphug:Love_Icon:grouphug

[czarina]

You can offer the fluids, including the the Ensure, by syringe, if you have to.

[Duckman]

Ok, just got back from seeing Jimmy and first, he is adorable!! I thought he was a Foxer at first, because he had the fattest pudgy cheeks, but then I saw his body and realized he was an Eastern Grey. That said, it is very obvious that he has MBD. He is hurting very much. I gave him some Metacam, to help ease his pain and he settled right down and went to sleep in Mommy's shirt. I am hoping that in the morning, he will wake up and want to eat. She is going to continue the calcium treatments and I checked his cage, and he shouldn't have to worry about falling, as the cage is only about 2.5 feet tall. I will check back on him in the morning and we will go from there. She has Critical Care, that Jackie gave her, so hopefully he will want to eat it tomorrow. Please put him in your TSB prayers. This guy is going to need quite a few before he is out of the woods.

[farrelli]

Thanks for coming to the rescue again!

[czarina]

Duckman, you are amazing! Thank you for giving so much of yourself. Now this little one has a fighting chance.

Lots of prayers coming from my end. :Love_Icon:grouphug:Love_Icon:grouphug:Love_Icon:g rouphug:Love_Icon

[CritterMom]

DM, I would never wish that anyone have trouble with their squirrels, but if they have to, I hope they live in the Portland/Vancouver area. Thank you so much for ALWAYS answering the call!

[red reddy]

THANK YOUS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART TO ALL OF YOU. JIM SEEMS ALITTLE BETTER THIS MORNING. I AM SEVERLY ATTACHED TO JIM AND AFTER YESTERDAY I THINK NOW IM EVEN MORE SO. HE WAS TRULY A MIRACLE BABY. WHEN I GOT HIM 5 YRS AGO AND I WROTE IN TO THE TSB EVERYONE SAID HE HAS A SEVERE SPINAL INJURY AND PROBABLY NEEDED TO BE PUT TO SLEEP. I COULDNT GIVE UP ON HIM AND LOW AND BEHOLD ONE DAY I SAW HIS TOE MOVE. SO THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH AND ESPECIALLY YOU MICHAELI LOOK FORWARD TO TALKING SQUIRREL WITH YOU ON A HAPPIER NOTE. HAVE A GOOD DAY ALL

[TubeDriver]

:thumbsup:w00t



Ok, just got back from seeing Jimmy and first, he is adorable!! I thought he was a Foxer at first, because he had the fattest pudgy cheeks, but then I saw his body and realized he was an Eastern Grey. That said, it is very obvious that he has MBD. He is hurting very much. I gave him some Metacam, to help ease his pain and he settled right down and went to sleep in Mommy's shirt. I am hoping that in the morning, he will wake up and want to eat. She is going to continue the calcium treatments and I checked his cage, and he shouldn't have to worry about falling, as the cage is only about 2.5 feet tall. I will check back on him in the morning and we will go from there. She has Critical Care, that Jackie gave her, so hopefully he will want to eat it tomorrow. Please put him in your TSB prayers. This guy is going to need quite a few before he is out of the woods.