Possible MBD

[Nixxy55]

My baby is about 8-9 months old and has not exhibited any signs of MBD until yesterday. My boyfriend called me at work and said she was very lethargic and had some diarreha. Concerned, I drove home in a hurry and she seemed okay. Just tired. I gave her a little apple (her favorite), a tum and an almond and she slept in her tunnel all night (which was weird, she always sleeps in her bag). When I got up this morning she was really favoring her back legs, seemed unsteady when she sat in the window sill. She whines when I touch her, her jumps are unsteady and she is showing no interest in doing anything but curling up in her bag or under the blankets. I'm so scared we didn't catch it early enough!
Today I've crushed up a tum and put it in some pedalyte and she drank most of that. Later I crushed up two rodent blocks, a tum and some avacado. She ate about half of that. Maybe a little less. I've got a brand new full spectrum light shining on her now, too.
If anyone has any other ideas about on what to do for her, please help! I'm so worried about her!

[CritterMom]

Can you tell us what her diet has been up until now? List what she gets on a daily basis.

[Nixxy55]

We feed her berries, apple, a couple nuts a day, avacado, raisins and some greens (not as much as she needs). She HATES the rodent blocks :(. I don't think there has been enough calcium in her diet. She gets tums maybe once a week as a supplement.

[CritterMom]

No, not enough calcium. Which blocks?

[Nancy in New York]

OK you may be right about MBD as this diet needs a lot of tweaking.
We ALL made mistakes until we found TSB.
An absolute must is being strict with her diet and BLOCKS.
Most of the squirrels on the board feed HHB's which are made specifically
for squirrels.
Here's the link.
http://www.henryspets.com/
I use the picky eaters, only because mine are just that picky eaters.
Did you see the MBD protocol?
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?32122-MBD-Treatment
Also what mg tums do you have. Look on the bottle where it tells the active ingredients and find the
elemental calcium, and that is actually how much calcium is in ONE tums.

One more thing, what kind of formula was she on, and when did she wean?

[Nixxy55]

Esbilac and she weaned completely at about 8 to 9 weeks, if I remember correctly. The ones I fed her were the blue bag Kaytee rat and hamster blocks. She also got into one of our decorative plants in our house the night before this all happned. Followed by the loose stool. She's eating, but she is just so lethargic. Poisoned?
The tums are 1000mg. But she didn't eat the whole thing I crushed for her.
Her breathing and bpm seem normal, but she just jumped from her cage to the bed and she was not very stable.

[Nancy in New York]

OK this is really IMPORTANT.
What kind of plant did she get into?
When you say decorative, do you mean fake?
If you don't know the name, post a picture.
Do the tums say 1000 on the label? Most likely they
are not 1000 for one, you need to look for the elemental calcium
amount on the label.

[Nixxy55]

Sorry, they are actually 400mg a piece. The plant was real, but it was dried and hanging. She stood on my boyfriend's shoulders and got ahold of a piece of it and ate it. I'll post a pic.

[Nixxy55]

Update, she has almost eaten her entire avacado/rodent block/tum/pedalyte mixture. She seems more alert after she eats and tries to climb on me, but quickly curls back up into a ball and tries to go back to sleep and whines when we try to move her.

[stepnstone]

I personally think your thinking off track with the plant, most incidences with
plant poisonings exhibit vomiting. It may explain the diarrhea but I feel your
thoughts of mbd is correct.

As CM pointed out, there has not been enough calcium in her diet.
You pointed out being lethargic and trouble with back legs, classic signs of mbd.
Mbd is very painful which would explain the unsteady, sleeping and whining.
I would definitely proceed with the mbd protocol.

[Nancy in New York]

Update, she has almost eaten her entire avacado/rodent block/tum/pedalyte mixture. She seems more alert after she eats and tries to climb on me, but quickly curls back up into a ball and tries to go back to sleep and whines when we try to move her.

MBD is very painful. Do you have a weight on her?
We can dose infant ibuprophen if you have it.

[Nixxy55]

I don't have a weight, nor do I have a scale. :( Tomorrow I can go out and get one. Along with the tums, should I continue with the mixture I had before? Rodent blocks a yes or a no for now? And how soon would I expect to see her making lots of improvement? My boyfriend says he thinks she is better, I'm not convinced. She gets excited about her food, so that is a good sign at least.

[stepnstone]

I don't have a weight, nor do I have a scale. :( Tomorrow I can go out and get one. Along with the tums, should I continue with the mixture I had before? Rodent blocks a yes or a no for now? And how soon would I expect to see her making lots of improvement? My boyfriend says he thinks she is better, I'm not convinced. She gets excited about her food, so that is a good sign at least.

Not unusual to see improvement with doses of calcium. It does not mean she's out of the woods,
it just says your on the right track replenishing her calcium. Mbd takes time to overcome.

[Nixxy55]

Not unusual to see improvement with doses of calcium. It does not mean she's out of the woods,
it just says your on the right track replenishing her calcium. Mbd takes time to overcome.

How soon should I expect her to be bounding around in the house again?

[Nixxy55]

Update: She seems to be doing better. She pokes her head out when she hears us enter the room, is crawling out of her bag and around her cage, playing on the bed and crawling on us.
Concerns: I am having a really difficult time getting her to take the recommened dosage of calcium. Any tips?
Also, how much improvement should I be seeing?
Compared to how she was before, she is still very lathargic.
And thank you guys all so much for your help, I appreciate it so much. Addie wouldn't be hanging around if it weren't for this forum and I wouldn't know what to do without her! :Love_Icon:serene

[Annabelle's papa]

Update: She seems to be doing better. She pokes her head out when she hears us enter the room, is crawling out of her bag and around her cage, playing on the bed and crawling on us.
Concerns: I am having a really difficult time getting her to take the recommened dosage of calcium. Any tips?
Also, how much improvement should I be seeing?
Compared to how she was before, she is still very lathargic.
And thank you guys all so much for your help, I appreciate it so much. Addie wouldn't be hanging around if it weren't for this forum and I wouldn't know what to do without her! :Love_Icon:serene

:wave123 Hi Nixxy55, here's another :Welcome to The Squirrel Board.

As stepnstone mentioned above, it will take a good deal of time to replenish the loss calcium in your Lil' One's bones, it could take a few weeks at least or several month's depending on the severity of the deficiency. Ya'll have been very attentive toward Her health and well being, and many Folk's here have learned better way's to care for their Squirrel's since becoming members. :)

I honestly would have fed our Lil Flyer rodent pellets, canned tuna and dry pet food, if I hadn't been fortunate enough to find this site. :tilt Our Lil' Girl certainly had an Angel looking over Her shoulder, and I credit this site for basically saving Her life. :Love_Icon

Just keep coaxing that calcium into Her using the method's recommended, and eventually you will be directed to start decreasing the amounts as treatment progresses. Lightly coat everything you feed Her with the calcium powder, and keep nuts, seeds and fruits to a nearly non existent bare minimum in the immediate future. :great Think of how important a strict change in diet is to a human diagnosed with heart disease or gastrointestinal disorder.:sadness

Please limit Her activity for a brief period of time also, Her bones are weakened and She is more susceptible to breaking a leg or hand bone if She were to jump or fall hard. A spine injury could leave Her paralyzed, or worse. Start posting some photos of Her as soon as you can, after all that is what being a Squirrel Board member is all about, and remember to post ANY questions you may have 24/7.:thumbsup

[Kristi S]

Do you mean she whines when you handle her, or even if you touch her lightly? Is she over-sensitive to noise, do you think? Some maladies cause the senses to be overly acute.

I wish I could tell what the plant is that she ate. Was it the one on the left or right? I'm fairly good at identifying most house plants and have some good references, but the photo makes it hard to see the details, like the leaf veins on the one on the right. Does the one on the left have a woody stem? Interesting leaves!

I don't know as much about MBD in squirrels as I do about it in lizards. I know it can have a rapid onset, but going from no symptoms to a whole suite of symptoms overnight seems a little strange. And diarrhea, too? I completely agree that dietary changes are necessary, I just wouldn't want to miss any alternative explanations.

You have the right idea in thinking of vitamin D, but the full-spectrum light bulbs meant for home use (if that's what you're using) are not going to provide the UV-B that is necessary for vitamin D. You need special bulbs designed specifically for that. They are usually sold for reptile use, you can get them in pet stores.