Neuro, Ortho or something else???

[mom2twiggy]

First time to post but I LOVE this site!! I work at a vet clinic so several of us do squirrel rescue which gives us a good pool of knowledge but it's nice to get a broader perspective. Twiggy is my roughly 15 month old Eastern Gray. She's been on Henry's since the beginning (after the formula phase of course). Twiggy loves her Henry's, gets them in the morning & then fruits/veg/nuts as evening snack. Recently she was acting very moody & tense (I thought perhaps she was coming into heat again as she was A PAIN during her first cycle but there was no sign that that was the case. I did notice her sleeping a bit more. This last Friday after work I realized something was DEFINITELY wrong. I have a couple of videos but not sure how to upload them. I immediately gave her calcium & turned on the full spectrum light although I've never had any reason to believe that she wasn't getting all that she needed. She definitely seems neurologic but for the life of me I can't imagine what could have happened. She's somewhat ataxic & had trouble controlling her arms. She's eating & drinking. Seems well hydrated. No history of seizures & no known injury. We're currently giving her dex & high calcium foods. She seems to slooowly be getting better. It's hard to even know if she's in pain, neurologic, both our something else entirely!! It's so frustrating. I wish they could tell us what's wrong!!!

[Shewhosweptforest]

So glad you decided to post :grin3 sorry it was with a problem :( I'm assuming that you have been following the healthy nutrition....since you do feed the Henry's :great I'm not sure if squirrels react differently in their absorption of calcium and other nutrients...my squirrel was about two years old when I came here...and she was not eating a good diet....nuts, corn on the cob....and good things veggies and acorns :dono she never got sick ...MBD. While others come here with young squirrels on similar diets and they have MBD :thinking I wouldn't think Twiggy has MBD ....especially if she eats 2 blocks a day...this is basically the diet I feed all my squirrels and none of them have come down with MBD. I'm wondering if she could have hurt herself....slipped and fallen. They really do hide injury...it does sound neuro....you said she's on dex...how long? Have you seen improvement since you started? Sounds like you're covering all the bases:great

As far as videos...the only way I've been able to post is to put them on YouTube....copy the url and paste it in my post....I know people use other sites...like photo bucket:dono I couldn't get it to work for me....but I'm tech challenged :eek

[mom2twiggy]

Happy to report that today (almost 1 week from onset of symptoms) Twiggy is back to about 98%!!! :serene I think that it had to have been some kind of injury & the dex & rest did the trick. Boy these kids can sure get us to the brink with worry. She has spent the evening having a blast playing & investigating..... OBVIOUSLY feeling MUCH better!! :w00t Going to continue with high calcium foods & the full spectrum light but still pretty sure it was orthopedic in nature!!

[Shewhosweptforest]

Oh that's wonderful news :w00t the dex really is a miracle worker....I agree with you that it must have been an injury...I'm just glad it was minor and cleared up quickly :Love_Icon she sure does look raring to go in the pic :klunk she's beeeutiful :Love_Icon and that smile :klunk

Thanks for the update :thankyou