Help needed! Vomiting 5 year old female fox squirrel

[Bella's Mom]

My 5 year old fox squirrel, Bella, woke up around 4am. I wasn't in the room where her cage is, but I could hear her moving around in her cage and making squeaking noises like she was chocking or something. I went to check on her and she was vomiting, which she has never done before the entire 5 years I've had her. She vomited a few times, got back in her nest, and went back to sleep. Then about 30 minutes later she got up and started vomiting again. She has vomited about 7 or 8 times. She seems really scared! Then she got back in her nest and just layed there and her breathing is different. It's not like she's having difficulty breathing, it's just a little heavier than usual. You know how you breathe a little heavier sometimes when you get too hot or have been expending a little more energy than when you're just at rest? She was perfectly fine before I put her to bed last night. Her diet consists of kale, collard greens, dandelion greens from outside (no pesticides in my yard), papaya, oranges, and apples. Sometimes I give her spaghetti squash, although she didn't have that today. Of those foods, she usually only nibbles on the kale and collard greens. She loves the dandelion greens and papaya is her favorite. I have tried to get her to eat the Henry's Healthy Blocks a few times in her life, but she flat out refuses to eat them, even the picky formula. I recently rescued another squirrel and have ordered the blocks again, hoping he will eat them and so I'm going to try again to get Bella to eat them. Bella only gets a walnut or a pecan a couple of times a month. But one thing I do is every night before I put her to bed, I put about 3 or 4 pine nuts in her dish and about 3 or 4 pumpkin seeds in her dish as a treat. Since they are so small I figured it was okay because they're not the size of much larger nuts, as the pecans and walnuts are. I have been giving her the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds every night for a couple of months now. So I didn't think that was what made her vomit since they haven't made her sick yet, but could it have been that? When she was vomiting I checked her dish, and all the papaya was still there, and most of the pine nuts were there also, but the pumpkin seeds had been eaten. Her vomit looked like and was the consistency of the nuts and seeds. And a little brown stuff, it looked like, but I don't know what that could be. She has plenty of time out of her cage, about 6 hours each day, sometimes more and she is never unsupervised so I know she didn't get into anything. Anyway, after the second vomiting episode she got back into her nest and went back to sleep after about 10 minutes. I also noticed something that I couldn't tell if it was vomit or diarrhea, but it is green like the leaves from an Arizona Ash branch in her cage. Or could that be from the dandelion greens because that's the only thing she ate that was green yesterday. Does anyone have any idea what is going on with her or what I should do? She hasn't vomited in almost 3 hours now. Oh, she just woke up and is eating a piece of papaya. So far that has stayed down. I'm just so worried about my baby girl and I don't know what to do! Any thoughts, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

[Mel1959]

Is she drinking any water? Squirrels are not designed to throw up, so I’m sure it was frightening. Could the seeds have been bad? Does she have anything stashed in her cage that she could have eaten that went bad or was moldy? I’d clean out her cage of everything she might have hidden, clean her bowls and water bottle.

Is she moving around her cage like normal?

Does she eat any other type of rodent block, like Harlan, Zupreem, etc? Have you tried grinding a block up and mixing with baby food to make boo balls? She might accept something like that. A block of some type is necessary.

Stop the pine nuts. They have probably one of the worst calcium to phosphorous ratios. The seeds aren’t the best either. With an improper calcium to phosphorous ratio the calcium she needs and isn’t getting in her diet is pulled from her bones. This causes metabolic bone disease and can be fatal if not reversed.

[Spanky]

Is it a new batch of pumpkin seeds by chance.. or new batch of anything? :thinking Mel's suggestion to search out any stashed foods is spot on IMO.

Sounds like she was closer to normal earlier... has she had any new bouts of vomiting?


Stop the pine nuts. They have probably one of the worst calcium to phosphorous ratios. The seeds aren’t the best either. With an improper calcium to phosphorous ratio the calcium she needs and isn’t getting in her diet is pulled from her bones. This causes metabolic bone disease and can be fatal if not reversed.

I agree with Mel about stopping those pine nuts as well as the seeds at least until she is back to normal. The Calcium to Phosphorous ratio of pine nuts is around 1:36 (ideally we are striving for a a 2:1 ratio). I get the concept that the pine nuts are small, but a better treat might be an occasional almond which have a 1:1.6 ration. I even soak them, peal off the paper and coat with powdered calcium to improve the ratios.

The squirrel / rodent block really does add a lot of nutrients that we really cannot compete with no matter what combos and varieties of food we provide them.

[Bella's Mom]

Thank you so much for your responses. No, she didn't have anything in her cage that went bad or moldy, that I know of because I clean her nest and cage every day. But, of course, I could have always missed something during the cleaning. She doesn't have a water dish in her cage she has a water bottle. I have not seen her drink from it this morning, but I know she had plenty of water from her dish in my bedroom last night before I put her to bed. I also clean her food dish every day. When she woke up and ate the piece of papaya she seemed to be running around her cage like normal. But now she's back in her nest asleep again. No, she has not vomited since about 4:45 or so this morning. I don't think the seeds were bad because they came out of a freshly opened pouch. I had already planned on stopping the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds because I thought that may have been what made her sick. But I will definitely stop giving them to her, for sure. No, she doesn't eat any kind of block whatsoever. I really do understand the importance of the blocks and unfortunately, I know all too well about MBD and how it can be fatal. Bella also had a sister I rescued with her, named Slick. That was on February 24th, 2013. I had not found out about The Squirrel Board yet. I wasn't feeding them any nuts. I was feeding them food that was healthy for people, but I didn't know it wasn't what squirrels needed to be healthy. They both got MBD and somehow Bella survived. I lost my precious angel, Slick, to MBD at four and a half months old. That is when I found The Squirrel Board and immediately changed Bella's diet. I got some Henry's Healthy Blocks then, but she wouldn't eat them. I offered her nothing but the blocks for 2 days and she still wouldn't touch them! I didn't want her going hungry so I just kept giving her foods with the proper calcium to phosphorus ratio. I know, even with that, her diet is still lacking all the nutrients she needs. After Bella, I have successfully rescued, raised, and released 5 other orphaned baby squirrels. They all ate the Henry's blocks during their time with me in the house. I just don't have any idea how to get Bella to eat them! What are boo balls?

[CritterMom]

While papaya is very high in calcium, I don't think, unless you are supplementing Bella and didn't mention it, that she is getting enough calcium because of the no blocks, and because of the diet including seeds, which while small, have just AWFUL calcium to phosphorus ratios.

If you are not supplementing her with calcium daily, I would put her on the MBD protocol right now. The Tums (get the fruit flavored ones) certainly won't hurt her and as her tummy sounds like there is an issue there they may help that, too.

Every time I think we have seen all of the symptoms there ARE from MBD another one gets thrown into the mix. Or it may have nothing to do with the vomiting. Regardless, given the diet info you have listed, again, if you aren't already giving her calcium, I would start. NOW.

[Mel1959]

Boo balls are ground block like Harlan or Zupreem mixed with other things to make them more accepting. I grind the block in my ninja blender then also grind about 1/3 to 1/2 as many nuts like almonds, walnuts or pecans. After mixing those together in a bowl I add some calcium carbonate powder, and sometimes some powdered Fox Valley formula and stir it all together with a fruit and veggie combination of baby food. You want it to stick together, but don’t want it mushy. I also add some coconut oil to help it stick together. Once it’s mixed I refrigerate it and then when it’s cold I make it into 1/2 inch balls. These can then be frozen or baked lightly. You have to experiment with what your squirrel might like. Same for the baby food choices....try different ones till you hit on something she likes. Some folks just use fruit baby food, but I like to sneak in some veggies, too. :grin3

There are other recipes in the Squirrel Nutrition section.

[Bella's Mom]

Okay. I understand. Yes, I am supplementing Bella with something called Squirrel Cal and Squirrel Booster from Exotic Nutrition. The Squirrel Cal is a powdered calcium supplement and the Squirrel Booster is a grainy textured vitamin supplement you sprinkle on their food. But I don't always supplement her with those. Will that work if I supplement every feeding with those until the blocks get here or do you think I need to get the Tums?

[Bella's Mom]

Oh, okay. The boo balls sound like a great idea! Does it have to be the blocks you mentioned, or can Henry's Healthy Blocks be used to make the balls?

[Nancy in New York]

Oh, okay. The boo balls sound like a great idea! Does it have to be the blocks you mentioned, or can Henry's Healthy Blocks be used to make the balls?

Any block you like. :thumbsup

[Diggie's Friend]

To get her to eat it, you can grind it up and add it to plain organic yogurt (Green Valley) two to three times daily in 1/2 Tsp.

You can also add a drop of organic vanilla extract to the yogurt to support a better flavor.

Organic Chia oil (Foods Alive) is a very healthy source.

It is a very good source of Omega 3 fatty acids in higher ratio to Omega 6.

https://foodsalive.com/products/organic-chia-oil-foods-alive

Add a drop onto the block. This can aso be added to the yogurt.

[Nancy in New York]

Okay. I understand. Yes, I am supplementing Bella with something called Squirrel Cal and Squirrel Booster from Exotic Nutrition. The Squirrel Cal is a powdered calcium supplement and the Squirrel Booster is a grainy textured vitamin supplement you sprinkle on their food. But I don't always supplement her with those. Will that work if I supplement every feeding with those until the blocks get here or do you think I need to get the Tums?

No time to read what these supplements are but be careful with something that has Vitamin D.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?50365-can-excess-vitamin-D-cause-MBD&highlight=vitamin+d

[Bella's Mom]

Okay. I just read about the vitamin D. Thank you so much for all of your help today!

[Bella's Mom]

Okay, got it! Thank you so much, Diggie's Friend!

[Treecat]

How is your squirrel doing?
My 1 year old squirrel vomited this week for the 1st time after eating some toxic berries on Thursday. I force fed him electrolyte liquid to keep him hydrated with charcoal in it and some oliclve oil to push it on thru, but when he really responsed was after I gave him about an 1/8 of a teaspoon of powder in his forced fluids from a 600mg NAC capsule, after reading about NAC being used as an anti-toxin in cats and dogs. Then I read this article on NAC being used successfully in rodents after they ate rodenticide. It recommended using 150 Mg. for the 1st hour. Then smaller amounts in follow-up doses, so I could have used more than I did to start with, but it worked anyway. After the 3rd treatment, he started cleaning himself and licking me, yawned, stretched and started acting normal.
Whether your squirrel got poisoned or not, I don't think it would hurt him to try this. I don't think it could do any harm. Its availavle at the health food store, and maybe the vitamin dept of the grocery store.
Here is article you can read about it for yourself and decide. Hopefully it will help you too.
N-Acetyl Cysteine in the Management of Rodenticide Consumption
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4347107/

Best wishes in the recovery of your little friend.
-Treecat

[Bella's Mom]

Hello, again. I thought Bella seemed to be doing a little better earlier this morning. She hadn't vomited since around 4:45am. As I had previously stated, she ate a little bit of papaya and kept that down, although it was just a couple of bites. She was sort of acting normal in her cage, just a little more tired than usual. She did not drink any water while she was still in her cage this morning, though. I took her out of her cage around noon. She is very lethargic and just laying there in my bedroom on her pillow and that's not like her at all. She's usually full of energy and playing up a storm. When I took her to my bedroom she got a drink of water, ate a fresh dandelion green I brought in from the yard, and got another drink of water. About 30 to 45 minutes after she ate and drank she began vomiting again. She vomited up the dandelion green and the water. She vomited 4 or 5 times. Then she got another drink of water and vomited that up too right after that. After all the water came out it was almost like she was dry heaving a few times and just like bubbles were coming out. She hasn't vomited since around 2:30-ish but I haven't given her anymore water or anything else. I called my vet but he can't see her until tomorrow morning at 11:30. I'm so scared and I don't know what to do! I know she's going to get dehydrated but she can't keep any water down and she's just laying there barely moving. Oh, and I gave her a fruit flavored Tums and she wouldn't eat it. Please, is there anything else I can do or try to do until the vet can see her tomorrow? I'm so scared and that's a long time to wait for her to be seen by my vet. Thank you!

[SammysMom]

Has she pooped at all?

[Bella's Mom]

No, she hasn't pooped.

[cava]

I think you should stop giving her access to food and only let her have a tiny bit of water available. Every time she vomits she is losing a lot of fluids and it's best that she save what she can.

You could try making the hydration fluid (1 c hot water, 1 tsp sugar, 1/3 tsp salt) keep in fridge toss after 24 hours. You could warm that and put a drop in her mouth every 30 minutes or so (or whatever she tolerates without making her gag or vomit). It will help maintain blood sugar and with hydration.

Your vet can get fluids into her other ways.

Make her comfy, help her rest, offer extra warmth and give her lots of love.

[Bella's Mom]

I think you should stop giving her access to food and only let her have a tiny bit of water available. Every time she vomits she is losing a lot of fluids and it's best that she save what she can.

You could try making the hydration fluid (1 c hot water, 1 tsp sugar, 1/3 tsp salt) keep in fridge toss after 24 hours. You could warm that and put a drop in her mouth every 30 minutes or so (or whatever she tolerates without making her gag or vomit). It will help maintain blood sugar and with hydration.

Your vet can get fluids into her other ways.

Make her comfy, help her rest, offer extra warmth and give her lots of love.

Okay. I will stop giving her access to food. I will also make the hydration fluid and try that. I'm just so worried that she's going to become dangerously, if not fatally, dehydrated before her appointment tomorrow. Since she hasn't pooped does that mean it's possible she could be blocked?

[Mel1959]

Anything is possible. You could check her rectum to see if you see bulging anal glands they are right above and on each side of the rectum.

Are you sure the dandelions haven’t been sprayed by something without your knowledge?

[Bella's Mom]

Anything is possible. You could check her rectum to see if you see bulging anal glands they are right above and on each side of the rectum.

Are you sure the dandelions haven’t been sprayed by something without your knowledge?

I will try to check her rectum for bulging anal glands. Well, the dandelions are from my backyard which has a 6 foot high wooden fence all around the yard. I live by myself and I'm the only one who ever goes out into my backyard. I don't see how or why anyone would have gotton back there to spray anything on the yard. But I suppose, it is always possible, right? My next door neighbor puts rat poison out in his yard (jerk) because he doesn't like the rats. I can understand that, but I don't agree with poisoning them. I suppose maybe it's possible the wind could have blown some of that poison over into my backyard. It's just odd that she kept the few bites of papaya down, but not the one dandelion green. But she also didn't have water when she ate the papaya, but she did when she ate the dandelion green.

[Rexie]

how is Bella doing? Did she see the vet?

[Bella's Mom]

Yes, she did see the vet on Sunday and again on Monday. She is being treated for gastroenteritis and is on antibiotics. She's doing a tiny amount better. She's drinking water and eating just a very small amount, but keeping it down. But I'm concerned that since she's barely eating she's not getting enough calcium and I don't know what to do. I have tried giving her a Tums several times but she won't eat it. I don't know what to do.

[Mel1959]

Yes, she did see the vet on Sunday and again on Monday. She is being treated for gastroenteritis and is on antibiotics. She's doing a tiny amount better. She's drinking water and eating just a very small amount, but keeping it down. But I'm concerned that since she's barely eating she's not getting enough calcium and I don't know what to do. I have tried giving her a Tums several times but she won't eat it. I don't know what to do.

If you are concerned about calcium you can ask your vet if he/she has calcium glubionate syrup 1.8g/5ml. I have a bottle of this sweet liquid that I give to my dwarf every other day. He doesn’t mind taking it.