Need to offer long term MBD treatment advice to someone in India - Cross-Post

[Sqwirl]

Hi, someone in India recently posted in the subreddit about a palm squirrel with MBD. He followed the advice for short term care which only replaces calcium as an electrolyte but does not build bone or heal tissue, ie dosing with calcium without complementary minerals or vitamin D.

I explained to him that his girl needs to be on block or formula balls for the rest of her life and that she cannot recover without a fortified food. I suggested a good formula to make formula balls for her, but it costs the same in India as it does here.

Of course their wages are much lower than ours are, so this is not affordable for him. I am asking here for help to point him to a balanced source of the vitamins and minerals that his squirrel needs.

First, does anyone know if there is a good place to get quality rodent block in India? Do you know someone who has a healthy squirrel in India who might know? If so, would you mind asking them to answer in this thread?

Second, another thing that could work is a powdered multivitamin that is formulated for rodents. This could be added in appropriate amounts to some food that he makes for her, and that would provide her with the critical benefits that block or formula balls would. It would also probably be more affordable. I know that there is such a powdered multivitamin that gets added to those Henry's blocks. Can anyone show me where to buy it at the most affordable rate possible?

This is not a person with money to throw away, I expect, so cost is a real concern. Thanks in advance.

[CritterMom]

The powdered vitamins you see referred to here are pre-packaged by Henry's Healthy Pets. It was designed to be a single pack of vitamins that is used by people making their own blocks - there are a couple recipes to make your own Henry's blocks. There are a ton of different vitamins in it and purchasing all of them so you can measure out your own would be very expensive, so most people just buy the prepackaged ones. You won't find anything like this from another vendor.

Furthermore, vitamins and supplements are formulated differently in India than they are for our US market. Everything is blended with other items - for example in the US you can buy calcium WITH Vitamin D, or if you hunt for it, without the D. In India it all has not only D but a bunch of other vitamins and minerals that are not in the ratios needed for a squirrel.

I would suggest she do some web searches - and look for either Mazuri extruded rat food, or even better, a diet that is made specifically for lab rats called Harlan Teklad (this company has recently had a name change and you may see it as either "Harlan Teklad" or "Envigo Teklad"). The other blocks, Mazuri, are owned by Purina, which is probably the largest animal food manufacturer in the world. They make food for nearly every exotic you can think of. Either of these would be a good staple food for her squirrel.

The Harlan Teklad is likely to be found more in places like Amazon and Ebay. They do not market to the public and the company sells only in 50 pound bags. Here in the US, lots of people purchase these and repackage in one pound and 5 pound bags and sell it online. The Mazuri may be more easily found in retail.


BTW, if this squirrel has MBD, pure calcium powder can very easily be made from eggshells. You just need a grinder. Empty shells of egg, boil shells for 10 minutes, dry well and place in slow oven (about 225) for a half hour to thoroughly dry the shells, then throw the pieces in a grinder and grind into powder. 1/2 teaspoon of the powder = approx. 500mg elemental calcium.