Mbd treatment with no improvement

[jenessax3]

Hi all!
Looking for advice for a little one with MBD. (Weaned off formula too soon and the picky eater was stashing out his favorite foods) Hind legs aren't working.. sleeping a lot, not much appetite. I have had them on tums for about 4 days now with not much improvement.. 500mg a day, 100mg per dose every 4 hours.. baby is very bloated now. Did skip formula feeding and replaced with pedialyte.. gave warm bath last night and this morning to get bowls moving.. i am mixing tums with fruit juice or with warm water. Any advice? Should I up the calcium to get results? TIA

I should add that the age is around 12 weeks.. raised on fox valley formula and was weaned off around 9 weeks to grapes, peanuts, broccoli, carrots, apples and sweet potato.. have 2 others who are doing well since adding in parsley, kale, cabbage and have reduced peanuts to 1 every other day. Have ordered henrys rodent blocks and the calcium supplement listed on their site.

[Spanky]

Can you clarify about the formula... did he wean off the formula but now is taking it again.. just confused about the conflict between his having weaned the one about skipping a formula feeding.

It usually requires many, many weeks to develop MBD unless they are not getting the proper formula or maybe a diet of all nuts and seeds.

How old is this baby and how many weeks were they not taking any formula (if they had actually weaned)?

Which formula were you feeding them?

Sorry for all the questions but knowing this info will help a lot. I am fearful this is not MBD but perhaps an injury if my guess that this is a youngster.

[jenessax3]

Can you clarify about the formula... did he wean off the formula but now is taking it again.. just confused about the conflict between his having weaned the one about skipping a formula feeding.

It usually requires many, many weeks to develop MBD unless they are not getting the proper formula or maybe a diet of all nuts and seeds.

How old is this baby and how many weeks were they not taking any formula (if they had actually weaned)?

Which formula were you feeding them?

Sorry for all the questios but knowing this info will help a lot. I am fearful this is not MBD but perhaps an injury if my guess that this is a youngster.


So fox valley formula is the formula.. this was stopped at 9 weeks of age and I just began again at 12 weeks due to the mbd symptoms. I do belive the baby was only picking nuts out of his new diet and thats how he developed MBD.

[Spanky]

So fox valley formula is the formula.. this was stopped at 9 weeks of age and I just began again at 12 weeks due to the MBD symptoms. I do believe the baby was only picking nuts out of his new diet and that's how he developed MBD.

Fox Valley 20/50? That formula should be fine...

If he was on formula until 9 weeks, and only off for 3 it is unlikely this is MBD unless maybe he was eating lots of nuts and seeds, and only nuts and seeds.

Nuts and seeds are treats and should not be fed very often... my releases don't even start to get nuts until they are in the release cage (14 - 16 weeks+). Non-releaseable squirrels should not get more than 1 or 2 nuts a day (at most).

If he was not eating lots and lots of nuts, I would be concerned this is a spinal injury. Do you have any prednisone or dexamethasone? These are steroids that can be used to help treat spinal injuries but the sooner they are started after the injury the better the chances of recovery.

Do you have a vet that will see squirrels?

[Mel1959]

So fox valley formula is the formula.. this was stopped at 9 weeks of age and I just began again at 12 weeks due to the mbd symptoms. I do belive the baby was only picking nuts out of his new diet and thats how he developed MBD.

Are you feeding some type of seed/nut mixture as his primary source of food?

[Javarat]

I agree with Spanky... the odds this is MDB are small.

Your comment that "baby is very bloated now" and back legs are not working is very worrying to me.
Picture of the tummy would be very useful.. but at least a detailed description of what it looks like. The coloring, where the colors are, how it feels to the touch, and is it smooth or lumpy?

This sounds more like a fall injury. MDB starts with lethargy and moves into siezures... but you don't normally see rear end paralysis.
If the back end is fully paralysed he may not be able to urinate or poop.. resulting in bloat, sepsis, and then death.

Move him to a small tub, seperate from the others. This will allow you to monitor if he is pooping and peeing, and what the poop looks like.
If he is not pooping we need to immediately start working on the bloat and trying to get him to defecate, either with therapy or drugs, to save his life.
If you do not see urine and poop, try submerging his back end in a sink of warm water and massaging the tummy and intestines to stimulate defecation.

Search around for prednisone or dexamethasone with friends and family. Even an expired pill will do.

You listed your location as 'North'... a better idea of what city or state might help to locate a rehabber who has drugs or who can help.