three year old prairie dog quit eating

[squirrelman#100]

he just stopped eating about 10 days ago. his behavior is normal, sweet and affectionate as usual. tried all his favorite foods, no interest.

no signs of any illness before, healthy, strong intact male.

force feeding hasn't worked, and i don't want stuff getting in his lungs, not sure what to do.

we get no sunlight in winter and i'm worried about MBD.

324221

[CritterMom]

What is his diet?

Can you get his mouth open and take a look at his teeth? Something tooth related would certainly cause that.

[squirrelman#100]

thanks for the suggestion, but his teeth are fine. diet is mostly timothy hay, oatmeal, grapes, sweet potato, cheese, pumpkin pie, some peanuts.

i'm unemployed so i spend all day every day with him, and he insists upon sleeping next to me in bed, a very close friendship.

324232

[CritterMom]

His little face has so much personality!

You mentioned MBD and if the diet you described is pretty much his complete diet, it could be an issue. I see lots of high phosphorus food and ot much in the way of calcium.

I found this: https://gregrichdvm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/prairie-dog-diet.pdf which has lots of info, including specific brands of food. A pelleted diet is normally needed to supplement "wild" animals kept in captivity because of our inability to perfectly replicate their wild diet.

[squirrelman#100]

i let him have cheddar and swiss cheeses in small amounts for calcium i hope.

324233

324234

[squirrelman#100]

he finally started eating a little, but i'm concerned about clumps of stuck-together fur on his chest, no idea where it came from.

324536

[Mel1959]

Don’t Prairie dogs need to eat rodent block like squirrels?