Ahrlan is having seizures

[psychotic feather]

I heard him chirping so I went to go check on him. I opend his house box and he was walking around looking dazed. His tail is all fluffed up and he keeps trying to climb to the top shelf of his cage and falls from half way up. I put him on a heating pad in a small plastic bin for now to stop him from climbing. Every time i touch him he jumps and starts shaking all over. What should I do? He used to do this before but never this bad.

[Nancy in New York]

Get calcium into him immediately...
I'm looking stuff up not too familiar with chipmunks...

Emergency Treatment for Metabolic Bone Disease

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Emergency Treatment for Metabolic Bone Disease (updated 3-31-09)

Get calcium into the squirrel IMMEDIATELY, not later, not tomorrow, NOW. Delaying treatment can cause death or permanent paralysis.

You will need:

--Tums or calcium pills (any kind)
--a syringe, eyedropper, or spoon

Crush one Tums or calcium pill and add a little water or fruit juice. Use the syringe, eyedropper, or spoon to force-feed the mixture, a little at a time, until it is all gone. Feed a total of 600-800 mg of calcium, and spread it out through the day and night to keep his blood calcium levels as steady as possible.

If the squirrel is having seizures, weakness, or paralysis, the symptoms will usually improve within a few hours, but this does not mean the squirrel is cured. It will take many months to rebuild the calcium in the bones.

[Nancy in New York]

I am just copying and posting what I can find to try to help you...

Okay, it's important to keep her very warm. Low blood calcium interferes with all bodily functions: breathing, circulation, digestion.... So keep her warm. You can keep her next to your skin, or you can make her a rice buddy, which is an old sock filled with dry beans or rice, microwave it for around 20-30 seconds until it's toasty warm but not hot and put it next to her.

I would crush up one more Tums with water, and give her a little bit once per hour until by morning you have given her the whole pill. You can also give a little pedialyte or fruit juice, no food til morning.

Try to dribble a little bit just inside her lips so that it goes onto her gums. Then let her swallow it on her own. Philomycus is correct that you don't want to aspirate her; that is, you don't want her to accidentally inhale the fluid.

[psychotic feather]

He doesn't have mbd calcium is part of his weekly diet

[4skwerlz]

Can you tell us exactly what Ahrlan eats, including supplements? It takes more than just calcium to prevent MBD; a lack of other minerals or nutrients can also cause it.

[psychotic feather]

Romaine lettuce

Baby carrot (every other week)

Bell Pepper

Cucumber

Spinach

Portabella Mushroom

avacado

A few kernals of fresh corn

a few green beans

a few peas
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Small piece of whole wheat bread

a few cherrios
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1 cherry

1 blackberry

1 blueberry
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small dab of peanut butter
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spoonfull of yogurt
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1/4th cup of chipmunk food

which can be found here http://www.cunipic.com/ if you go to the "Home > Productos > Alimento > Alimento Conejos y Roedores > ARDILLA"

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5 mealworms

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2 squirrel blocks

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1/4th tum once a week

He hasn't had squirrel blocks in a few months.
His food is chopped into a small salad.

[Nancy in New York]

I came across this while trying to find help for your little one...this is from Jackie in Tampa


Re: FLYING SQUIRREL SEIZURES!

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Fred recently was reading/studying 'calcium avenues' for me. He read the tums ingredients and started the study on them....he has found that the other ingredients do not allow calcium to absorb...
According to nutritional books used for RN training, he thinks tums is not the calcium fix we thought it was.
Fred i not a rocket scientists, but is sure that is the jist of the study.
Just a heads up...
I will no longer recommend Tums as a quick fix...jmo.