Not sure if this is a life threat as its a first for her

[Mybabypeanut]

Hi, this is peanuts mom. We have spoken before about my baby that suffers from seizures. She is on phenobarbital now 15mg twice a day. She also is still on esbilac daily and also 2 Henry blocks. I try to put her under UVA/UVB light with her head covered at night but she hates it. Im told the blocks are enough to satisfy the calcium and vit d. My vet wants me to give her 100iu of Vit D also a day but Im afraid too. She also wants me to give her more calcium but she knows nothing about the blocks she regularly eats. In addition she gets fresh veggies, fruits...luvs apples, and only ONE nut per day to keep calcium up.

For the past month she has been doing fabulous. Then last week she got a toenail caught in a hardwood floor transition. She was stuck for a milla second and panicked and she had a seizure. Now this last week she has had a seizure a day. Im going to give it a week and go up to 20 ml which is what the vet originally prescribed. Other then the one seizure all has been well...eating, sleeping, potty, playing..completely normal. Until today. It rainy and cold here today and she wont get out of bed or wake up for that matter. She drank almost 10 ML of milk, her pheno and i put the pheno on a mini vanilla wafer and she ate that. I gave her the normal breakfast and she wont eat it or anything else.

I am new....she has been such a blessing in our lives and I panic over every little change. Is
she hibernating? Sometimes after a seizure she will sleep but not for this long or this soundly.
Do you have any ideas on why she is sleeping so much and not eating much? Do you an opinion on her medication, her calcium and vit D? Is there anything wrong with her that I need to call the vet in for?

thank you in advance for your help.

[CritterMom]

She is a gray squirrel, right? They don't hibernate. That is a ground squirrel thing.

As far as the sleeping - pheno IS a barbiturate so I could see that it would make her sleep if the dose has been increased.

BTW, there is about 100-150mg of calcium in each of the HHB blocks.

May I suggest that you do some reading on the subject of magnesium and seizures? Sometimes seizure activity can be linked to low serum magnesium levels - not necessarily caused by a diet deficient in magnesium, but rather because some individuals use and require more of the mineral.

One of our members in Costa Rica has been giving a young NR additional magnesium and has taken him from several per day to one every once in a while. You may want to speak to your vet about it.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hi Mybabypeanut, if your baby is still taking formula and eating the 2 HHB's, I would not supplement with calcium OR Vitamin D.

I don't know much about phenobarbitol but I do know that one of the side effects can be lethargy and sleepiness. Long term usage can also damage the liver so it's important to get the liver enzymes checked periodically. I would take her back to the vet so that blood work can be done. This will tell you if the pheno levels are in the therapeutic range. Tree squirrels don't hibernate but maybe they do feel sleepy on cold rainy days. I sure do.

When an animal is on a long term medication like this, I would definitely notify the vet that a change has occurred. It might be nothing concerning BUT it's best to know for sure. Good luck to you. I'm hopeful that the 'new' seizures are transient. I have a flyer that HAD seizures as a youngster. He has been seizure free for over 3 years and a half years. He is 5 years old.

[HRT4SQRLS]

I saw CritterMom's post regarding the magnesium. Yes, definitely do some research.

[Nancy in New York]

Hi Mybabypeanut, if your baby is still taking formula and eating the 2 HHB's, I would not supplement with calcium OR Vitamin D.

HRT4SQRLS I sent CritterMom a message, I think she had
calcium on the brain, and I changed her post above yours to read magnesium.

One of our members in Costa Rica has been giving a young NR additional magnesium and has taken him from several per day to one every once in a while. You may want to speak to your vet about it.

[Shewhosweptforest]

Well...sounds like you've done everything right you're doing an amazing job I have not had any experience with seizures...but I guess she could be recuperating....a seizure a day for the last week would wear her out possibly I would definitely increase her meds...especially since the Doctor already prescribed that I would not give vitamin D ...there is a lot of controversy about it....can you just let Peanut sit in front of a window? That's all my squirrels get....the light that comes through our windows...I haven't had any issues and as you said the Henry's Blocks take care of their nutritional needs. When I give a treat I will sometimes dust it in calcium I've gotten from Henry's...but that's it. I can tell you that my squirrel will slow down in the winter...she stays up significantly less than summer...also a rainy overcast day will have her going to bed earlier than usual...I hope that helps some I can tell how worried you are...hopefully someone with experience with squirrel seizures will be able to help more

[CritterMom]

Did someone fix whatever the heck I mis-wrote?

It is nice to have Nancy, my Portable Pocket Proofreader handy!!

[Nancy in New York]

Did someone fix whatever the heck I mis-wrote?

It is nice to have Nancy, my Portable Pocket Proofreader handy!!

Yup, you were taking too long.
I gave you 14 seconds you know!

[HRT4SQRLS]

I didn't catch anything wrong CM. I would make a terrible proofreader.
I was just agreeing with you.

[Mybabypeanut]

Good Afternoon All,

She sleeps in the bed with us because she is a seizure baby. So yesterday she never got up. At 5:30pm I decided to sit with her with my computer to keep a closer eye on her. She never had a seizure but was just terribly sleepy all day. Maybe she had a seizure earlier???IDK.

She has been on her meds for a few months now so I don't think the lethargy was caused by the pheno. It was colder and gloomy and raining.....outside...lol. She has a bankie that she is very fond of (hates me to wash it...lol) so she had constructed it in a way that she was cuddled down into the fuzzy bankie and pulled another corner over the top and stuck her nose out of the hole...lol... One I went in there i rubbed her belly and back for hours. She jumped out of her hole about 7pm and ate a bit and drank 10ml of formula and then back into the bankie drey. then around 10 she got out of the drey and stretched out next to me against my skin and went back to sleep.

This morning around 9am she got out of bed all together and hasnt stopped going. She ate her block and her nut and has her bowl of veggies and a half a apple that she loves to chew on. I also give her Kaydee blocks. Im not sure she eats them but it gives her something to hide. When I go to change he veggies, ect she stands in the middle of the bowl and dares me to take it..lol...she is a hoot. mommas sweet sweet girl. She isnt a biter but she loves to ly with our fingers putting them in her mouth and licking them. She has also reverted back to bottle feeding. Ive started giving her 10ML at once she is tucked in. She gets her meds and bottle. Rotten thing!! I wonder though.....I know she can never be released due to seizures.....but would she be happier in the outdoors in the trees and other squirrels??? I know she doesn't know what a squirrel is or that she is a squirrel. We have 2 little chiwahwas sp??? so I think thats what she thinks she is.

So I will continue what I am doing. Look into magnesium. Pray for no more seizures on the 15ML and pray she stays healthy and happy.

thank you all so very, very much.