Scared for Peetie

[Peetie’s mom]

My 1 yr old squirrel is limping on one leg. How can I make sure she just has a hurt leg or MBD? She is my little sweet heart. She is blind in one eye.

[stepnstone]

My 1 yr old squirrel is limping on one leg. How can I make sure she just has a hurt leg or MBD? She is my little sweet heart. She is blind in one eye.

Before ruling out mbd which can result in a "hurt" leg we would need to know some specifics.
What is her diet, what is she fed on a daily basics. How many nuts per day does she get?

[Peetie’s mom]

She eat several nuts a day along with mushrooms, a few greens.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Does she eat a rodent block?

Also, how many nuts would you say is ‘several’?

[Peetie’s mom]

I just ordered some last night and started giving her squirrel cal yesterday

[Peetie’s mom]

She probably eats a couple hazelnuts and maybe a pecan

[Spanky]

She probably eats a couple hazelnuts and maybe a pecan

In order for us to help you help Peetie, we need to understand what Peetie's diet is in it's entirety. What does Peetie eat on a daily basis... be as specific as possible. "...probably eats a couple hazelnuts and maybe a pecan and some greens" kind of answers do not provide enough information for us to help you.

In the meantime, start the MBD protocol using Tums; it cannot hurt Peetie but only help.. and maybe avoid lots of pain an agony. But please stick with us and share Peetie's diet and we can all work together to help Peetie.

Here is the link to the MBD protocol:
https://www.henryspets.com/emergency-treatment-for-mbd/

[Peetie’s mom]

Well Peetie eats cherries, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, dandelion, a couple green pine cones. She nibbles on tree bark, a handful of green acorns, a few cantaloupe seeds, romaine lettuce. I started giving her tums last night. I took all her food and left her with one almond covered in squirrel cal and several tums and water.

[Peetie’s mom]

I try and feed her lots of vegetables. She doesn’t eat everything I give her. She is a little picky. I try and feed her roots of grass. She eats a small amount of fruit.

[HRT4SQRLS]

I wouldn’t take all her food. I would give her healthy veggies and of course, the block when it comes in. I would stop all nuts. She won’t willingly take the Tums. She might nibble it a little but that’s not enough. You will need to crush it and syringe feed it.

I would say that MBD is definitely a possibility so I would treat her for MBD per the protocol.
She might also have an injury to the leg. They can get clumsy with MBD so a fall and associated injury is also a possibility. They have brittle bones with MBD so fractures are possible.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...-MBD-Treatment

[Peetie’s mom]

Thanks

[Diggie's Friend]

With the calcium and phosphorus content of Black Oak acorns, noted on (P. 38) of, "The Natural History of Tree Squirrels" by Gurnell, the Calcium to Phosphorus ratio of the Black Oak acorns equates to (0.86:1), yet easier to understand reversed, (P:Ca) (1.15: 1). This is nearly at(1:1), which few whole food sources of protein and fats possess, that are also a natural key food for tree squirrels in the wild. Not that I have to convince you of course, just thought to share that this species of acorn is a winner when it comes to Calcium and Phosphorus content.

I must add here, that until your squirrel has well accepted the new block diet, feeding any nuts, including this acorn, even with a very small measure given daily, isn't going to support your squirrel accepting a ground grain based block diet, since the natural-nominal seed source for the Mid-sized scatter-hoarder tree squirrels is the acorn over all other nuts, seeds, and grains sources.

Speaking of good sources of nutrition for squirrels when feeding rodent block; Acorn squash has a near (1:1) (Ca:P) ratio, and Butternut squash a positive ratio of (Ca:P).
Once your squirrel has completed the MBD treatment, and has well accepted the new rodent block, adding back (1/2 Tsp.) of chopped nuts, preferably: English walnuts, pecan, one hazelnut, or one acorn harvested green off the tree. Be sure to examine the nut shells for weevil holes, discarding all those that have them. Upon opening, split the kernel in half, feeding no more than half a one daily. Then take another moment to examine the outside and inside of the kernels with a magnifying glass for any sign of fungud (discoloration and fuzzy stuff) that is toxic), feeding only nuts that past close inspection.

Organic is a given with nuts, for the FDA requires all non organic nut source in the shell to be fumigated with a pesticide compound, which means that even shelled nuts not produced organic will have been fumigated while still in their shells.

Mist the nut pieces with purified filtered water. (Aquafina filtered doesn't remove vital minerals from the water as most water filtration systems do, just the heavy metals and 99 percent of the bad bacteria, leaving a supportive source of nutrition.) Then sprinkle on Calcium citrate prior to feeding them.

With no nut shells to open, a better safe than sorry proposition. I personally I don't like giving sea shells, not with all the heavy metals radiation and the like there is in the oceans now, which leaves deer antlers.

I recommend naturally dropped deer antlers Pet Co I believe carries these. You will need to process yourself by sawing them into approx. 2 inch segments and then boiling them in a pot of purified water on low boil for a couple of hours, then allowing them to dry fully.

[Peetie’s mom]

So Peetie is limping on her back left leg, do I need to limit her activity? She wants to run around on my screened porch. I am not sure if that is helping or hurting her.

[HRT4SQRLS]

I would. Does she have a cage? A few days with limited climbing and running would be helpful.
Keep in mind a squirrel with MBD has fragile bones and reducing the potential for falls is always needed.

[Peetie’s mom]

So do I need to stop feeding squirrels in the yard with sunflower seeds? Knowing now what can happen I feel like I am hurting them.

[HRT4SQRLS]

So do I need to stop feeding squirrels in the yard with sunflower seeds? Knowing now what can happen I feel like I am hurting them.

You can feed the outsiders sunflower seeds. They can balance their diet outside. It’s the captive/pet squirrels that depend on us to provide adequate calcium in the diet and limit high phosphorus foods like nuts and seeds.

[Peetie’s mom]

Can you offer advice on how to force feed Peetie the tums that she needs. She and I are very tight and I have the utmost respect for her. I don’t think I can force her to eat it or drink it without consequences. She has never bit me before and I don’t want to lose her trust. She is not drinking it or eating it on her own. All I can say is I love her. I offer the tums water to her 10 times a day. She doesn’t like it.

[Peetie’s mom]

Can you offer advice on how to force feed Peetie the tums that she needs. She and I are very tight and I have the utmost respect for her. I don’t think I can force her to eat it or drink it without consequences. She has never bit me before and I don’t want to lose her trust. She is not drinking it or eating it on her own. All I can say is I love her. I offer the tums water to her 10 times a day. She doesn’t like it.

I appreciate the advice you all have given

[CritterMom]

First, did you by any chance purchase any of the calcium from Henry's? And second, what flavor Tums are you using?

When I run into something they refuse to eat, I usually try mixing it with Nutella! I think that using non-flavored calcium rather than Tums with this may work better but if all you have is the Tums, I would do that.

Grind one up as fine as you can, and begin adding nutella in TINY amounts until you have a cookie dough consistency - sticky enough to hold together nicely without being gooey (squirrels are just ridiculous about gooey on their hands). Roll it into little balls about the size of a pea. Dividing the amount of elemental calcium in your Tums by the number of little pea-balls will tell you how much calcium is in each one.

To do the same with plain calcium is basically the same thing.

If you do not have any, you can make your own calcium powder with eggshells. Basically you dump the contents out of the eggs and boil the shells to kill the bacteria. Remove from boiling water and place on a pan in a slow oven until the shells are totally dry, then grind everything up. Detailed directions here: https://www.mamanatural.com/how-to-m...shell-calcium/

1 teaspoon of this powder contains 800-1000mg of calcium.

And no, you don't want to feed your squirrel Nutella as part of its diet, but they usually LOVE it and I think the benefits of getting meds into them WITHOUT stressing them is the way to go.

[Rohitraj]

Hey guys I really need your help. I found a baby squirrel on the street 3 days ago.While I was going to work. He has several head injuries. I watched couple YouTube video. How to take care and keep him warm.but it’s getting really difficult for me to take care of him since I leave alone. For last three days I hide him at my work place so I can feed him n every 3 hrs . Please help me to keep her alive. I can’t keep her with me at my work place because I work for food industry.