HELP ASAP PLEEEEZ 1YR old not eating

[myheart]

My baby has seizures. I have gotten them 90% under control but 4 days ago she had a bad bout that last all night. Finally after upping her pheno to .20 they stopped. I have backed her back down to .15 and she has not had any more seizures. She is active...running around in the AM and in the afternoon, drinks water, refuses her usually loved formula, refuses her HH blocks, refuses any kind of nut even her hazel nuts which she loves, refuses veggies, refuses fruits. Ive tried to syringe feed her formula and she fights me and then lightly bites me which means back off.

Whats going on. Please someone help me ASAP. I feel like she must be starving to death. She isnt lethargic at all and I dont know how with not eating. Ive offered everything. Even ground up stuff and still wont eat. She is pooping still and i dont know how. Other then the eating she has no issues. i have a vet and she came out and said she thought it may be a blockage from something...toy wise....she ate. Then she saw her running around at high speed and said if it was a blockage she would not be doing that. She is stumped too. HELP PLEASE she is everything to me...the light in my life. she saved my life and i must save hers. i will do anything.

i just got a small pen to take her out for vit D. i already give her multi vit from henrys, calcium from the vet. what is wrong with her?????

thank you

[Shewhosweptforest]

Thank you sooo much for doing so much for your sweet baby my first question would be how long has she not been eating, also, how old is she? My squirrel has not been eating much at all recently....she's "big" so I think maybe she's following her instincts...I think....from watching my wild's...that during the winter they will stuff themselves, then when they reach a certain point, they just chill. In the wild this would allow them to stay in their nest during the coldest days...and still be ok...also could she have nuts stashed? Have you checked? Maybe she has a little stash somewhere that she's nibbling on if she is still drinking normally, and still active...I wouldn't be as worried...I would watch her closely tho...hmm could the meds be affecting her appetite? Just a thought ...I know lots of meds can mess with appetite

[HRT4SQRLS]

Oh there you are.

Can you give us some history on your baby? Age? Diet? History of head trauma. Etc.

[stepnstone]

My baby has seizures. I have gotten them 90% under control but 4 days ago she had a bad bout that last all night. Finally after upping her pheno to .20 they stopped. I have backed her back down to .15 and she has not had any more seizures. She is active...running around in the AM and in the afternoon, drinks water, refuses her usually loved formula, refuses her HH blocks, refuses any kind of nut even her hazel nuts which she loves, refuses veggies, refuses fruits. Ive tried to syringe feed her formula and she fights me and then lightly bites me which means back off.

Whats going on. Please someone help me ASAP. I feel like she must be starving to death. She isnt lethargic at all and I dont know how with not eating. Ive offered everything. Even ground up stuff and still wont eat. She is pooping still and i dont know how. Other then the eating she has no issues. i have a vet and she came out and said she thought it may be a blockage from something...toy wise....she ate. Then she saw her running around at high speed and said if it was a blockage she would not be doing that. She is stumped too. HELP PLEASE she is everything to me...the light in my life. she saved my life and i must save hers. i will do anything.

i just got a small pen to take her out for vit D. i already give her multi vit from henrys, calcium from the vet. what is wrong with her?????

thank you

I can't claim much experience with seizures but I'm sure others that can will chime in shortly. You say your baby has seizures, how long has she been seizure prone? I do know with seizure prone they can go one way or the other as they mature, they may diminish with some while others accelerate. Seizure activity does lower the blood sugar but that does not necessary explain the "total" loss of appetite. Is she hydrated? A dehydrated animal has little to no appetite. Hopefully someone more experienced with seizures can help you shed some light on what you are dealing with.

[pixiepoo]

I sent a PM I have found that when I increase Pixie's meds her appetite decreases so if her dosage was rapidly increased, that could be a contributing factor.

[Nancy in New York]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet.
When she is having a seizure, try rubbing some molasses on her gums.
That will bring up her blood sugar levels.
Even if you get it between
her cheek and gums with a syringe, that's fine.

[myheart]

[QUOTE=HRT4SQRLS;1143303]Oh there you are.

Can you give us some history on your baby? She came to me in the front yard and got in my lap at about 2 months age. I live very, very near road but no sign of trauma at all. If something scared her in those first months she would have a seizure. started light but these last ones were horrible much worse then usual.

Age? She is a little over one year

Diet? very picky...2.henry blocks, 1 almond, esbilac formula with cream 20ml a day, apple are her fav's-- butter lettuce, escarole sp? lettuce, broccoli, peas, different kinds of lettuce, coconut oil once a week, cabbage, brussel sprouts everything on the henrys diet and she wont eat most of it. Hates avacados. hates tomatoes, hates all fruit but apples.
Likes,usually, to be bottle fed her formula, just recently started liking water and loves to play in it.

History of head trauma. None since with me.

On pheno twice a day .15, calcium from vet one time a day, right now on antibiotics for just in case from vet, henry multi vitamin.

Have just gotten a small pen to take out 1 hour a day for more vit D...or natural vit D.

VERY friendly, never bites, loves to snuggle, loves her mommy, loves to play running full speed jump on to the couch and race around it and then do it again. never climbs high, only once has che climbed a curtain, has never chewed furniture or anything but toys and bark.

thank you

[Spanky]

Have just gotten a small pen to take out 1 hour a day for more vit D...or natural vit D.

Be sure not to leave your squirrel in direct sunlight, they can suffer heat stroke more easily than most people would think and die. Be sure she always has a shady place to retreat to and get out of the sun! And access to water.

I will not be much help with the seizures, but my first thought on the lack of appetite but continuing to poop was also she may well have a stash somewhere.

[myheart]

Be sure not to leave your squirrel in direct sunlight, they can suffer heat stroke more easily than most people would think and die. Be sure she always has a shady place to retreat to and get out of the sun! And access to water.

I will not be much help with the seizures, but my first thought on the lack of appetite but continuing to poop was also she may well have a stash somewhere.

I was thinking of sitting under a tree with her in a small pen for an hour the first trip. i will be right next to her and its about 35 degrees here now. She isnt used to cold so i may start with 3o minutes and add 5 min a day.

thank you for your help...

peanuts mom

[myheart]

Thank you sooo much for doing so much for your sweet baby my first question would be how long has she not been eating, also, how old is she? My squirrel has not been eating much at all recently....she's "big" so I think maybe she's following her instincts...I think....from watching my wild's...that during the winter they will stuff themselves, then when they reach a certain point, they just chill. In the wild this would allow them to stay in their nest during the coldest days...and still be ok...also could she have nuts stashed? Have you checked? Maybe she has a little stash somewhere that she's nibbling on if she is still drinking normally, and still active...I wouldn't be as worried...I would watch her closely tho...hmm could the meds be affecting her appetite? Just a thought ...I know lots of meds can mess with appetite

Yes, the meds do affect appetite. Last night she ate, out of syringe, about 2 ml of formula. This morning she actually ate 4 mls of baby food peaches and about 8 mls of formula. So I am thrilled. She is up running her couch obstacle course. She will lay down soon for afternoon nap and at 5pm I will feed again and give meds and take out for her afternoon sunning. May do that part sooner

[Spanky]

I was thinking of sitting under a tree with her in a small pen for an hour the first trip. i will be right next to her and its about 35 degrees here now. She isnt used to cold so i may start with 3o minutes and add 5 min a day.

thank you for your help...

peanuts mom

I am glad she is starting to eat.

Regardless of the temperature, you should make sure she can get out of the direct sunlight. A place within her cage that she can retreat to to get out of the direct sunlight if needed.

Edit: Also, if she is eating her HHB, she is getting 100% of her Vitamin D needs.. That being said, I am not trying to discourage you from letting her have time in the sun, just wanting the proper precautions for your baby!

[LeilaNami]

My baby has seizures. I have gotten them 90% under control but 4 days ago she had a bad bout that last all night. Finally after upping her pheno to .20 they stopped. I have backed her back down to .15 and she has not had any more seizures. She is active...running around in the AM and in the afternoon, drinks water, refuses her usually loved formula, refuses her HH blocks, refuses any kind of nut even her hazel nuts which she loves, refuses veggies, refuses fruits. Ive tried to syringe feed her formula and she fights me and then lightly bites me which means back off.

Whats going on. Please someone help me ASAP. I feel like she must be starving to death. She isnt lethargic at all and I dont know how with not eating. Ive offered everything. Even ground up stuff and still wont eat. She is pooping still and i dont know how. Other then the eating she has no issues. i have a vet and she came out and said she thought it may be a blockage from something...toy wise....she ate. Then she saw her running around at high speed and said if it was a blockage she would not be doing that. She is stumped too. HELP PLEASE she is everything to me...the light in my life. she saved my life and i must save hers. i will do anything.

i just got a small pen to take her out for vit D. i already give her multi vit from henrys, calcium from the vet. what is wrong with her?????

thank you

Monitor her weight if you're worried. I also have an epileptic fuzzbutt that periodically goes through bouts of low appetite. The last time was for a week and now she's doing it again. I found her appetite loss was more due to hormones or medication adjustments than due to her seizures. Somehow, even though she didn't appear to eat anything at all, she still gained 0.1 lbs, has high energy, and poops regularly. When mine does this, I try to give avocado to stimulate her appetite. She will eat that even if nothing else.

Someone else with more knowledge might chime in, but your experience sounds very similar to mine. If anyone else knows why they can gain weight and poop without eating anything, I'd sure like to know. Drives me nuts.

[island rehabber]

I also have a seizure squirrel due to head trauma as a pinky
Her appetite is usually excellent, but after a seizure she won't touch a bite of anything for many hours. I try to get molasses water into her right afterwards if I can, and that seems to help perk up her appetite

[HRT4SQRLS]

Thanks for sounding in LeilaNami. I know that you are dealing with the same problem. You are one of only a handful that have a squirrel on seizure meds so your experience is very helpful.

Myheart, I really don't think your babies seizures are related to diet. You say she's a picky eater BUT the things she's eating are good. As Spanky said, the HHB's would supply all of the vitamins and minerals that she needs. The formula is an added bonus. When we see seizures related to diet (MBD) it's usually a squirrel that is eating almost no calcium. They are eating nuts and seeds (both high phosphorus foods) as the predominant part of the diet. That doesn't seem to be the case here.

Other causes of seizures are thing that really can't be 'fixed' without some type of meds. Head trauma or primary epilepsy would be other causes. We really don't know if your squirrel had head trauma as a baby but it is common for them to fall from a tree and hit their head.

I have a flyer that had seizures when he was young. Flyers do tend to be MORE prone to seizures than greys. I got him when he was 18 months old. With him I found that controlling the 'triggers' that caused his seizures was the answer. He was sensitive to light. When I controlled the light in his environment he stopped having seizures. He has been seizure free for over 3 years. Now he isn't as sensitive to light. He used to hide in his cube if the light was on in his room. It's usually NOT that simple. I was blessed.

I would recommend working with your vet. You are SO blessed to have a vet. Many here don't have a vet that will work with them. If the seizures continue it might require a change of meds. LeilaNami and Pixiepoo can share their experiences with different meds. You might want to ask your vet about having diazepam (Valium) on hand for emergency purposes. The night your baby had cluster seizure, the diazepam might have been helpful to break the seizure cluster. I would definitely ask the vet.

[LeilaNami]

Thanks for sounding in LeilaNami. I know that you are dealing with the same problem. You are one of only a handful that have a squirrel on seizure meds so your experience is very helpful.

...

I would recommend working with your vet. You are SO blessed to have a vet. Many here don't have a vet that will work with them. If the seizures continue it might require a change of meds. LeilaNami and Pixiepoo can share their experiences with different meds. You might want to ask your vet about having diazepam (Valium) on hand for emergency purposes. The night your baby had cluster seizure, the diazepam might have been helpful to break the seizure cluster. I would definitely ask the vet.

Will send a PM, too. Diazepam was initially prescribed to me before it was determined that the seizures were going to be a permanent issue and not transient. Diazepam is good for ending cluster seizures. If a seizure is going on too long than what is safe (talk to your vet about when that line is crossed), diazepam can also be administered rectally to interrupt it (talk to your vet to see if they recommend this first). If you can't get diazepam (or don't think you need/want it), a cold cloth on their back can sometimes snap them out of it. Some people use ice packs but I don't like how harsh it can be on the skin. It's also helpful for seizure aftercare because their body temperature rises from all the seizure activity.

[LeilaNami]

And to quickly clarify, ask your vet before doing anything. This is what works for me right now. It may or may not be good for your squirrel (for example, a cool cloth might stress her out further rather than help).