worried about 5 mo old Jeffrey
I rescued a baby squirrel that fell from a tree at the end of April. I first posted here two months ago and have since been reading many of the threads. Two months ago, I asked about releasing Jeffrey, and I was told it was too early and that I should buy the Henry's blocks. Following directions, I stopped letting Jeffrey outside, started offering the blocks, and built a soft release cage. All has seemed to go well. But I am paranoid about calcium. I'm afraid that Jeffrey does not get enough, even though I am trying. He rejects many of the higher calcium greens and is slow to eat the blocks on some days. I do not know if the small signs I'm seeing now are related to calcium or not, so that is why I am posting now.
Sometime in the last 1 1/2 weeks, I noticed some wetness around his left eye. I searched the forums here for eye problems and only found a few things related to MBD - scary! Jeffrey's activity levels seemed fine, and I just tried to be even more vigilant with the diet, just in case. One week ago, we moved Jeffrey to his soft release cage in our wooded suburban yard. After about 4 days, he seemed sad to me. I had only been feeding him and not interacting, playing with him, etc. After a night with a storm, Jeffrey seemed distressed, so I decided to get in the cage with him (it's 6' x 4' x 3'). He seemed relieved to petted again, and he played quite a bit. I'm pretty sure that getting in the soft release cage is not how the pros do it! But I couldn't help it. This interaction, repeated for the last couple of evenings, though, has increased my worry. I can see his eye very well, and it still looks wet. Despite his playing on the first evening when I entered the cage, he has played less on subsequent nights and prefers to rest in my hands and be petted.
Yesterday, I decided to bring Jeffrey back in the house so that I could see how he acted in a more familiar environment. For the time I had him inside, he seemed like his old self, running around, leaping from chair to chair, and climbing as high as possible. At that point, I thought I was just being paranoid, so I returned him to the cage outside. That is when Jeffrey's first big adventure began. He got away from me as I tried to get him back into the cage (I was taking far too much for granted and being sloppy), and he climbed into the trees near his cage. He ended up spending the night (complete with brief storm) in them - I couldn't get him back. Around 8 am, I got him to come back to me, and he seemed tired from it all. He slept much of the day. This evening, I visited him again, and he is back to the sluggish behavior, just laying in my hand and making a few sounds as I pet him.
Sorry for the long story - and thanks for reading this far. Do you think the behavior is just the fact that he is getting adjusted to the soft release cage? Or do you think that the moisture around the eye is a problem I need to address? This evening, I decided to give him a Tums just in case, while I wrote this post. I took a couple of pictures - the best is of the eye that has no problem, and, unfortunately, the more blurry ones are of the eye with the problem. In the pictures, it mainly looks like an irregular shape around the eye because the fur is flatted with the wetness. Thank you for any advice you have for Jeffrey and me.
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Originally Posted by nrvmeg
