Multiple Questions - personality change, slow/lethargic, getting clumsy, losing fur

[Jordan_Fish]

Hey, all. I first want to state that not all of the issues in my forum title are related, and after reading these forums for hours, I'm seeing some of them are completely normal. Quick overview of my situation:

I rescued a squirrel from a stray cat last year. I'm guessing she was that year's spring litter, making her about 3-4 months old when I saved her. She is almost a year old now (maybe 10-11 months) assuming my initial assumption was correct about her age when I saved her. We have sugar gliders in my home that DO NOT get along with the squirrel. We made a few attempts to introduce the two, but the sugar gliders are very territorial, and drove the squirrel away. Trixie (name of my squirrel) stayed in a cage that was about 3ft tall, 2.5 feet wide, and 1.5 feet deep for about 5 months. My wife stayed home during most of this time, so she got plenty of time outside of the cage through the day. I recently (within the last month) built her a new cage that is 6 feet tall, 6 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. It is made of wood and standard caging (metal wire with 1/4 inch spacing) that you would see for rabbits or some other small critters. Her diet is a mixture of fruits, veggies, and nuts. She doesn't have weight issues and her feces is normal.

1. After just a few months, she started getting bald spots. It started on the base of her tail, but now are on her legs. The bald spots on her tail have already regrown. Based on other posts, this appears to be normal (malting I guess?). There are no sores. I can post photos if needed.
2. She recently started becoming hostile towards my wife. I primarily care for her, as you all probably know, casual playtime with a squirrel can be very painful because of their sharp nails. I always look as though I've been mauled by a bear! I've read posts that this can be normal for squirrels approaching the one year mark. Based on other posts, it seems like Trixie may also be going into heat?
3. We have not had to groom her nails for a few weeks, as the new metal cage appears to be doing that for us. She does need them trimmed now, but before this cage, we cut them almost once a week just to get the points down. It has been about a months since we trimmed them. Her nails are shorter than they used to be, but the point is still very much there. While on the subject of her feet, the pads on both the front and back started peeling the last few days. I won't have a photo of this now, as it's already all peeled. No blood, no sores, no cuts. Just the outer layer of skin on the pads peeled off.
4. She seems to be losing her balance and coordination more. We have plenty of videos of her playing where she jumps very far, very fast, and doesn't have issues. Now, she sometimes jumps too short on small gaps, and hits her face/head. She has even fallen off my shoulders a few times. Sometimes, she won't even land on her feet. This particular issue is one that scares me the most. At first, I thought she was losing her balance and falling off my shoulder due to her shorter finger nails. The more she falls and misses her jumps, the more worried I get.
5. She has been much more docile the last few days. This was great at first, but now I'm getting worried. Prior to about a month ago, if she was out of her cage, then she wanted to run. Now she'll come straight out of the cage and fall asleep in my arms. I really REALLY like this, but I'm afraid it is a symptom of a bigger problem. In general, she has been sleeping a lot more lately. A change worth mentioning: about a month ago, my wife started a job where she is out of the house a lot. My squirrel is now home alone from about 12:00 noon - 7:30pm when I a get home. My first order of business is to get her out of the cage and have some play time. This is also when she gets her not-dry food. She gets a lot of grapes, cucumber, blueberries, nuts (variety of types), and veggies. In her cage is always an abundance of nuts and we got her some deer antler to chew on. I've been told this has a good bit of calcium.

Finally, due to our schedules, she does not get much sunlight. We have her cage a few feet from a window, but in the winter months, it's dark before I get home. We have taken her outside a few times (no leash, she hates harnesses), but I only do it during daylight hours.

I apologize for the length of this post, but I figured it would be best to get it all out of the way rather than create multiple posts. Let me know if any photos will help

I'm really hoping you guys can help me out!

[Spanky]

The diet seems to be an issue. It should be lots (mostly) of veggies, some fruit and nuts as treats... like how often you'd give a toddler cotton candy. And rodent / squirrel block.. which seems to be missing completely?

I fear she has Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) and you should start treatment (it will not hurt if she does not have MBD but can save her life if she does)...
http://www.henryspets.com/emergency-treatment-for-mbd/

We need to have a full listing of her diet, what she eats every day? All the symptoms (except the issue of her hoitility towards others... which is normal, squirrels are one person kind of animals) are indicative of MBD... fur, coordination, lethargy, etc.

[Jordan_Fish]

The veggies she gets ALMOST on a daily basis are:
Spinach (raw)
Lettuce (Iceberg)
Carrots (usually raw)
Green Beans (usually raw, but occasionally from a can - she doesn't really eat much of either kind)
Cucumber (this is the only one she eats pretty much every day. This was more than half of her diet for months because it's what she seemed to like the most - we dialed it back and gave her other stuff not knowing better)
Avocado - occasionally
Broccoli - occasionally

Fruits are:
Grapes (Red and green. This is EVERY day. Probably close to 40% of her diet because it's the only thing she consistently eats)
Watermelon - This is only about once a week, and she typically only wants the rind
Mango - sometimes including the peal

Nuts/seeds:
Walnuts
Peanuts (shelled and un-shelled)
Cashews - not many
Hazelnuts
Brazilian Nuts
Sunflower seeds - standard and black.

After these issues started to come up, we did some research and decided she needed more veggies, so we just started giving her the following veggies as well:
Collard Greens - raw
Mustard Greens - raw
Asparagus - raw - she didn't seem very interested.

We also bought some dry food that she wants nothing to do with, and a bone thing (can't remember what it's called) that people typically give to birds that has a bunch of calcium in it. Also, my wife did give her a chunk of a Tums earlier after reading up a bit. Her suspicions were the same. She actually nibbled on it a little bit, but I'll load some into a dropper and make sure she gets it tonight.

The last few days, she hasn't had much of an appetite. She has really only had a few nuts and a few grapes. She ate a good bit of one of the big Mustard Green leaves we gave her, but that's about it. I'm not sure if it's related, but she did tear a big chunk out of a Mango pit around the same time her appetite went away. We didn't realize until today that they shouldn't have really any kind of pit. Could that cause any of the issues we are seeing?

Overall, there is no set diet I could provide, because we don't give her the same things every day. We still kind of experiment to see what she will and won't eat. When we find something she likes, we stick with it in addition to other things we found that she likes. The big list I gave at the beginning here are just the things we give her sometimes, not all the time. We kind of jump around week to week. We will buy some squirrel block from the henryspets website ASAP.

Thank you very much for your prompt response!

There was only one point that you didn't mention from my original post. The pads of her feet peeled over the last few days. Is this normal? Could the new metal wire cage be too rough on her feet? We added a bunch of extra fleece shelving to her cage yesterday so she wouldn't have to clime it as much.

[HRT4SQRLS]

I agree with Spanky. The statement 'abundance of nuts' is a huge problem. The deer antler IS a good source of calcium but that's only if she chews it and frankly there no way she can get enough calcium from the antler to balance out all those nuts. Nuts and seeds are high phosphorus foods. The body will attempt to balance out the calcium deficit created by the nuts by pulling calcium from the bones. This is a hallmark of Metabolic Bones Disease. Brittle bones are just one of the problems associated with MBD. Aggression can be caused by many things but it might be due to pain. MBD is painful. The next symptoms in the progression of MBD is hind end paralysis and seizures.

I would definitely pay attention to the symptoms that are concerning you. I would change the diet STAT. The nuts have to go. I would start the MBD protocol.

Let me get the link for the Healthy diet.

The good news is that this can be reversed.

[HRT4SQRLS]

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/s...-Pet-Squirrels


http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/a...7&d=1232419601

The top link is the Healthy diet for pet squirrels. The second link is the calcium : phosphorus ratio of different foods. The body needs 2 parts of calcium to 1 part of phosphorus. (2:1) The best foods are those that have a 2:1 ratio of calcium to phosphorus. Example: kale is excellent.... Sunflower seeds are terrible... pine nuts are horrible. This chart will help you determine the best foods in terms of calcium.


Yes, the mango pit is a problem. Most pits are poisonous. EDIT...A quick search seems to indicate that mango pit isn't as toxic as other pits but there can be allergic reaction because it has one of the same oils as poison ivy. Just based on that I wouldn't allow that again.

[Mel1959]

The ingestion of the mango pit could be a problem, too. It may be toxic like avocado pits. I'm not sure the skin of mangoes is ok for squirrels to eat, but it might be. We have plenty of mango trees near where we live, and I'm sure no one is peeling the skin off before they eat them.

The concern about MBD is very valid. It sounds like she gets lots of sugary fruits (grapes) and lots of nuts, but not a lot of nutritionally good food. It's going to require tough love to get her to change her diet. You have got to be strong and only offer the good food. If you order some blocks from Henrys I'd recommend the picky eater ones. Once you place the order, clean out all the stashes of nuts in her cage. Offer healthy veggies while your waiting for the block to arrive. She may not consume much of the veggies and will be ready to eat the block when it arrives.

You should follow the MBD protocol now.

[Jordan_Fish]

Thank you all very much! My wife and I got some more of the crushed up TUM in her and she seems to be acting a lot better already! I also ordered some of the blocks from Henry's, so hopefully we will have them soon. I cleaned out her stash of nuts as well. I will keep everyone posted on how she is doing. Thanks again!

[Mel1959]

If it is the beginnings of MBD you will need to continue the calcium for a while. It takes some time to replenish the calcium in the bones. I'm glad you are seeing a difference.