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Date Posted: Sunday, August 15, 12:18:22am
Author: Mariette
Subject: Re: Help!
In reply to: Alice 's message, "Help!" on Saturday, August 14, 10:46:39pm

>I dont know much about fs because I've just aquired one myself but from a vet tech position I'd try giving her some pedialite or light sugar water for liquid and mabey some esbalic for food till she feels better. Or even if she'll eat it some babyfood. As long as she gets some liquid type substance so she wont dehydrate. I dont know what type of meds she can have. Make sure she's going to the bathroom and help her if she isnt by rubbing her belly or anel area to stimulate. Hopefully it's a passing viral thing. Mine is acting strange to but as long as he is eating and drinking I feel better about the sinereo. Good luck Hope more people can help.
>I need help. My flyer (Roxy) is doing very bad. I've
>had her for a year and a half. A friend found her, as
>a baby, in a dog's mouth. The friend gave her to me to
>rehabilitate. She did survive, but she has never
>matured--She still looks like a baby. She's small, has
>a young face, and isn't flying (nor has she ever
>seemed strong enough to do so). At first I thought
>that maybe she was runt, but she keeps getting weaker.
>She is now very frail, staggering when she walks, and
>losing hair all over. I started to supply Roxy with a
>lot of vitamin and calcium supplements, that get mixed
>in with her food. She doesn't like the taste of the
>supplements in her food, so she won't eat. I don't
>know what to do. I live in New Hampshire and I can't
>find a flying squirrel vet anywhere. Does anyone have
>any idea what could be happening? I need help please!
>I love my flyer and I don't want to lose her.

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Replies:

[> Re: Help! -- Leah, Sunday, August 15, 10:41:39am

When did you start supplying Roxy with vitamins and how much are you using? Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) can be caused by too little calcium, and also by too much calcium. If she has gotten too little calcium, I would get some L&M Animal Farms Liquid Multi-Vitamins and direct dose her, rather than adding calcium to her food at this point. In addition to making sure she is getting fluids - very, very important that she isn't dehydrated first of all - I would get some Nutri-Cal from the pet store to feed her ASAP. I will email you directly and copy another flyer owner who has experience with direct-dosing vitamins in emergency situations so you can have all the details.

[Edit]
[> [> Roxy may indeed be suffering from MBD if her diet all along has ... -- Beverly, Sunday, August 15, 01:27:07pm

(Roxy may indeed be suffering from MBD if her diet all along has ...) not included a source of Vitamin D3. With severral cases that presented similar symptoms, the flyer benefited greatly by directly dosing the flyer with a liquid multi-vitamin, such as L&M Animal Farms Daily Multivitamin. I used 3 drops, placed directly on the flyer's muzzle cleft, 3 times a day, for up to 10 days. I did not use any calcium supplements - indeed, the 'usual' problem is not that the flyer is not getting calcium in its diet, it's that the flyer is not exposed to natural sunlight, and thus cannot metabolise the calcium it does get. Roxy's symptoms sound quite bad - in the cases I've known, the problem is spotted before there are as severe or as many symptoms as Roxy is showing. I would take the 'it can't hurt to try' attitude, at this point, if I were you, and I would start Roxy on the vitamins. If she's so weak that she is not eating or drinking, you may have to start her with an ounce of Pedialyte with one drop of the vitamins, and give her just this for a day. You can also buy Espilac, and once she seems to be hydrated, you can add some of the powder to the Pedialyte, and use it. I would probably use a 3 parts Pedialyte with vits to 1 part Espilac, to start, for a day or two, and then up the Espilac until you have a 2:1 ratio. I would still dose the vitamins - perhaps use 2 drops instead of 3, since the Espilac also has vitamins. Mostly, all I can do is wish you both well, and hope for the best outcome. It's really not possible to diagnos a problem without a good history on the flyer - and even with a daily diary of exactly what the flyer has been doing for the last two years does not mean a certain diagnosis - it just means a better guess, in most cases. Flyers are hearty, when they get enough of a varied diet to stay healthy, but they fail quickly, when their system has been compromised. Good luck, Alice& Roxy.

>When did you start supplying Roxy with vitamins and
>how much are you using? Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD)
>can be caused by too little calcium, and also by too
>much calcium. If she has gotten too little calcium, I
>would get some L&M Animal Farms Liquid Multi-Vitamins
>and direct dose her, rather than adding calcium to her
>food at this point. In addition to making sure she is
>getting fluids - very, very important that she isn't
>dehydrated first of all - I would get some Nutri-Cal
>from the pet store to feed her ASAP. I will email you
>directly and copy another flyer owner who has
>experience with direct-dosing vitamins in emergency
>situations so you can have all the details.

[Edit]
[> [> Re: Help! -- Cathy, Sunday, August 15, 05:39:36pm

Alice,

I have treated a flyer with MDB, with much help from Leah and Beverly. Do exactly as they are saying! Get those liquid vitamins into Roxy directly, even if she resists or bites you. I would add that you should get a calcium block (like a beak block for birds) and put it where Roxy will definately have access to it. The flyer I treated had a block in her cage, but didn't use it because it was too far from her nest box. When it was moved next to her food dish she started using it much more.

Good luck to you... please keep us posted.

Cathy

[Edit]

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