squirrel calcium

Question
We were raising an orphaned baby squirrel for release, but unfortunately we were not feeding her enough calcium.  She developed a folding fracture in her pelvis.  One day she was running around and jumping, and the next day she couldn't move her back leg.  We took her to a vet, who diagnosed the fracture as being on the left side of her pelvis, and gave her a calcium injection and some liquid calcium supplement (Neo-Calglucon.)  She is not supposed to climb or jump for awhile, according to the vet.
We had been giving her lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, acorns, etc., but she was apparently getting too many nuts, and too much corn.
She is a very sweet squirrel, and we want her to have a good "squirrel life," but we realize how little we actually know about squirrel nutrition and re-habbing.   The re-habbers had been flooded with "hurricane squirrels" (squirrels displaced during the fall hurricanes), and could not take her.
We have a couple of questions:
What is the best way to keep her confined without inhibiting her movement too much?  The vet suggested a sweater box, but she climbed out of that pretty quickly, and we do not want her injury to worsen, so we have her in a deep container with room enough for her to go back and forth without jumping or climbing.  
What should we feed her? I'm assuming that we should limit acorns, pecans, almonds, and sunflower seeds.
I read where Science Diet for Dogs was good.  Do you recommend that?  
A squirrel re-habber suggested getting some tree limbs with green moss or algae that she can gnaw on, and we did that.  She seemed to like it.  I also put some cuttle bone in her enclosure, and she gnawed on that a bit.
Should we give her something for pain, like homeopathic remedies?  I saw where someone did that, but I had been totally unaware of that possibility.
She took the calcium at first, but now she will not eat anything with that on it, and she really doesn't want to take the syringe, even when we put honey on it. We gave her some of the liquid calcium supplement in an avocado, thinking she would go for that, but she didn't.
She's an amazing little creature, and we want to do all the right things, but there is so much to raising a little wild squirrel.  I'm realizing how complicated the process can be.  Thank God that we got a reprieve and she wasn't already dying when we found the problem.
Can you please help us formulate the best diet, treatment, and rehab situation for us?
Thank you.


Answer
Yes squirrels are prone to developing MBD, or metabolic bone disease from well meaning but uninformed people that try and keep them for pets.

I honestly didn't know about this problem in squirrels and I have been rehabbing them for release for over 20 yrs. Why didn't I know about it?
Because I use Nurtureall for all my orphans and then wean them to a diet close to what they would have out in the wild until they are released at 16-18 weeks old.
http://www.vpl.com/press_release_images/Nuturall_C_LiquidGroup.jpg
http://www.calvetsupply.com/browseproducts/Puppy-Nurturall-C---Fortified-with-Co...

That is an image of the products. We use ONLY the puppy replacement on baby squirrels.

Since she is eating you need to find a balance of nuts, minerals and veggies for her. Stop the lettuce for one thing. It has no nutritional value for her. I gave my squirrels branches from fruit trees, lichens, (oak branches with lichen work best), chopped apples, whole walnuts, whole almonds (we are talking in the shell) and sometimes a hazelnut.
I also gave them broccoli, carrots, grapes now and then, chopped yellow squash, and little bits of whole wheat bread. The nuts and veggies provide protein but in quantities that were in balance with phosphorus and calcium.

Neo-Calglucon is hard to give, I know. Some people put it in little peanut butter balls. Once a day with this won't hurt her. Peanuts that are roasted and unsalted are also ok, but in small amounts. You said she got too many nuts but you didn't say what kind. In my research it is sunflower seeds that can really cause a problem with MBD, so do NOT give her any more of those at all. Pecans are a bit rich too, but once in a while in the shell they are fine. Bigger cooked beef bones are preferable to cuttle bone. Squirrels and mice both eat these (deer of course not beef) in the wild for the calcium. They are not cooked, but dried from years of exposure. So cooking them does the same thing. Get her a big tibia bone. That will make her happy and is more balanced then a cuttle bone.


I have never in twenty yrs had this problem so it is a bit harder for me to tell you what else to do. I am not sure she will eat the dog food, but it is worth trying. Hold off on any other nuts until she is eating the dog food. Then give her WHOLE nuts. They need the shell to learn HOW to crack them open in the wild. They do eat tons of pine nuts and they are hard as rocks so I trained mine to eat those by giving them english walnuts whole. When they could open a walnut in record time they were ready to be released.

Science Diet puppy growth would also be good for her. It has a proper  calcium/phos ratio that is made to help puppies grow strong without the bone overgrowth that causes problems with their hips later on. Use the regular puppy growth, not the large breed as it has a smaller amount of the ratio for large breeds.

I think whatever you can confine her in that she can't jump in is fine. Make sure she cannot get out of it. Make sure she doesn't eat cardboard also or have any material in her box that has strings on it.

I don't know how old this girl is so if you can tell me that and if you have any other questions please write me back.
I hope this helps and that she does really well.