skunk owners, i need your help - how to get a skunk to eat

[Lucy_]

I wouldnt have thought that a half frozen chick would do him any harm at all... There shouldnt be anything in a frozen one that is going to harm him.. But as sparkle said, maybe get a sample and take it to the vets to see if he has some sort of poisoning from it being 1/2 defrosted... and to check for salmonella etc?

Has he been wormed/flead? As this is important, more so when feeding chicks because of the crap that they eat when picking food up from the floors, they can ingest anything. Freezing them should technically 'kill off' any germs etc, but they are still going to be remaining.

What did the vet give him a dose of, as in what medicine did they administer to him? Are they 100% that what they gave him is safe...?

When you are giving him the mealies, gutload them with some thing like viat skunk, sa-37, nutrobal/calcium etc so that they are full of nutrients, this way, even if he isnt eating anything else then at least he is getting additional nutrients from the mealies being gutloaded.
Try him on a mix of tuna, cot cheese, boiled chicken and egg... when Bam had her OD she wasnt eating at all for about 3 weeks so the vets suggested giving her a mixture of the above to help fatten her up and get her back onto eating solids... (this mix is in no way means, something that they should be fed constantly! Its simply a mix that can help along with the feeding process to get back onto a normal diet)

Hope this helps

Lucy x

[xXFooFooLaFluffXx]

Originally Posted by Lucy_

I wouldnt have thought that a half frozen chick would do him any harm at all... There shouldnt be anything in a frozen one that is going to harm him.. But as sparkle said, maybe get a sample and take it to the vets to see if he has some sort of poisoning from it being 1/2 defrosted... and to check for salmonella etc?

Has he been wormed/flead? As this is important, more so when feeding chicks because of the crap that they eat when picking food up from the floors, they can ingest anything. Freezing them should technically 'kill off' any germs etc, but they are still going to be remaining.

What did the vet give him a dose of, as in what medicine did they administer to him? Are they 100% that what they gave him is safe...?

When you are giving him the mealies, gutload them with some thing like viat skunk, sa-37, nutrobal/calcium etc so that they are full of nutrients, this way, even if he isnt eating anything else then at least he is getting additional nutrients from the mealies being gutloaded.
Try him on a mix of tuna, cot cheese, boiled chicken and egg... when Bam had her OD she wasnt eating at all for about 3 weeks so the vets suggested giving her a mixture of the above to help fatten her up and get her back onto eating solids... (this mix is in no way means, something that they should be fed constantly! Its simply a mix that can help along with the feeding process to get back onto a normal diet)

Hope this helps

Lucy x

hiya lucy. he was wormed about 6 weeks ago, ive given him some more wormer, he hasnt been flead recently though i would need to check the last time he was.

the vet gave him metacam. i said that i had been told it isnt safe giving to skunks, so the vet went off to research, and found that on striped bandits it said dont give to your skunk, though it didnt say why. And that she rung her american friend who deals with skunks and she gives metacam to hers. Also when dom had his op he had metacam and that did no harm to him what so ever.
the vet said there is no reasonin what so ever that she can find as to why metacam isnt safe for skunks, and that its probably come from someones skunk dyin who had recently had metacam, and theyre blamin the meds for the death, when it might not be the case.

he continues to eat meal worm but nothing else, offered cottage cheese and bio yoghurt. he has yet to go to the toilet
Lucy can you pm me payment details so i can send you some money, will need to get some vita skunk from you.

he is booked back into the vet today at 6, so i think ill get him to x ray etc. i cant take a fecal sample to be tested if he isnt passin any

[Shell195]

Originally Posted by xXFooFooLaFluffXx

hiya lucy. he was wormed about 6 weeks ago, ive given him some more wormer, he hasnt been flead recently though i would need to check the last time he was.

the vet gave him metacam. i said that i had been told it isnt safe giving to skunks, so the vet went off to research, and found that on striped bandits it said dont give to your skunk, though it didnt say why. And that she rung her american friend who deals with skunks and she gives metacam to hers. Also when dom had his op he had metacam and that did no harm to him what so ever.
the vet said there is no reasonin what so ever that she can find as to why metacam isnt safe for skunks, and that its probably come from someones skunk dyin who had recently had metacam, and theyre blamin the meds for the death, when it might not be the case.

he continues to eat meal worm but nothing else, offered cottage cheese and bio yoghurt. he has yet to go to the toilet
Lucy can you pm me payment details so i can send you some money, will need to get some vita skunk from you.

he is booked back into the vet today at 6, so i think ill get him to x ray etc. i cant take a fecal sample to be tested if he isnt passin any

Its all very worrying Cat, fingers crossed the vets can find out the cause so they can treat him successfully
(((Big Hugs)))

[felix93]

I hope you get Dom sorted soon. Fingers crossed.

Regarding the metacam, I have mentioned this to my herp vet the other night because I was trying to get my new skunk vaccinated with the dogs jab (or may be cats jab) and he said he would call the company to ask again. But he has given to the skunks he treated after they were being sprayed and no side effect. The dogs and the cats metacam is different, so may be that's the different reaction? Like rabbits cannot be given the dogs metacam because they are too strong etc.

[xXFooFooLaFluffXx]

Originally Posted by felix93

I hope you get Dom sorted soon. Fingers crossed.

Regarding the metacam, I have mentioned this to my herp vet the other night because I was trying to get my new skunk vaccinated with the dogs jab (or may be cats jab) and he said he would call the company to ask again. But he has given to the skunks he treated after they were being sprayed and no side effect. The dogs and the cats metacam is different, so may be that's the different reaction? Like rabbits cannot be given the dogs metacam because they are too strong etc.

on striped bandits it says skunks CAN NOT have baytril or metacam. it has been directly related to deaths and causes liver failure, and massive organ failure follows. Though our vet says there is no reason why it would be more harmful to skunks than anything else and that a woman she spoke to in america uses it with her skunks with no ill effect?

ive also found a reading list for drugs used in skunks and it says baytil has been used before in skunks. metacam isnt on this list,though thats not to say it hasnt been used successfully
http://www.rdwarf.com/pipermail/skun...attachment.pdf

also some info here about skunk care and drugs etc
http://rcsanimalcare.com/images/PDF/...unks%20Pt2.pdf

back to dom

hes been to the vet again, runnin about the vets room but wouldnt eat his mealies. again vet cannot find any blockage etc but his temp is a bit low again so he has been given a course of anti biotic injections nisamox, as the vet said a low temp could be a result of a toxin infection. He said that it is safe to use and there is no information anywhere that would say otherwise. lets hope this helps. will be contacting again monday if hes not made a vast imrovement

[LoveForLizards]

Would it be worth getting some Nutri-cal for him? It's always proved worthy for us and got everything and anything eating when we used it. It's cheap for what it is and you can get it on next day free delivery from Hyper drug.

[xXFooFooLaFluffXx]

Originally Posted by LoveForLizards

Would it be worth getting some Nutri-cal for him? It's always proved worthy for us and got everything and anything eating when we used it. It's cheap for what it is and you can get it on next day free delivery from Hyper drug.

any chance you could pm me a link to where to get some from megan pleasE?

[LoveForLizards]

Done.

[Merifield]

The bones in a chick wont cause any problems... They are soft.
Donna

[xXFooFooLaFluffXx]

Originally Posted by Merifield

The bones in a chick wont cause any problems... They are soft.
Donna

its not the bones that im worried about, the fact that it was half frozen is what is whats worryin me

on a positive note ive just caught dom eatin a piece of pepper nd a small piece of cheese. lets see if he will eat some of the other stuff offered.

i also found some poop today too, very black due to the mealies but at least its there! never been so happy to see poop in all my life! lol