rapid breathing

[wheezer]

A friend of mine (a licensed rehabber) has a baby grey who has been doing well until this afternoon. She is about 7 weeks, weighs 210 grams. She usually rehabs mostly raccoons so she is not as familiar with squirrels.
She said she is feeding Esbilac 12 to 15 cc's five to six times aday. She ate fine this am at 9 but at 1pm she refused and she said she has rapid breathing.
I haven't raised squirrels in 3 years and am "rusty" so I am asking advice here.
I was thinking maybe she is feeding too much. She just tried again at 4pm and she is still refusing. She is awake and is having the rapid breathing. She lives about 20 miles from me so I haven't seen how exactly the squirrel is breathing. Sounded like it isn't constantly breathing rapidly. Like normal for a few breaths then some rapid. Maybe she is bloated?
Any suggestions?

[island rehabber]

She is about 7 weeks, weighs 210 grams. She usually rehabs mostly raccoons so she is not as familiar with squirrels.
She said she is feeding Esbilac 12 to 15 cc's five to six times aday. ?

wheezer at first glance it appears she is feeding too much and too often. Going by the 5% rule, a 210g squirrel should get is about 10.5cc's per feeding. Although that is a minimum and you can feed a bit more without danger, 15ccs would be too much. Also at 7 weeks I would go four to five feedings per day, vs five to six. She may be bloated, in which case your friend should not feed her anything else until the bloat goes down. If she is severely bloated simethicone will help.

There is another possibility I've experienced: something new like a weird noise, a weird smell, or a new person can make some squirrels 'freeze' for an inordinate length of time. They will breathe very rapidly at the same time they are 'frozen'. I actually had a squirrel do this for two hours and I was sure she was going to die on me.....it was the sound of my dishwasher. I hope this helps --

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

It could also be the beginning signs of pneumonia. One of my squirrels did that to me and I didn't think anything of it then she refused her formula and was VERY lethargic. I decided to start her on sulphatrim and sure enough her breathing was slower the next day and she started getting more active and after about a day and a half started sucking her milk down good. I just always listened for the clicking with pneumonia and she didn't have it so I didn't catch it right away. If the squirrel doesn't start eating better after a few more feedings and isn't bloated, I would put him on antibiotics.

[wheezer]

Thanks so much

Her husband was using a nail gun earlier too that may have scared her as well.
One more question... Is there a limit to the amounts to feed? I seem to remember that 12-15 cc's was a limit as they should be weaning themselves
at about that weight (250 to 300 grams)

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

My maximum stomach capacity chart says they can hold 5-8% of their body weight. I usually don't go over 12 ccs though because they will fill up on the milk then and not eat their regular food.

[wheezer]

It could also be the beginning signs of pneumonia. One of my squirrels did that to me and I didn't think anything of it then she refused her formula and was VERY lethargic. I decided to start her on sulphatrim and sure enough her breathing was slower the next day and she started getting more active and after about a day and a half started sucking her milk down good. I just always listened for the clicking with pneumonia and she didn't have it so I didn't catch it right away. If the squirrel doesn't start eating better after a few more feedings and isn't bloated, I would put him on antibiotics.

Thanks, I too thought of this and she has amoxi but nothing else so she was prepared to give this if it wasn't bloat.
This board is AWESOME!!

[Abacat]

My first thought too is aspiration pneumonia...I agree with SR&B2, if the appetite doesn't pick up, I'd go for the antibiotics. How's the tummy feel? How's the poops look? That would help indicate if it's bloat...Good Luck!

[TexanSquirrel]

Good luck with her!

[wheezer]

I just talked to my friend and the little squirrel, "Samantha" seems to be acting more normal so hopefully it was just bloat!

Thank you all so very much

[anneke]

In my never ending effort to learn more, this discussion generates a question for me.....In dogs, bloat is a life threatening veterinary emergency. Are we talking about the same condition in squirrels?

[island rehabber]

In my never ending effort to learn more, this discussion generates a question for me.....In dogs, bloat is a life threatening veterinary emergency. Are we talking about the same condition in squirrels?

Bloat can be life-threatening in squirrels, too. It doesn't necessarily require a vet, however, if it's detected early enough. Witholding foods from the bloated squirrel, massaging the sides and belly, and even a teeny bit of simethicone (Gas-X or the like) will usually help the squirrel recover. Unfortunately, poor feeding techniques by humans cause bloat in squirrels -- bubbles in the syringe, overfeeding, feeding too fast or too often. My book says bloat in squirrels does NOT occur in the wild.

[Loopy Squirrel]

Bloat in squirrels can be very dangerous as stated before. The biggest problem w/ dogs is not only is there trapped air in the belly but the stomach can turn & twist cutting off any way for the air to pass. That's when they have to do emergency surgery to put the stomach back in place and tie it down so it won't turn again. I really don't know if that can happen in squirrels but I am suspect. Has anyone ever had what looked like dots of milk in the belly or something that looks like a broken ribbon in the milk line of small babies. I have often wondered if that was intestines twisting. A friend of mine had a very small pinkie squirrel do this and she did eventually die. I have had the milk currdle in the stomach and cause a blockage. Actually the vet gave me some good advice about how to help pass the currdled milk. Here I was expecting some scientific or special med answer and she says lets try a little coca-cola and see if that works to break down the undigested milk. She wanted something acidic but not too harsh. Well, the coke worked. It was the simplest and craziest thing I've tried. Thanks doc!

[anneke]

Thanks for the clarification. Makes more sense now.

[wheezer]

Just as an update on this squirrel. I now have her to raise and release
See "guess what I have" thread for pics