Suckling on Brothers, Ingested urine?!?!

[Andrew743]

Hello Everyone,

About two weeks ago i was brought a litter of 3 baby gray squirrels someone found in their attic. They brought them to me from NYC and too much time had gone by to try and reunite them with their mother.

. They have been doing awesome until about 2 hours ago . THe smallest of the bunch is sluggish and seems to have lost his appetite. I have him caught suckling on his brothers and just a few minutes ago when it was time for feeding i found him suckling again and covered in urine. I assume he has ingested some urine and am wondering if this is the cause of his sluggish movements and lack of appetite. He has runny bowel movements but not too bad. THis is his 3rd feeding but, he ate really well this morning a little less at the second feeding, and this feeding he took about 3 ccs and that quite weakly, unusual since he is such an eager feeder.

They are reaching the 5 week mark, as they are getting all their fur, and eyes seem like they are going to open any day now.

He now weighs about 83 grams he originally weighed about 42 when i first got him. he has been drinking 5 ccs at every feeding for the past week with no problem.

I have bactrim on hand. 800 mg. left over meds.

Please advise! should i be worried? should i give some antibiotics if so how much?

Should i keep trying to feed him through out the night or just keep an eye on him and hope his appetite increases in the morning?

[Andrew743]

<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o524/angel1374/?action=view&amp;current=photo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o524/angel1374/photo.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Taken last night: I was in the process of shredding tissue paper they seem to enjoy being covered and having something things to move and dig through

[Jackie in Tampa]

HI Andrew

we are here to help you help your babies..
I am not the best with sugar and spice wording...
sooooooooooo.
please replace that fake snow stuff with fleece or tee shirts..
that is inferior decoration junk...
who knows what it is ...ty

The sucking can be addressed by feeding less formula..MORE OFTEN..
in general, feeding 5-7% of their body weight is advised...
From their size, I would be feeding them a minimum of 5ccs and possibly 7cc every 4-6 hours.
eyes open at 4.5 weeks in southern greys.
Your guys need to be still on additional heat..
place container half on heating pad set on low...ck and make sure it's not hot, only a fist sized warm spot.

What formula are you feeding?
this is a possibility why you are seeing diarhea..

have you seen the stickys...lots of practical info in them..
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/f...splay.php?f=87

keep us in the loop, sorry about all the questions..

[Flo]

Andrew . if you need I can give you some fox valley quickly, if you can come to NYC to pick up ( east village ) . And maybe a better seringe adapted to their age and a nipple for seringe .
I give you my e mail adress by MP

[lilidukes]

HI Andrew

we are here to help you help your babies..
I am not the best with sugar and spice wording...
sooooooooooo.
please replace that fake snow stuff with fleece or tee shirts..
that is inferior decoration junk...
who knows what it is ...ty

The sucking can be addressed by feeding less formula..MORE OFTEN..
in general, feeding 5-7% of their body weight is advised...
From their size, I would be feeding them a minimum of 5ccs and possibly 7cc every 4-6 hours.
eyes open at 4.5 weeks in southern greys.
Your guys need to be still on additional heat..
place container half on heating pad set on low...ck and make sure it's not hot, only a fist sized warm spot.

What formula are you feeding?
this is a possibility why you are seeing diarhea..

have you seen the stickys...lots of practical info in them..
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/f...splay.php?f=87

keep us in the loop, sorry about all the questions..

Hi Andrew

This is all great advice from jit.

Would like to add that you might have to separate the peepee sucker for a while from it's sibs. Continual sucking will cause the suckee to develop sores on his peepee which can lead to infection and he can lose the ability to urinate. This can be very serious and lead to death.

Best of luck with these beautiful babies.

[Andrew743]

HI Jackie,

No worries on the lack of sugar and spice, BUT : Thats actually not "fake snow stuff" lol....its actually natural cotton, no bleaching or chemical treatment. Its rather expensive but its a great insulator and very absorbent. Beneath the cotton i have a heating pad, that they have had since day one. I am feeding them fox valley, i found this website as soon as they were brought to me, and they've been on the fox valley 32/40 for about 10 days already. i have ordered the 20/50 formula to have on hand for when they make it to the next stage. I purchased a grams scale from staples, and have been weighing them regularly to assure they are gaining weight and feeding the correct amounts...they have been generally been eating 6-7 ccs every feeding this week except for the little one last night as i mentioned. He did end up taking 4.5 ccs at 4am this morning. I will definitely start feeding less more often and hope this helps the situation.

Thanks for your input

HI Andrew

we are here to help you help your babies..
I am not the best with sugar and spice wording...
sooooooooooo.
please replace that fake snow stuff with fleece or tee shirts..
that is inferior decoration junk...
who knows what it is ...ty

The sucking can be addressed by feeding less formula..MORE OFTEN..
in general, feeding 5-7% of their body weight is advised...
From their size, I would be feeding them a minimum of 5ccs and possibly 7cc every 4-6 hours.
eyes open at 4.5 weeks in southern greys.
Your guys need to be still on additional heat..
place container half on heating pad set on low...ck and make sure it's not hot, only a fist sized warm spot.

What formula are you feeding?
this is a possibility why you are seeing diarhea..

have you seen the stickys...lots of practical info in them..
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/f...splay.php?f=87

keep us in the loop, sorry about all the questions..

[island rehabber]

I am feeding them fox valley, i found this website as soon as they were brought to me, and they've been on the fox valley 32/40 for about 10 days already. i have ordered the 20/50 formula to have on hand for when they make it to the next stage. I purchased a grams scale from staples, and have been weighing them regularly to assure they are gaining weight and feeding the correct amounts...they have been generally been eating 6-7 ccs every feeding this week except for the little one last night as i mentioned. He did end up taking 4.5 ccs at 4am this morning. I will definitely start feeding less more often and hope this helps the situation.

Thanks for your input

Good job, Andrew! Yes the sucking your sibs thing is always an issue with baby squirrels....I have three brothers right now who are almost 6 wks old and JUST started doing it ....guess I can't stretch them to every 6 hrs yet....

[Andrew743]

Good job, Andrew! Yes the sucking your sibs thing is always an issue with baby squirrels....I have three brothers right now who are almost 6 wks old and JUST started doing it ....guess I can't stretch them to every 6 hrs yet....

They just had another feeding, and he seems to regained his strength, bowel movement are better but not perfectly formed as they have been prior to yesterday. I have 3 boys as well. Im hoping something was just off with him yesterday. Good luck with your boys.

[skippy]

Hi Andrew:
Congratulations on your new family.
Sucking seems to be a universal issue among the little ones. Do keep an eye on the boys. They can get serious deformities and damage done to their penis by the innocent suckling going on. I've known of 2 males that had to have surgery to repair the damage done to them because they were left too long with the vampire. However, that said, they will suckle on themselves too.
I have 2 boys and a girl and they were sucking on her ears and her vulva when I caught them. I don't like to immediately separate them unless there is serious injury right away. My first line of defense is a product called YUK that is very bitter. I just got another shipment of it from Chris's Squirrels online. Someone in your area may have a faster resource for it. Took me a week to get it out here in California. It's only $7.00 and shipped from Vermont? Good luck.