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ljhpsauce
05-02-2008, 02:00 PM
Hi i have had 2 male squirrels since they were 5 days old and 1 of them (Norman) is a bit more advanced than his brother (Norris), Norman has always been a little bit chunkier and done things at least 5 days sooner than Norris, e.g Norman opened his eyes about a week b4 Norris etc. But i have noticed that Norman l8ly is always clean and "dry" around his little "wiggett" area, not so much when he was younger but certainly now. But Norris, however, is always damp/wet weeing on himself and smelling of very "fishy" wee all around his wiggett and tummy and legs ...in-fact i have to give him a little wash over with damp cotton wool and a "little tiny bit" of very mild fragrance free baby bath/wash added to warm water to clean him up, this is not for my benefit alone but it cant be very comfortable being damp/wet all the time and i don't want him getting sore/nappy type rash either ... I just want to know has anyone else got this problem, will he grow out of it, or is there a reason for this ???... or am i just worrying for nothing!!??? as usual!!.any advice would be much appreciated :dono :Love_Icon :thinking :Love_Icon mjs :Love_Icon

Sarabi
05-02-2008, 02:14 PM
Does he look any different than his brother, an obvious difference?

rippie-n-lilgirlsmom
05-02-2008, 02:18 PM
How old are they now exactly? Are you making him potty after feedings, taking care to make sure bladder is fully expressed.
If they are past this point:
The thing that works for me is have an extra cardboard box after feeding put baby in it, they soon come to know that they potty in that box.
They still may pee on themself untill they get a little older, keep paper on one side of container or bed...they will quickly learn to scoot over to paper side to pee.
Its fine to wash him gently.

ljhpsauce
05-02-2008, 03:49 PM
Yeah I'm doing all that potty time stuff ok, as for age ..well i got them on ( a cold Snowey) Easter day so they are about 7- 8 weeks old. and no there are no other differences in the way they look other than he is the smaller one, ...i thought prhaps it could be that he lies differently on his wiggett when he is sleeping maybe.????? .....i am a little concerned as i used to have a wild bunnie and she had this prob all through her life as she got a water infection when she was a baby and was "wrongly" prescribed Baytril ....which is NOT supposed to be used in Rabbits esp babies, anyways she got really sore down below and had similar symtoms..IM PROBS BEING OVER PROTECTIVE !!! ...but he to have Baytril (when he got the sniffles and we did'nt want it to turn into pneumonia) which i was assured by the vet that this was ok in Squirrels ( just not to be used in Rabbits, Guinea pigs and Deer as it upsets the bioflora in their gut) but the other one had it too....oh being a mom!!! worry worry worry!!!:shakehead :Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

4skwerlz
05-02-2008, 06:52 PM
Are you mixing the formula with PLAIN WATER? We had this happen once with a baby who was fed Pedialyte for a long period of time--causes the salt and potassium balance to go out of whack, leading to excessive peeing.

Never make up formula with Pedialyte; use only plain water.

Overfeeding can also cause them to pee more. There's a lot of liquid in formula and it has to go somewhere.

Good luck. I think you're right to be a bit concerned.

ljhpsauce
05-03-2008, 12:46 AM
Yeah i am doing every thing the same as normal i.e. mixing Esbilac formula with Boiled Water etc. He does drink a lot though but so does his bigger brother ...hmmm... prehaps with him being a little smaller this means his bladder is smaller therefore he can't hold onto his pee as well as his bigger brother.They are chubsters!!..and they take around about 20ml per feed...!! they have also started to take an interest in a few solids ...i.e. seeds / nuts and crusts of toast etc.

ljhpsauce
05-03-2008, 12:49 AM
plus i do tend to notice that his pee smells fishy but even more so if i add a little Goats milk/cream to his formula so i have stopped doing this too.

4skwerlz
05-03-2008, 07:09 AM
Yeah i am doing every thing the same as normal i.e. mixing Esbilac formula with Boiled Water etc. He does drink a lot though but so does his bigger brother ...hmmm... prehaps with him being a little smaller this means his bladder is smaller therefore he can't hold onto his pee as well as his bigger brother.They are chubsters!!..and they take around about 20ml per feed...!! they have also started to take an interest in a few solids ...i.e. seeds / nuts and crusts of toast etc.

20ml per feeding may be too much for 8-week-olds, so that may be your problem. Usually they'd be getting 9-15 ml per feed, depending on their size. Do you have a gram scale so you can weigh them?

Overfeeding can be very serious, as it puts a lot of stress on their kidneys and other organs.

ljhpsauce
05-03-2008, 07:10 PM
Aah, Thank you for that, Yes i wondered whether this may be the case, i was getting a little concerned u c as my view to a feeding routine is "normally" "feed as much as they want/on demand, as they should know whether or not they r still hungry...but in this case i recon that their "eyes R certainly bigger than their belly's!" and Yes i have found that reducing the amount i feed seems to help the situation a lot, so thank you for you helpful advice and for not making me feel so guilty about not allowing them to be so greedy!! As for their weight i don't have a digital scale i only have an old style "Ounces and Lbs" food scale but i do have a 9-10 week old Squirrel that i only took into rescue/rehab last week and he is much lighter and the same size as them who are 7+ weeks old in fact he looks the same age other than he has a bushy tail and adolescent look about his face, and i am getting trouble getting him to take milk!! or any water for that matter. Anyways thanks again.:thumbsup :bowdown mjs :Love_Icon