diarrhea

[CHARLEYANNE]

I have a gray squirrel that I have since September 2007. She has been doing great until yesterday. She has diarrhea. The only change in her diet is I added cherries (no pits). She has gotten worse since last night. What can I do to help her? The poor little thing is not moving around her cage much at all. She had her tounge stuck out for a bit. She is taking some pedialite. HELP>

[island rehabber]

First thing is I would stop the cherries....many squirrels can't tolerate certain fruits and they don't eat all that many fruits in the wild, anyway. Make sure she has plenty of water and wait a day to see if the diarrhea stops. If by later today she isn't better, once the cherries are out of her system, you can try some yogurt with probiotics or Benebac to restore her GI system to normal. I have had squirrels that couldn't touch apple for this reason, even though most love it and never have a problem. Good luck! :)

[Mountain Mama]

How is she doing now? Any better?

[CHARLEYANNE]

OK- no more cherries. I just tried yogurt-- several different flavors -- and she won't touch it. I also tried adding pecans to the yogurt (pecans are her very favorite) and she still wont touch it. Any suggestions?

[CHARLEYANNE]

She is moving around a little more. She has cleaned up some. Her stomach appears distended though.

[Mountain Mama]

If she has had diarrhea for a day or so, then she may be a little dehyrated, just like humans can get dehydrated. Will she eat or drink anything?

[4skwerlz]

Poor baby, maybe she'd like a "rice buddy" to cuddle against her bloated tummy. A rice buddy is just an old sock filled with rice or beans and microwaved for about 20 seconds, until nice and warm but not hot.

[CHARLEYANNE]

She drinks some -- a little pedalite.
She ate part of a pecan and I think part of a walnut.

[island rehabber]

Charleyanne, if her stomach is distended I would not give her ANYTHING for a few hours. If the bloatedness does not go down, you should try a little bit of infant simethicone (Gas-X?) to help her. Don't feed a bloated squirrel -- not even liquid.

[FallensMommie]

How is the squirrel? I notice no posting in a few days, I do hope this means all returned to normal.

[Luv4scratty]

Hey im sorry i forgot how to start a new thread, and i know that you guys might only be help for Squrriels, but I have a Older Baby Robin that seems to be sut sitting on my chair, it is panting really hard, and everytime i got near it it seems to be unconious, i tired to give it some water and a worm, but no luck, any idea what is wrong with it PLEASE COMMENT SOON BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG IT WILL LAST.

[Luv4scratty]

Well, im sad to say that the birdy fell off of the chair and died at about 10:47, we don;'t know what was wrong with it, but we are going to burry it in the backyard.:shakehead
~Luv4Scratty