Butters- Please help

[Jodi Hardy]

I have had a pet squirrel for about three years now. She seems to have lost some weight and is acting like she has a cold/pneumonia. She has drainage from her nose. She has always sounded raspy due to the fact of hitting a car. I did save her from the car accident and if I do not intervene quickly, she may die. I do have antibiotics here such as penicillin and azithromycin. I do not know if she can take either of these. I do know that when I got her, I saved her with amox. drops. Please help!

[TinyPaws]

I am sorry that Butters is not well...We have great rehabbers on here...please be patient, which I know is difficult to do when your baby is ill, but they will get to you as soon as they are able.....I would not give penicillin as I think it may not be good for squirrels...I don't know about the other meds that you have....Please check in often as I know it won't be too long from now...I pray Butters is doing ok....:grouphug

[Jackie in Tampa]

:Welcome , welcome to TSB. Glad you found us!
Yes, I have heard the 'cillans' are not the best choice for sqs.
Can you tell us more about her?
What type sq is she, what is her diet, what she sleeps in...no wood chips, poops and pees normal. Do you have a weight on her. I would keep her with a heating pad or a rice buddy until a rehabber comes on. A picture is worth a million words, can you post a pic?
Someone will be here shortly!:grouphug

[Jodi Hardy]

:Welcome , welcome to TSB. Glad you found us!
Yes, I have heard the 'cillans' are not the best choice for sqs.
Can you tell us more about her?
What type sq is she, what is her diet, what she sleeps in...no wood chips, poops and pees normal. Do you have a weight on her. I would keep her with a heating pad or a rice buddy until a rehabber comes on. A picture is worth a million words, can you post a pic?
Someone will be here shortly!:grouphug

She is a grey squirrel. Her bowls are normal. Cillin is what they gave me the first time. I do not if penicillin and amox. are the same. I do not have a picture right now, but will try to get one up. Her diet consist of nuts and fruit right now. Her favorite is cereal though. She is on sugar water.

[Peaches]

First check her teeth to make sure she doesnt have overgrown teeth growing into her sinus cavity. One broken tooth can cause the oppossing one to grow out of control.
The cillins are not a good choice for squirrels as they mess with the digestive track however in an emergency, short term it will not kill them. Try to get your hands on SMZ/TMP (sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim oral suspension) from a vet.
However Gamma's baby is right about the diet, it is imperative that you get calcium into her right away and start her on the healthy diet Gammas suggested. The wrong diet can also cause her teeth to break or grow out of alignment.

[Jodi Hardy]

She has no top teeth and the bottom stays filed down. She does receive light from outside and eats a lot of fruit and vegetables. She cannot have anything hard though to her missing the top teeth. I have a heating pad on her now. She still seems to be loosing weight. She does have a broken nose, but I keep it cleaned out with a nose sucker. She still seems pretty lethargic.

[Sciurus1]

Just a short note about the heating pad. Be sure it is under the container she is in, not directly under her, so that she is not actually resting on it. And second, only put it under half the container, so if she gets too hot, she can crawl off it. Best wishes on her recovery.

[atlantasquirrelgirl]

You can also try baby food, or mash her veggies and fruit. You can pulverize rodent block into dust, and add it to the baby food.

I had one with dental problems and she was a messy eater; not much was getting in her stomach. So sucking baby food into a syrenge (no needle) and putting it in her mouth is one way to ensure it gets her calories. She LOVED sweet potato baby food, and would hang on the side of the cage when she smelled it heating in the microwave.

[Jackie in Tampa]

I have a sq with MBD, and one top tooth, but all his molars.
I have been giving special care with his picky poor diet. I have to cut his ONLY tooth every three weeks.
A member here has helped me formulate a power shake to get the nessecary calcium and vitamins he MUST have. 4Skwerlz.I have been giving 100-150 mg Neocalglucon suppliment daily, additionally.
He gets all veggies chopped in chopper. He does tear his leaves of romaine to eat. His preferance.
If this continues you may see seizures. If bad diet and low calcium are his problem, you must correct immediately.This cannot be turned around over night, and takes big commitment. He gives me a hard time and tantrums too. The lack of calcium in his diet will cause his body to rob the calcium in his bones...also possible paralysis.
The only fruit I am giving is citrus...oranges and tangerines. VitC helps metabolize the calcium and D. Limit his nuts....that is soooo important! Trying to stay away from high phospherous foods is important, no corn, few nuts. Gammas has posted the proper diet for a healthy sq.
Oh, by the way...my sq, Rocky is a 6.5 y/o male grey. I've had him since a pinky...He did have esbilac as a baby, thank goodness. It was his bad diet for two years following...but he has slowly shown improvement. He is jumping short spans now, we are amazed.
There is alot of info on TSB, and alot of members with great advise and experience.
Ck the MBD forum in Specifics, and Malloclusion teeth for eating ideas.

One more thing...Rockys abcessed tooth caused nasal drainage, and antibiotics only worked temporarily, he took baytril until tooth was extracted. drainage stopped afterward. And he felt better.
Not sure your vet status, but maybe a ck up or xrays , blood work can show calcium levels also...are his ears clean?
Good luck and I hope you and your baby feel better soon.
Alot of good advise has been given...heat, rodent blk, etc...natural sunlight being very important!

[digiandchipper]

Since it's been a week now, do you think she should see a vet? Sorry, don't know the VA laws...:dono
oops..or is Fuquay-Varina in the Carolinas?...

[ShesASquirrelyGirl]

I have a few questions if you don't mind...
Why does she not have top teeth? Due to the car impaction or did they fall out?
If the roots are still there they can be infected or be growing into her sinuses. Also regardless of incisors squirrels have back teeth so as long as food is chopped they will get used to eating it. If she can manage to eat nuts she can manage to eat chopped or crushed rodent block or you can soak it like I do for Millie. I soak about 5 blocks at a time and let it sit for 2 hours and usually by then it is completely turned to much and I fish out the lumps.
Stay away from the fruits and nuts. She needs a healthy diet right now , but even more important she needs supplements and to see a vet if possible.
Then again its a week later, I hope she is still around = /

[Buddy'sMom]

Searching "Fuquay-Varina" I come up with links for a town in North Carolina (a little south of Raleigh). If this is your location, we have a rehabber not toooo far from you that might be able to help.

Do you have a vet contact from when she was first injured? Would s/he help you and Butter now? If not, perhaps we can work something out for her to be seen by someone that can closely examine her teeth.

:grouphug :Love_Icon :grouphug

[Buddy'sMom]

Jodi, our closest rehabber is available to help (after 2:30) you if you need it -- send a PM to Sissy or come here and let us know you would like to get in touch with her.

:grouphug :Love_Icon :grouphug

[JLM27]

I guess no one thinks pneumonia could be involved here even though she is an adult? Seems like with fluids in her nasal passage she could have breathed in something bad.

Also, long term small nutritional or light deficiencies that have accumulated over time for whatever reason could be the problem.

Get well Butters, sweetie! TSB will try to help.

[ShesASquirrelyGirl]

Of course she could have pneumonia but the OP isn't exactly answering any questions. Not sure why being hit by a car would make her sound raspy or why she doesn't have top teeth. She could have had issues and they weren't taken care of and now its acclimated to this. Could be tooth issues ( which she seems to have) , Could be poor immune system to diet and she is getting sick. Could be from being kept on woodchips or urine soaked bedding which will cause ammonia to build and cause URI's. The op isn't really helping us help her by posting weeks apart. If she wants help she needs to step up and answer some questions fast or get the sq to a rehabber or the Sq is going to die if she hasn't already the poor thing..

[SkwerlGirl]

I'm familiar with Fuquay, and she's not too far from Wake County/Raleigh area....

I'm in Eastern NC, is there any way I can help????? :grouphug

[SkwerlGirl]

I was poking around and the girl hasb't been logged on since 11/1......

Not good......:shakehead

[island rehabber]

The op isn't really helping us help her by posting weeks apart. If she wants help she needs to step up and answer some questions fast or get the sq to a rehabber or the Sq is going to die if she hasn't already the poor thing..

You know, SASG, you tell it like it is, and you call it as you sees it :bowdown. I like that.
You're absolutely right that too many new posters do this exact same thing: come on begging for help and then disappear. Seriously I do hope she returns so maybe we can help this poor squirrel.

[ShesASquirrelyGirl]

:hidechair eeeeek.
Sorry sometimes I get out of control and it getsme in trouble but its annoys the heck out of me. I feel like people just come and use the people on forums for help as convenient for them and don't even have the consideration to thank us or let us know whats going on.

At least update us even if the SQ died. At least we know the poor thing isn't suffering anymore.

I did try to email this person to help but they have it set to " not wishing to recieve emails"