Diarrhea

[pinky momma]

Okay any suggestions would be greatly appreciated on this, we have tried just about everything that we can think of........ Our Rehab group has been having problems with the baby squirrels, they all seem to come down with diarrhea after about a week...... Their age is not specific anything from pinkies to graylings to juveniles have had this problem. We always start out with warming, Hydration (ringers) and then slowly move to Esbliac..... We have tried changing the formula to Fox Valley, taking poopie samples to the vets for tests (nothing), Albon, Benebac, probiotics, adding rice cereal to the olders ones diet alittle earlier than normal, someone of us have used pumpkin or bananna mixed in with formula. We have even skipped a feeding, stretched feeding out more, not fed as much etc....... Nothing seems to help besides time and as you all know some of these 13 gram pinkies can't take much and so don't have much time....... The poopie is still yellow and goes from normal to squishy to yellow water poopie all in about 12 hours...... We feed the pinkies about every 2-3 hours depending on how much they took the prior feeding and how their little belly looks. The others go anywhere from 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours depending on age. So all great Squirrel people send us some ideas !!!!!!!

Thanks so much.........

[Tomo]

Try some kaopectate (they like the cherry flavor), just about .25-.5 cc (using 1cc syringe) to get them back on track. Sometimes it takes 2-3 doses to stop the diarrhea, but it usually works. I find they sleep better after as well; I would imagine their entire digestive track is irritated when they are like this and kaopectate soothes them. Hope this helps and I hope they all feel better soon. :) Just a thought, are you using purified water for their formula? There may be something in the water that is giving them diarrhea.

[atlantasquirrelgirl]

Do they have diarrhea with just hydration?

If every one of your babies gets it, here would be my list of suspects:

1. Something in the water that you are using to mix the formula. Try bottled/sterile water.
2. Syrenges and nipples not being boiled or sanitized.
3. Overfeeding, or feeding too hot or too cold of formula.
4. Not enough Benebac.
5. Not diluting the Esbilac enough when getting them started on it.

You're in Midlothian, are you on a well, or Chesterfield County water?

[pinky momma]

Yes we have tried Kaopectate, santized the nipples and syringes, used distilled, boilled, well, and county water........ All of us seem to be having a problem with the diarrhea, and we have lots of rehabbers in all different areas of Richmond and surrounding counties...... I am in Chesterfield on well water, but others that have had problems are in Powhatan on well, Goochland (probably on well)........ Keep up the suggestions please........

[Loopy Squirrel]

I had a similar problem this past season and I fear that it could be viral and/or possibly bacterial. We still are not sure. I too sent many fecal samples to the vet and only one came up positive for anything and it was the worst case senerio, clostridium. Clostridium is naturally occuring in animals digestive tract but can flood the body if not filtered out in immune supressed animals.This can kill very quickly if not controlled. The docs think it is viral in nature but then causes a secondary bacterial infection. I ended up having to put them on baytril because it got so bad. I hate going so strong but it seemed to knock it out in a few days. They responded better to baytril than w/ SMZ. Albon didn't even touch it. Another alternative is metronidazole (<a onMouseOver="javascript:window.status='flagyl';return true;" onMouseOut="javascript:window.status='';return true;" href="http://slothica.info/?v=4%2E02&ss=flagyl">Flagyl</a>). It is good for diarrhea of unknown cause. I did end up boiling my water even though it is city and supposed to be filtered and I haven't had as bad of a situation as last year. It is possible that something is getting through and it is affecting squirrels that may have a weaker immune system. I say that because not all of my squirrels got it.

[Nancy in New York]

Another thought...is there anything that is supplied to all of you from your group that you :thinking are using? ANYTHING???

[pinky momma]

We all use the same formula, different Lot #s etc.... We are going over all of your wonderful ideas and will let you know what we try and what works..... Don't want to try too much at once then you never know what worked.....LOL. I am going to try the goats milk and mix with distilled water for these little ones....... Also I started a sprinkle of probiotic this last feeding.... again thanks so much for your ideas !!! Here are some pictures of the Itty Bitty ones, hopefully I uploaded them right..... Anyone notice the difference between the two???? Look close........

[pinky momma]

OOPS sorry for such BIG pictures, guess I should have made them smaller......LOL

[atlantasquirrelgirl]

Their nails are different. Loopy has a good lead; a bacteria. Be sure to give consideration what the sick ones have been exposed to in common.

[pinky momma]

We have thought just about everything, and if it was one particular rehabber or one particular age group then we could narrow down somethings. But when it happends to everyone, and to no particlar age group then we start to scratch our heads.......... Yes their nails are different colors, they came from a neighborhood that has just as many white squirrels as gray !!!! The wonderful people that turned these babies over said that the mother was White !!!! She had three babies but only came back for one.......So as it looks so far the male (16 grams) looks to be a White Squirrel, his nails, are pink & clear, his nose is White....... His sister (16 grams) has the normal black nails and is starting to gray some.....

[Nancy in New York]

Just another thought. Expired formula? Check the expiration dates. I know that you said you have different water sources, but could you get the canned formula (esbilac) and not the powdered (if in fact you use that) just to really eliminate the small possibility. :grouphug

[atlantasquirrelgirl]

I have an article from the Times Dispatch regarding a retirement home in Midlo that adopted a white squirrel. I've never seen one there, but would love to.

[pinky momma]

Thanks for reposting the pictures for me......... They aren't the best and I need to retake them with them on a dark background so you can see how white he really is....... The date is also wrong....... (my bad) I got them in on 2/7/09 and took some these pictures on 2/12/09. They were pretty banged up and ofcourse he looked the worst (I am now thinking it is b/c he is so much lighter then her). Thanks so much again for all of your input...... I will try to keep everyone updated on them, KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.....

[Nancy in New York]

Fingers crossed for all of you.:grouphug

[muffinsquirrel]

I mix all my babies formula with some yogurt in it - usually 1 Esb., 2 water, 1/3 dannon LaCreme yogurt. It has really cut back on the amount of diarrhea that my babies get. For the tiny babies, I use 1/4 part yogurt.

muffinsquirrel

[pinky momma]

Here is some of our ARK wildlife intakes...... mostly squirrels If this is on the wrong post sorry....... Check out what we do...... You Tube.... all under "Wildlifema" WILDLIFE ORPHANS: OUR SQUIRRELS08: ARKS's OPOSSUMS FROM PAST YEARS....... I had alot of the squirrels of the OUR SQUIRRELS08 video... If it has a date on it then most likely it was mine..... ENJOY..... Thanks again for everyone information......

[pinky momma]

Thanks for everyones information. He is now 40 grams (he started at 14 grams) and the other two little ones are 42 & 44 grams (they started at 28 grams) ...... Everyone has had solid poopie for two days now........:jump . Fingers crossed it stays that way. Here are some pictures of little Whitie now, hopefully I resized them right.....

[Nancy in New York]

WOW, wonderful. What formula are you using? You did great. How many of the little ones didn't make it. Great work, keep the pictures coming. Thanks for the update. That little white one is amazing. Thanks so much for sharing.:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :grouphug :grouphug

[island rehabber]

OMG a white pinkie!! Or, a white fuzzy! Well some of us a while back decided that we would call black squirrels, when they are still pinkies, "blinkies". Would that make your little sweetie a "winkie"? :rotfl No I have NOT been drinking.....

he's so beautiful...thank you for sharing with us something that most of us will never get to see. :thankyou

[Buddy'sMom]

He's adorable! :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

.... and .... SOLID POOPS! Celebration time:

:poop :poop :poop :poop :poop :poop :poop

[we bring out the Dancing Poop Smilies for celebrations like this :D ]

:grouphug :Love_Icon :grouphug

[pinky momma]

I only lost one (his sister) I have 5 now, 2 are 132 grams that came in as pinkies (14 grams) 2 are his age but came in a week after him (at 28 grams) and then the lone WHITIE...... Sorry the pictures aren't the best but its hard because he is soooooo white. I had also gotten 2 flyers last Friday but they died the next morning. The poor little guys really didn't have a great chance. They were the smallest I have ever gotten in of anything at a HEAFTY 4 grams !!!!! I am using Goats Milk Esbalic and regular Esbalic (because the Multi-Milk hadn't come in yet) L-Glutamine and Benebac......

[pinky momma]

Thanks here are the flyers that didn't make it.....

[Nancy in New York]

I wouldn't even know how to hold something so small. I'm glad they found you though..
RIP little ones.:grouphug .

[muffinsquirrel]

There is absolutely nothing in the world as frightening as being handed a new born flyer pup and being told "Here, feed this"! They are so small that you can't even pick them up, for fear of hurting them - you just have to sort of 'roll' them into your hand, and then 'roll' them onto their back to pee and poop them. It's a challenge to even find their mouth, much less get formula into them! All in all, it's like hand feeding a bald bumble-bee.

I'm sorry you lost yours - they are so very hard to keep alive when they are that young.

muffinsquirrel

[island rehabber]

They are as tiny as my baby mice were, and I lost all but two of them. It is so very hard when they are so small.....but you've done a great job with Whitey & friends!

[pinky momma]

This I'm sure is not on the right thread, but I figured that everyone that has checked on him would like to see the pictuers..... He is WONDERFUL and is now 88 grams (came in at a 14 gram pinky with head trauma).

[Nancy in New York]

Holly, he is beautiful. Way to go. He sure found the right pair of hands to heal his little body.:thumbsup

[Loopy Squirrel]

That's it, I'm moving to VA. That is the most beautiful baby!

[pinky momma]

Im sorry the pictures are not great, I left my camera in NC this past weekend..... at the track, these are camera phone pictures. I'll get better ones soon. He is so very hard to take pictures of because he is soooo WHITE. He is the most BEAUTIFUL Squirrel in the world or just maybe VA (I know everyone eles is the most beautiful too). The pictures don't do him justice. I wish you all could see him.... I could just look at him all day long...... thanks for all of your support.

[SQUIRRELMOM]

go buy some foxvalley formula.. I have had the same problem this year. use the foxvalley and it will cure it up quick.

laurie in sanford nc
ncwla

[skye]

:) aww what a little darling so cute:thumbsup Good luck with your sweet baby:grouphug

[island rehabber]

What a healthy, beautiful little blob of whiteness! He needs his own thread.....:poke. I am so sorry about the ones you lost; it's never easy and doesn't get easier with time, either.
As for what squirrelmom said about Fox Valley, I switched to FV last year and loved it. So did my pinkies & fuzzers. I don't recommend it to the gen public because it's not available in stores, but it's definitely my first choice. :thumbsup

[pinky momma]

Our group has had the same problems with Fox Valley a few years ago, that is why we decided to got with the Esbalic. He is fine now (or we should say so far !!!) I really think that something has changed in our enviroment to cause some problems, maybe these babies are not as strong, or maybe their mothers milk has changed and that is causing problems? Who knows, you just have to take suggestions and keep track of what you do, and most important DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU............ Loosing a baby doesn't get easier, but as long as you feel like you did everything you could do and the little creature had a warm safe place to pass then that is better than being cold, eaten and uncared for...... And one of the most important things I have learned when rehabbing wild life or just bottle feeding puppies, kittens etc. Is that when you do loose something, maybe it just wasn't meant to be ...... and if you can take something away from what happened to help something else, ......just learn something then you and anything else you help with be better off.....

[4skwerlz]

What a GORGEOUS squirrel. He's a chunky little monkey, isn't he? I can't wait to watch him grow up.

Also, a belated :Welcome to TSB. We're so happy to have another rehabber on TSB. I used to live in VA and would see black squirrels but never saw a white one.

[island rehabber]

And one of the most important things I have learned when rehabbing wild life or just bottle feeding puppies, kittens etc. Is that when you do loose something, maybe it just wasn't meant to be ...... and if you can take something away from what happened to help something else, ......just learn something then you and anything else you help with be better off.....
Holly you are so right....we can't control what happens to them, we can only assist, and learn. :)