Not good

[Critter_Queen]

Seizures. ~ sigh ~ Little female that seemed to be doing well this morning is probably dying as I type this. I stayed with her as long as I could (was 35 minutes late coming back from lunch) but then had to decide to leave her home and bring the other two.

She refuses anything to eat. Doesn't matter what it is. Is/was having violent seizures while I held her and prayed that God would take her...she was quiet when I left her, but I don't think she's going to live until I get home let alone get her to the vet.

What are the seizures from? I SO WISH I would have brought them all with me this morning...

I'm just sick. How do I keep this from happening to the other two???

ETA: How frequently CAN I give the last two fluids without it being TOO frequently? Would it hurt to give them 1 cc of pedialyte per hour for the next 6-10-12 hours??

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

Oh I am so sorry! :grouphug

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

any updates Critter Queen?

[Suro]

The seizures may be from inflamation to her brain surrounding tissues following a fall from the treetops?

See if a nice vet might be able to give her some steroids and some fluids under her skin maybe?

I hope she does ok :( :(

[Critter_Queen]

Hi guys,

The little girl made it until about 6:30 Friday night and then died during a major seizure. Poor thing. But in this case I think it was for the best, she was surely suffering terribly all day long...

I need to vent about my wildlife vet. She was supposed to call me Friday night at 6:00 so we could get together at her office and she could help these little squirrels. Well, 6:30 rolls around and I call and leave her a message. No call back all night. Frail female dies of seizures in the meantime. (my mentor suggested that the seizures were probably due to a calcium deficiency) I'm getting sicker by the day (head/chest ickies) and while I was sleeping yesterday afternoon my wildlife vet calls. I didn't hear my cell phone. She didn't leave a message or anything. Got the missed call an hour after she called. Called her back and she says "sorry, I forgot to call you last night." :shakehead Whatever. Then I go on to ask what she has going for the day so we can get together so she can see the last two surviving babes from this litter. She's already home and isn't interested in coming back in to see them. Fine. Whatever. Gleaned what little information I could get from her over the phone and said good-bye. I am so freaking MAD!! WHY volunteer to do this AND NOT WANT TO HELP?? I mean, I work and do this rehab stuff, too...it's not like I don't know how inconvenient it is, ya know?? I need a new vet. Got two in mind. Planning to bribe them with free animal care over weekends and holidays and a continuing supply of veterinary publications and articles to assist him in helping my critters.

So, back to the remaining two squirrels. Male is doing well in my opinion. Female is not so good. My mentor said that due to the calcium deficiency I need to ramp them up to full-strength formula as fast as their tummies will let me. But the female's tummy just won't take it. Added .5 cc of Kaopectate to each of her feedings and that seems to be helping. That was about the only good piece of info I got from the vet. That Kaopectate isn't toxic even in large doses...but at 108 grams, half a cc every four hours should work. And it does seem to be helping a little so far. I've also added ground rodent block and heavy whipping cream to their formula for added calcium and fat.

Tried to load a few pics, but my home computer and dial-up connection are just too slow. Hopefully I'll be able to post some tomorrow.

Thanks for thinking of us!

[rygel1hardt]

Hi Critter queen I am so sorry that you have had to deal with a vet that doesnt give a sh*t about animals in my opinion and I hope you are able to find someone better. Also I am sorry for your losses and know how hard it is when you pour your heart and soul into raising them. Do you have any bene bac? I buy it in powder form and it comes in a one pound canister. I use just a pinch in their formula if I see any sign of loose bowels and also to help with transitioning them from whatever someone else has fed them to Fox Valley formula. Just a thought as I try to avoid any meds if I can help it. Good luck with the other two and I hope they do fine from here on out! You keep up the good fight Gal!!! Stacey

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

I agree what an idiot vet. You did all you could, I wish you the best with the others!

[snakegetters]

Some similar acute problems present in reptiles, and injectable calcium is a pretty solid standby we use for some sets of symptoms that strongly suggest an underlying Ca deficiency may be the cause. It doesn't hurt a reptile even if you've guessed wrong, and sometimes it can have pretty miraculous results. Wouldn't be bad idea to ask your vet if you can keep a bottle around, and make sure you have a gram scale to appropriately calculate the doses. An inappropriate dose of any med isn't a good thing.

Sometimes the issue is not so much calcium in the diet as calcium absorption and partitioning of the calcium that already exists in the system, and there are factors in calcium absorption that go beyond "stick ground up Ca:Ph supplement in animal's mouth". That won't always help if your issue is that the calcium that is already there is not being appropriately absorbed or partitioned. Injectables tend to be more bioavailable and to solve the problem, if there is one, a lot faster.

Disclaimer: my experience is specifically in reptile research. I do very little with mammals, and they are so radically different in their needs that a lot of what I know may not be applicable to them in the same way.

[Secret Squirrel]

Calcium isn't the problem here!!! This baby has been introduced to many different "fix it solutions" and none have worked. Sometimes the best remedy is no remedy at all......let the baby get stabilized on the on Esbilac first as directed on the can. 1 part dry powder Esbilac to 2 parts water. Bottled water may have to be used if "tap water " has chlorine or fluoride treatments added to it. Also well water can have bacteria and or high alkalinity ...only a test of your well water can prove it...FYI.
Keep the baby warm for proper digestion and only feed very warm formula to a warm baby. ( I know you know this Critter-Queen)
If she still has problems after 12-24 hours than consider switching her to Fox Vally formula or a different choice like Ensure w/calcium for women...vanilla only....no chocolate. Not all babies will tolerate Esbilac and it's far a few between.....so check all your options before adding and additives to her diet.

[Timber]

I agree with you S.S. but I have seen every time my vet gave an injection of calcium the results were fabulous. The only time the calcium didn't work was two cases that i had with mosquito born meningitis to which by the time I got the squirrel there was no helping them. Both of them were however, adults. I haven't personally seen a case in an infant but I guess it could well occur if a mosquita got to an infant while the Mother was off eating. By the way one of the signs is paralaysis, head leaning, and seizures.

[Critter_Queen]

Thanks you guys...

I agree with all of you. But in this case, after further investigation, I'm almost positive it was due to calcium deficiency as suggested by my mentor. On the other thread I have here about this little girl's sister, we gave her a cal inj last night and within hours the improvement was very evident.

I do think that the diarrhea is being caused by all the changes in diet, etc....which is just making the cal deficiency worse because I can't give them full-strength formula.

These are older squirrels, momma-raised, eyes open, and were without momma so long they all four came down the tree looking for her. I think in the future, any time I get babies like this (coming out of the tree too young cuz Mom's gone) I'm going to rehydrate and give a cal injection right off the bat. It stands to reason that if they weren't being fed for days they were likely deficient of just about everything.

Thank you all so much for you concern and helpful suggestions. I'm hoping we have the other little female's diarrhea coming under control now...so hopefully two of the original four in this litter can survive.

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

Your doing a great job CQ!!:thumbsup

[Suro]

Hi guys,

The little girl made it until about 6:30 Friday night and then died during a major seizure. Poor thing. But in this case I think it was for the best, she was surely suffering terribly all day long...

I need to vent about my wildlife vet. She was supposed to call me Friday night at 6:00 so we could get together at her office and she could help these little squirrels. Well, 6:30 rolls around and I call and leave her a message. No call back all night. Frail female dies of seizures in the meantime. (my mentor suggested that the seizures were probably due to a calcium deficiency) I'm getting sicker by the day (head/chest ickies) and while I was sleeping yesterday afternoon my wildlife vet calls. I didn't hear my cell phone. She didn't leave a message or anything. Got the missed call an hour after she called. Called her back and she says "sorry, I forgot to call you last night." :shakehead Whatever. Then I go on to ask what she has going for the day so we can get together so she can see the last two surviving babes from this litter. She's already home and isn't interested in coming back in to see them. Fine. Whatever. Gleaned what little information I could get from her over the phone and said good-bye. I am so freaking MAD!! WHY volunteer to do this AND NOT WANT TO HELP?? I mean, I work and do this rehab stuff, too...it's not like I don't know how inconvenient it is, ya know?? I need a new vet. Got two in mind. Planning to bribe them with free animal care over weekends and holidays and a continuing supply of veterinary publications and articles to assist him in helping my critters.

So, back to the remaining two squirrels. Male is doing well in my opinion. Female is not so good. My mentor said that due to the calcium deficiency I need to ramp them up to full-strength formula as fast as their tummies will let me. But the female's tummy just won't take it. Added .5 cc of Kaopectate to each of her feedings and that seems to be helping. That was about the only good piece of info I got from the vet. That Kaopectate isn't toxic even in large doses...but at 108 grams, half a cc every four hours should work. And it does seem to be helping a little so far. I've also added ground rodent block and heavy whipping cream to their formula for added calcium and fat.

Tried to load a few pics, but my home computer and dial-up connection are just too slow. Hopefully I'll be able to post some tomorrow.

Thanks for thinking of us!


Sigh....makes me so angry to read this. WHY volunteer to help wildlife if she can't be bothered to help.

I get so angry at work sometimes. I went into work once and did a "round" (telling me about all inpatients) with the day nurse. At the end of the round she mentioned a young pigeon she "hadn't had time to deal with". I went straight up to see him. The poor little thing was the size of my thumb and should have been fed every hour. He was also freezing cold and had faeces stuck to his bottom.

I was utterly furious.

I gave him some fluids with added glucose and warmed him up and called wildlife rescue to come and take him...took me what, 10 minutes??? HOW can she not have had time to do that...she had time to eat her OWN lunch afterall.

Makes me so so angry when wildlife is treated this way. Just because they don't have an "owner" doesn't mean they are less important.

I also got angry again last week, a message on my phone while I was sleeping was that work had a baby squirrel brought in. as soon as I saw the message I called them...it turns out he had been attacked by a cat. They said he was a fair bit older than mine, and only had a few puncture wounds...so they RELEASED him!!!!!!!!!!
I was so angry, no squirrels OR woodland around here - what kind of short life would he have. :(

Sometimes we just need to search till we find the right vets, the ones who truely care for what they do, and haven't become bitter over time.

All the very best and I'm sure you will find a nice one who will help you and devote the time that the little ones need. :)