PDA

View Full Version : Possible illness, acting strange



Loves Squirrels
10-18-2006, 01:38 PM
My 8 week old squirrel has been taking 8 cc's of formula and sucking on the nipple like she is starving to death. Well, the other day, she started acting strange. She will only take 6 cc's and she won't suck on the nipple at all. She almost acts like she has a sore throat. She is not coughing or clicking. Anyway no clicking that I can hear and I have spent quite a lot of quite time trying to hear if she has the possible signs of pneumonia. She seems to be rather quiet too, really not herself and she isn't really making her usual squirrel noises. This has been going on since Monday afternoon. any advice that you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Critter_Queen
10-18-2006, 01:51 PM
How much does she weigh? What are you basing the 6-8 cc of formula on? I'm usually feeding well over 10 cc at that age, but I don't know what kind of squirrel you have or what formula you are feeding...

Do you provide solid foods for her? What kind? How much?

Do you provide sunlight for her? She needs at least 30 minutes each day of real sunlight (not through the window) every day in order to make enough Vitamin D to allow her to absorb calcium. Lack of sunlight can cause serious illness in squirrels. If you can't take her outside (in a cage), FULL SPECTRUM (must say that or it's not the right kind) light bulbs can be purchased for about $4-8 from Wal-Mart. Put one in the light fixture closest to her cage.

What kind of cage is she in?

How often are you feeding her?

Loves Squirrels
10-18-2006, 03:30 PM
Okay, here goes.

I have been feeding her the puppy formula mixed with whipping cream that I read about on, I believe, this list. Have been giving it to her every 4 hours during the day with the last feeding at 9:30 p.m., and starting again between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. Usually she receives 5 feedings a day. I used a gram scale, found out how much she weighed, dropped the last number and divided the first two numbers by two. I have not weighed her since last Friday so can not be sure of her weight today. That is the formula that I used to calculate her puppy formula intake. I have started putting banana chips, apple wedges and peeled grapes in her box, but she doesn't give them the time of day. Presently she is in a crate, the kind you would get at Walmart and use for storage. I didn't have any idea about putting her outside and I am afraid that I haven't been doing this. It has turned off pretty cold so I was afraid to subject her to the cold outdoors. I also noticed that her bathroom habits look a little off color too. Her urine is clear but her bm is very dark yellow, however it is solid. Today at lunch she did suck on her nipple, the first time in a few days. She is a grey tree squirrel and I could be off a week on her age. I live in north central Idaho, so she is a native of the area. I do not live close to Walmart, so i am going to have to make some sort of arrangement for her to be outside in the sun for at least thirty minutes each day rather than purchasing a light bulb. Unfortunately the weather looks pretty overcast, so i don't think she would get much benefit from the sun on days like today, but please correct me if I am wrong here. I am very new to this and have told my daughter that if the little girl doesn't start acting better that we must contact someone who knows more than we do to come and take her. My daughter was so upset, but realizes that she could die if not cared for properly and does want to give her the best possible chance to survive. thank you for your good advice and help in this regard. if you have any other questions, just let me know. Do you think that she needs meds or could her condition be because of her lack of sunshine?

Thanks again for your help
Julie

Critter_Queen
10-18-2006, 04:06 PM
It could be from the lack of sunshine...and even on cloudy/overcast days the UV rays still come through some...

Target, Mendards, Home Depot, Lowes, ACE, Hardware Hank's, K-Mart...all these chain stores should carry full spectrum light bulbs. They are nice, too, because they don't use much energy compared to a regular bulb so you can leave it on for hours and not run up your bill.

Sounds like you are feeding her right... You might try offering her a peeled grape in your fingers...kinda push it into her lips so she gets a taste of it...don't force it on her, but usually it just takes a taste or two before they are finding them on their own... Though I still offer grapes by hand to my older squirrels. :)

If her stools are solid, I wouldn't worry about them right now.

My first guess is the sunlight issue. Heck, most people I know would be ill if they didn't get any sun for weeks on end... Hopefully you can find one of those bulbs near you. If not, you really need to take her outside (in a cage) for periods of time every day...regardless of the weather unless it's really nasty out. Just provide her with lots of blankets to cuddle in and she will be warm enough... I wouldn't recommend leaving her out all night though...yet.

I hope this helps. Let us know how it goes!

Also, after her eyes open, she needs to be in a much larger cage than a storage tote...so now is a great time to invest in one or to find someone who is able to provide her with the kind of caging she needs. Buy or build as big as you possibly can afford...they need lots of space to learn all those squirrely skills. :)

Gabe
10-18-2006, 05:19 PM
CR is right, she certainly needs to get out of that tote and burn off some calories. Try feeding her every five hours, she may just not be hungry, especially if she is not interested in her finger foods. The cream is high in fat and makes them feel full, you could also cut back on the amount of cream in formula.

Buddy'sMom
10-18-2006, 05:39 PM
I know this will just reveal how totally spoiled our baby is, but ...

At that age, Buddy would NOT pick up food on his own to eat. What I put in the cage in the morning, I threw away that night. But he would eat apple, avocado, strawberry and kale if we handed it to him. Maybe she just wants to be waited on? (not encouraging the spoiling approach, but he did eat that way)

nutnbutlove
10-18-2006, 05:53 PM
I ran into a problem when Tink was younger when I had started feeding her grapes. I peeled them as best I could but I think some of the skin still remained on the grape. Anyways...one day I noticed she wasnt sucking on the syringe normal and I just didnt understand why.

Well, over the course of a day I found out why...she hacked up some furball looking thing that was huge and it was stuck in her throat and wouldnt allow her to take the syringe all the way in her mouth as normal.

I knew something was wrong but I just didnt know what to do....so on her own she went over to the side of the cage and kinda hacked up whatever it is in her mouth. After that I peeled and sliced the grabs in cheerios size sections and all went well.

No idea what could be your issues but just wanted to share my experience...I know I was stressed with Tink. Do the best you can!!

GhosTS
10-18-2006, 07:42 PM
As CQ said, it can be due to sunlight.Other than MBD, animals tend to get inactive when they dont have sunlight.And also im concerned about your formula.You said it is puppy milk.Is is Esbillac.Esbilac is the puppy milk that is good for squirrels.There were some cases where wrong puppy milk formula caused bad results.

Gabe
10-19-2006, 10:23 AM
That's a really weird looking thing Tink hacked up.

nutnbutlove
10-19-2006, 05:35 PM
Yeah...I think it could have been maybe some batting from one of her t-pee huts she slept in. When she would carry her food in it and eat she would push it up against the inside seam and maybe as she chewed she would ingest some of the material.

I took the t-pee hut out and started slicing her grapes up after peeling them and never had a problem with it again. It was weird looking and I wish I would have kept it to dry it out and examine it better but I was just relieved she hacked it up. I knew something was wrong by the way she wouldnt take her syringe all the way in her mouth, it didnt stop her from wanting to eat but you could tell something was wrong. I take pictures of everything so I figured what the heck. I have been meaning to post it but never got around to it. I attached a picture of the tpee looking thing just for reference.

Kathy56
10-19-2006, 07:13 PM
After reading all the above post I went and bought a full spectrum bulb for Rufus. I got a 40 watt. Is that ok or should I have gotten the 60 watt? The people at Wal-Mart and Lowes looked at me like I was crazy when I started trying to explain what a full specturm light bulb was. I hope the 40 watt will do, but if not I will exchange it because nothing is to much trouble for Rufus.:dono

Critter_Queen
10-20-2006, 08:41 AM
Hi Kathy,

40 watt is fine. It will give enough light to do the job. Just leave it on fairly close to the cage if you can in a lamp or ceiling fixture. I think I have a 60 watt one in my rehab room and I have it in the ceiling fixture...it does pretty good. It doesn't really have to provide a lot of light...just the valuable UVA and UVB rays. :thumbsup

Yeah...they try to trick you at stores by putting "sunlight bulb" on some of them...but if it doesn't say full spectrum...it's not. I've wondered if I could get a tan by sitting in my rehab room??? :D Anyone know?

Loves Squirrels
10-20-2006, 04:32 PM
Well, today it is sunny out so she will be out for her full 30 minutes. I will be stopping after work to get her a light bulb. I put her in my bathroom, shut the door, put her bed down, with extra food, but she still won't give the food the time of day. I am hoping that part of her problem is an exercise issue and with putting her in the bathroom she will be a little more active. Yes, Espilac is the puppy formula that I am using. I will cut down on the whipping cream as today at lunch she would only take 2 ccs and then wasn't interested at all. She is still not taking the whole nipple in her mouth. Do these little babies get sore mouths when their new teeth come in? I just can't understand why she doesn't want to suck on the nipple. She will lap at it, but not suck on it. Unlike last week where she would almost suck the nipple off the syringe. She also will drink a lot of water from her water bottle. I hadn't given her her water bottle yet, cuz i thought that she was getting enough water from her formula, but this morning when I gave it to her she was very eager to drink. She seems to only want to sleep and lay around. When do they no longer need the heating pad? I quite using it during the day. She seems to be growing okay, but I wish that she would start eating solid foods. Even when I pick her up and force it to her lips so that she can get a little taste, she still won't eat it. I did try a little avocado and she licked on it for a little bit. Anyway I appreciate all your helpful advice. I would think that it was something in her throat if she had been eating things other than formula, but that is all that she was eating. She has me stumped.

island rehabber
10-20-2006, 04:47 PM
Love Squirrels, forgive me but this thread is a little confusing so let me make sure I have it right: your squirrel is 7-8 weeks old but is only taking 2cc's of formula at a time, not being active and not eating any solids?

IF this is correct, something is obviously not right and you need to get her to a qualified wildlife vet or a rehabber who can assess her problem. At 7-8 weeks she should be in a small-to-medium sized cage with logs and branches, eating solids like raw almonds (shelled) apple slices and sweet potato, and climbing the bars of her cage although a little awkward. That would be "normal".....your girl sounds as if she doesn't feel well enough to do those things.

If I didn't get it right and she IS eating some solids and drinking water, then the problem may very well be boredom, lack of sunlight, or both. A squirrel whose eyes have been opened for 3-4 weeks but who lives in a solid container (storage tote) is not getting any visual stimuli.

Loves Squirrels
10-20-2006, 05:05 PM
Yes, she is 7-8 weeks old, her eyes have been opened for two weeks. She was taking 8 cc's of formula every four hours, and I was starting to increase it even more until she started acting strange last Monday, as I stated above. She then started taking only 6 ccs of formula every 4 hours. Today at lunch she would only take 2 ccs but wanted to drink a lot of water. We have no certified wildlife vets here in our community, nor do I know of any wildlife rehabber in town. So, I have been relying on the help of those on this board to give me suggestions. She wants to sleep quite a lot. I will be moving her to a cage this weekend a much, much bigger one. She spends a lot of time with my daughter when she is home from school. She spent the day today in the bathroom with full run. I put a tree limb in there as well as a piece of fire wood. But, she still will not give solid food the time of day.

Thank you

island rehabber
10-20-2006, 05:15 PM
She spends a lot of time with my daughter when she is home from school. She spent the day today in the bathroom with full run. I put a tree limb in there as well as a piece of fire wood. But, she still will not give solid food the time of day.

Thank you

OK that's great that she gets out-of-cage time, so we know she's getting her exercise. Baby squirrels do sleep a lot....but I just wonder about the resistance to eating solids. Have you looked at her mouth? (I know, it's not easy...) See if there is any blood around any emerging teeth, or if anything looks crooked or strange. A more experienced rehabber like Nutz4sqrls can tell you what an 8-wk-old grey's teeth should look like, I'm not exactly sure myself. If she has a malocclusion -- a misalignment of her teeth, it may make her reluctant to eat solids. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you right now.

Gabe
10-20-2006, 06:40 PM
What do her poops look like? They were pellets, but light in color last. Is she still pooping? Is she vomiting the water? Has she sucked too hard and is afraid of the nipple? has the temperature of the formula changed? Is she lapping her esbilac and is just not hungry for the bottle?
Her teeth should have come in when she was 3 weeks old, so she is not "teething". I think I would be inclined to start her on antibiotics. I find that when they loose their appetite they generally have pneumnonia when examined.

Kathy56
10-21-2006, 06:29 PM
My Rufus sounds alot like your squirrel. He doesn't really like solids either. He will suck the juice off of a grape and kind of nibble at apples and sweet potatoes but he would much rather have his formula. I went and got the full spectrum light and have made a point of getting off work early so that I can get him outside for at least 30 or 40 minutes in the afternoon. He will not take water. He sleeps alot too. I have a branch in his cage and I am going to put a sock rope in there. I can't let him out of his cage because I have to many other pets around.How can I excerise him or what can I put in his cage to get him to play. I never used a nipple on the syringe. At first I could put the syringe in his mouth from the front but now he wants it in the side of his mouth. From what I have seen of his teeth they look normal. I have seen him chew on the tree limb a little, he hasn't touched the cuttle bone I have in there. I did buy some Ktee rodent block and he just nibbled on that. Sorry I didn't mean to be so long but it sounds as if we are having some of the same problems.:dono

Kathy56
10-21-2006, 06:34 PM
Me again. He also has let me know that he doesn't like being held anymore so I have been feeding him through the bars of his cage.I made him a rice sock thingy and warm it right before I feed him and he kneeds that while I feed him.He broke my heart trying to nurse off the sock thing. I miss holding him too but maybe its for the best since I plan on releasing him in the spring.

Loves Squirrels
10-27-2006, 08:47 PM
UPDATE

She is back to her old self again. Eating lots of formula and very busy. I did start putting her outside more and I believe that that really helped her activity level as well as her eating habits. She is now drinking approximately 12ccs of formula every four hours. Plus she will eat bread soaked with formula. She will try new things when I put it in her cage, but her favorite is her formula. She pops her head out of her bed when she hears me first thing in the morning. She is back to making her little squirrel noises too. I really think that she wasn't feeling well. She is also drinking water from a water bottle. Thank you for all your helpful suggestions. I am making sure that I introduce her to new foods.

Julie In Idaho:)

Kathy56
10-27-2006, 09:40 PM
Glad she's feeling better. :thumbsup