Poor Squeaky cannot pee

[Kristal]

Rifa was roughly suckling and teething on Squeaky's penis yesterday. Today it is still swollen and warm to the touch, indicating possible infection, but at least inflammation. It is also scabbed at the end, and he cannot seem to pee :(

I tried to moisten the scab and get it off, but his little penis got engorged with urine and he started to squirm away from me as if it hurt him. How can I treat this? I am worried about what it might do to his kidneys if he cannot pee for a long time! Maybe his little penis is so swollen that his urethra is almost sealed shut. It must be that, at least partly, as the urine was still pushing through the scab a few hours ago.

Poor sweetie! :Love_Icon Help, please!

[CritterMom]

You need to soak that scab off, get a bowl of warm water and a cotton ball and just hold it on his penis for a while, keeping it warm by dipping it into the warm water occasionally. After 10 minutes or so, start to very gently rub and stroke until you can work that scab off. Put some neosporin on it to keep it soft and stop the scabbing over. Once you get it off, you are going to have to stilmulate for a while. In addition to the normal flicking movement you do to stimulate, do some gentle massages on his tummy, then flick, then massage until you get pee.

Try feeding them more, or more often. Suckling like this is usually due to hunger.

[Kristal]

I will try feeding them more often, but Rifa is being a little bit of a monster as she is a week older than the boys. She gets annoyed that they still want to sleep all the time. I have also seen her jumping them and trying to wake them up by biting their heads in the last few days. She is teething in addition to being bored, so extra cranky. Sometimes she will push them around until she can find a sucking or biting spot right after I feed her. Hopefully this will resolve as they all start to grow up.

Someone suggested using a bit of preparation H in the teething thread that I made yesterday here http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24527

I have some anusol, which is similar to preparation H, I think, so I will try using that to get the inflammation down after I make him pee. I also have some polysporin for eyes, so maybe that will help prevent infection. I will update with more progress later, probably.

[Jackie in Tampa]

i would not use preporation H or anusol stuff...:shakehead
triple anti B or vaseline is safe for ingestion(which is more likely than not)...not sure about the two you mentioned..
yes feed more frequently...
sometimes that doesn't even help...some babies are just going to suck all the time...:tilt

[island rehabber]

..some babies are just going to suck all the time...:tilt

I would advise separating the older girl from the babies. I have had to do this, against all my wishes of course, with my youngest baby squirrel. She was in with an older boy and wouldn't stop sucking on him, even right after she'd finished eating! :shakehead

[Kristal]

Actually, she is pestering her brothers less today since I am giving her apple slices and brazil nuts. She is so cute with the latter :) She just sort of shreds them without any of the nut making it into her tummy. She loves the taste, though. I was only giving her rodent block before since I read that they have to be started out on that or they will never eat it. I hope that I do not spoil her with these tasty things. They will be depending on me for food until spring, at least, and I read that rodent block needs to be a staple of their diet. It sucks though, as the rodent block is too dry and large for her and she is not very interested in it right now.

Any thoughts about that?

I am also soaking some rodent block in formula as we speak. Do I soak it until it is totally mushy or just moistened until it has softened a little?

[island rehabber]

Soak it until it's just moist, not mushy.
What kind of block are you using? Not all are large or dry like the Monkey Biscuits. Try Henry Blocks or Mazuri or Harland Teklad 2018 blocks...all are good and your squirrel will like at least one of them. DEFINITELY make blocks the staple of her diet or you will be sorry, especially if you must overwinter. 6 months or longer on Brazil nuts and apple and you will have her well on her way to MBD, I'm afraid....:nono. Back to the blocks :D

[Kristal]

We might have different brands in Quebec. I have versele-laga rat & mouse pro, and that looks like it is from europe, judging by the packaging. I read the ingredients before buying it, and it looks like good stuff. They also put the nutritional info on the package. It is maybe 1/3 of an inch ( a bit less than a centimeter) in diameter and it is in circular logs. It smells like vegetable soup, a bit.

Maybe I should get her something smaller. They have one that is about the size of cat kibble and is mixed with different grains. I could pick out the kibble for her to munch on and see if she goes for that. It is all rather expensive, though. This stuff was almost 10$ for a 1 kg bag!