mpetys
03-27-2011, 01:31 PM
I posted back on March 6th about a 9 week old squirrel who suddenly had diarrhea. He lived with his brother and the brother was fine so I separated them to try to protect the brother from coming down with whatever it could have been and also to keep the brother from getting his siblings poop on him (and so I would only have to give one squirrel a bath and not two!).
It was never smelly or liquidy. Just soft stool that would smear on himself and bedding. He was on Fox Valley, eating HHB's daily and more and more fruits and vegetables had recently been added to his diet. He was on smz-tmp for 10 days. He went to the vet for stool check. Negative. The vet gave me some Critical Care to add to his Fox Valley. Not to be used as food but as a supplement for the probiotics in it. Mac would refuse his formula anytime I added it, even just the tiniest amount so I gave up on that.
His poops would firm up and turn black (instead of yellow) and I was waiting for three good days in a row so I could feel comfortable with putting him back in with his brother. But then, he would start in with the soft poop and now it was covered in mucus. During this whole time, Mac had a great appetite and was as active as ever. At first, the baths were stressful but then I started putting a cone on him and he quit tryng to fight me and actually seemed to enjoy bathtimes.
I had cut his diet back to Fox Valley, HHB's and lettuce and broccoli only. Jackie had suggested taking the fruit out of his diet while he had diarrhea.
Thursday night Mac got a bath and after drying, I put him in a nice fresh cage. By this time, I was beginning to wonder if he might be having a problem with lactose. So, after his bath, I fixed him bowl of lettuce, kale and broccoli. I decided to withhold his formula and check his poop in the morning to see what it looked like. He had an HHB before he went to bed.
In the morning, I collected the poop. Since he was in a clean cage, I knew this was fresh poop. He had a combination of black pellets and yellow poops. The black poop was normal; the yellow poop was very soft and squooshy (see first and second pictures).
I had some Ensure on hand and while reading the label, saw that it said "okay for lactose intolerance"; so I decided to give that to Mac. Butter pecan flavor so, of course, he loved it. He had an HHB in the morning as well. At noontime, he had another serving of Ensure. In the afternoon, I found that he had pooped in the corner of his cage. In this one bowel movement, were two normal black pellets and three soft yellow poops (see third photo). When I tried to pick up the yellow poops with a paper towel, they basically fell apart (see fourth photo).
The rest of the day, he had normal poop and fall apart yellow poop. The main difference was that there seemed to be more mucus surrounding the poops, remarkably so.
That evening, I decided to still withhold the fox valley and to serve Ensure. With his salad, I added a small piece of cucumber, red pepper, apple, two cubes of watermelon and a piece of carrot. He ate the apple, watermelon, some of the carrot, kale, lettuce, cucumber and broccoli.
Saturday morninig, I got up and went to check his cage for poop. The only poop I saw was RED poop! At first I thought it was bloody. After picking up and examing it, I was convinced that it had to be the watermelon. This poop held together well; however, it was very spongy and covered in mucus. Everyone else had watermelon and their poop was normal. It seemed like the watermelon just went right through him. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the red poop.
At a loss, I started reading about lactose intolerance and fructose intolerance or fructose malabsorption. One? the other? or both? So confusinig. One thing I read about fructose malabsorption was that many common fruits contain nearly equal amounts of the fructose and glucose, and they do not present problems for those individuals with fructose malabsorption. Some fruits with a greater ratio of fructose than glucose are apples, pears and watermelon, which contain more than twice as much fructose as glucose. These are the fruits that tend to cause problems for individuals (and squirrels????) who have fructose malabsorption.
So, for the rest of the day, Saturday, I decided to keep him on the Ensure and HHB's and vegetables only. I cleaned his cage of current poop so I could check in the morning to see what his poop looked like. This morniing (Sunday), in examining his cage and fleece, I found a couple of soft yellow pellet on his fleece. Then I pulled his tray out as he likes to crawl underneath his fleece and poop. On the tray was nice, BEAUTIFUL, black solid pellets (See fifth photo). The crumbs are HHB crumbs. Mac likes to burrow underneath his fleece and eat is HHB's.
So, does it sound like I am on the right track? Any input will be greatly appreciated. I think I will keep him on this same diet for a few days and see if things continue to improve. Then I am thinking that I will start adding fruit back to his diet. If he starts to have a problem, then would it be reasonable to assume that fruit is his problem? If he is fine with the fruit, then I may put him back on the Fox Valley and see how he does on it. If there is a problem again, then I guess we can blame the lactose.
BTW, he does was getting yogurt in his formula. I even tried to get him to eat yogurt from a dish. He would turn his nose up at all I put before him except one brand (don't remember which one) their strawberry flavor. He loved it but I have taken that off his diet for now. Will go to health food store to pick up some Acidophilus/Probiotics.
I'm sorry this was so long, but I wanted to present a clear picture of what is going on with Mac. Thanks for reading and look forward to input. Last photo is a picture of Mac.
It was never smelly or liquidy. Just soft stool that would smear on himself and bedding. He was on Fox Valley, eating HHB's daily and more and more fruits and vegetables had recently been added to his diet. He was on smz-tmp for 10 days. He went to the vet for stool check. Negative. The vet gave me some Critical Care to add to his Fox Valley. Not to be used as food but as a supplement for the probiotics in it. Mac would refuse his formula anytime I added it, even just the tiniest amount so I gave up on that.
His poops would firm up and turn black (instead of yellow) and I was waiting for three good days in a row so I could feel comfortable with putting him back in with his brother. But then, he would start in with the soft poop and now it was covered in mucus. During this whole time, Mac had a great appetite and was as active as ever. At first, the baths were stressful but then I started putting a cone on him and he quit tryng to fight me and actually seemed to enjoy bathtimes.
I had cut his diet back to Fox Valley, HHB's and lettuce and broccoli only. Jackie had suggested taking the fruit out of his diet while he had diarrhea.
Thursday night Mac got a bath and after drying, I put him in a nice fresh cage. By this time, I was beginning to wonder if he might be having a problem with lactose. So, after his bath, I fixed him bowl of lettuce, kale and broccoli. I decided to withhold his formula and check his poop in the morning to see what it looked like. He had an HHB before he went to bed.
In the morning, I collected the poop. Since he was in a clean cage, I knew this was fresh poop. He had a combination of black pellets and yellow poops. The black poop was normal; the yellow poop was very soft and squooshy (see first and second pictures).
I had some Ensure on hand and while reading the label, saw that it said "okay for lactose intolerance"; so I decided to give that to Mac. Butter pecan flavor so, of course, he loved it. He had an HHB in the morning as well. At noontime, he had another serving of Ensure. In the afternoon, I found that he had pooped in the corner of his cage. In this one bowel movement, were two normal black pellets and three soft yellow poops (see third photo). When I tried to pick up the yellow poops with a paper towel, they basically fell apart (see fourth photo).
The rest of the day, he had normal poop and fall apart yellow poop. The main difference was that there seemed to be more mucus surrounding the poops, remarkably so.
That evening, I decided to still withhold the fox valley and to serve Ensure. With his salad, I added a small piece of cucumber, red pepper, apple, two cubes of watermelon and a piece of carrot. He ate the apple, watermelon, some of the carrot, kale, lettuce, cucumber and broccoli.
Saturday morninig, I got up and went to check his cage for poop. The only poop I saw was RED poop! At first I thought it was bloody. After picking up and examing it, I was convinced that it had to be the watermelon. This poop held together well; however, it was very spongy and covered in mucus. Everyone else had watermelon and their poop was normal. It seemed like the watermelon just went right through him. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the red poop.
At a loss, I started reading about lactose intolerance and fructose intolerance or fructose malabsorption. One? the other? or both? So confusinig. One thing I read about fructose malabsorption was that many common fruits contain nearly equal amounts of the fructose and glucose, and they do not present problems for those individuals with fructose malabsorption. Some fruits with a greater ratio of fructose than glucose are apples, pears and watermelon, which contain more than twice as much fructose as glucose. These are the fruits that tend to cause problems for individuals (and squirrels????) who have fructose malabsorption.
So, for the rest of the day, Saturday, I decided to keep him on the Ensure and HHB's and vegetables only. I cleaned his cage of current poop so I could check in the morning to see what his poop looked like. This morniing (Sunday), in examining his cage and fleece, I found a couple of soft yellow pellet on his fleece. Then I pulled his tray out as he likes to crawl underneath his fleece and poop. On the tray was nice, BEAUTIFUL, black solid pellets (See fifth photo). The crumbs are HHB crumbs. Mac likes to burrow underneath his fleece and eat is HHB's.
So, does it sound like I am on the right track? Any input will be greatly appreciated. I think I will keep him on this same diet for a few days and see if things continue to improve. Then I am thinking that I will start adding fruit back to his diet. If he starts to have a problem, then would it be reasonable to assume that fruit is his problem? If he is fine with the fruit, then I may put him back on the Fox Valley and see how he does on it. If there is a problem again, then I guess we can blame the lactose.
BTW, he does was getting yogurt in his formula. I even tried to get him to eat yogurt from a dish. He would turn his nose up at all I put before him except one brand (don't remember which one) their strawberry flavor. He loved it but I have taken that off his diet for now. Will go to health food store to pick up some Acidophilus/Probiotics.
I'm sorry this was so long, but I wanted to present a clear picture of what is going on with Mac. Thanks for reading and look forward to input. Last photo is a picture of Mac.