Help! first seizure!

[WldLifeRehabr]

one of my female babies just had what I am pretty sure was a full blow seizure! Not a feeding seizure but a jumping in air,twitching,foam at mouth one! I've had and know what to do w/ a feeding one but not this time.....

This afternoon when it was time for their feeding,she was laying there alseep,or so I thought.when I went to wake her up to eat,i thought she was dead! She stone cold and hardly breathing. She was fine before. but I did notice that she didnt seem to see as well as others her age.

I startly slowly warming her up, and gave her some syrup to raise her blood sugar.She seemed to come around,so maybe 2 hours after warming &6 syrup I gave her warmed pediatyle. A few hours ago she started having greenish direaha.I over fed her the over day and I finally got my Fox Valley last night and I had mixed a cup of FV to a cup of esbilac (made with heavy cream, and a little yogurt)

just about 10 min. ago I was going to give her more peds and picked her up and she started blinking and the blinking got faster & faster and I thought oh no she's gonna have a seizure and sure enough I laid her down and she twitched/jumped a foot in the air,squealing,got stiff body,head jerked back and a little foam out of her mouth and seemed to have stopped breathing. I let her come around w/o touching her.Once her breath seemed close to normal,I put her back on the heating pad and jumped online!

right beofre she seizured,I noticed that she was not staying on her feet but would just lay on her belly when I put her down.

I know from working at a vet hospital that when a animal has a seizure to not and stop it,they will be "out of it" for a bit,lower the lights and shut off all noise (TV,music,etc)

what do I do? I've never had this before! In the past 2 wks I have had 2 things happen that have been new stuff.then again,I've never had some many squirrels at once! i have 12 ( had 20,but got another rehabber to take some)

[WldLifeRehabr]

did a search on the board

I have benadrly allergy capsules and fastmelt this strips childrens, no liquid but I do have liguid claritin allergy childrens

So I gave her drop of Claritin and a some more Karo syrup, and she's still on the heating pad.she's laying on a blanket thats on top of the heating pad

If claritin is wrong, tell me how to mix my benedrly caps w/ water to give that. Both Claritin & Ben are antihistamines. but clar is 5mg ,ben is 12.5 mg.

The benadryl caps ( powder inside,that I can pull apart I think) are adult (25 mg antihistamine)

oh, she's only 67 grams,eyes open maybe a week

[island rehabber]

hi WLR....so sorry your baby is having this problem!
I am no expert in seizures, but I do know they deplete calcium in a squirrel's body. I would hold off on the antihistamines, etc. and get some calcium into her: crush a TUMS tablet and mix wit warm water, then syringe feed her as much as she'll take. You've done the karo syrup so if it was a hypoglycemic seizure that would be the right solution there. The only thing we're not sure of is whether she's having seizures because she sustained head trauma of some sort. Unfortunately there isn't a lot you can do in that case. Another rehabber may have more info than I do on that scenario, as I know there are many conflicting protocols about steroids (Dex) and other seizure drugs (phenobarbitol, etc.) I don't know enough to advise you there. :peace

[WldLifeRehabr]

Thanks for your post Islander, I already gave the antimistime ( spelling )

Wednesday night I moved 6 of my baby females to a 55 gallon fish tank,I had them all in a 10 gal (minus 3 boys,so 8 in them all together) but i only moved the females because they are the ones I find sucking on the males penis and I dont want anymore sucked out/prelasped penis ( got another the other morn. so it was NOT the oldest one doing it)

one female had learned that she could jump to the rim on the 10 gal. and pull herself up & out. Maybe that same one tried to do it in the 55 gal this morning but hit her head? There's a screen top in the tank,so she would've it that if she made it up high.But the 55 gal is taller the 10 gal so I dont think they can jump out (yet)

so besides moving to a big & taller tank, early this AM my mom pushed the tank out of the den that has a carpet floor to the living room that has a hard wood floor and Im wondering if she got to cold? I didnt have them on a heating pad because I didnt think they needed it,but on a wooden floor closer to the ac vent I wonder if she couldve gotten to cold to move?

The tank is to heavy for me to move w/o help so now I have a heating pad back under the tank & a blanket on 3/4 of the top to help keep the heat in.Now that Im typing this out........Im gonna go back downstairs and pull that tank back in the den so the tanks on carpet again and try and lift it enough to slip the heating pad under.Its plenty big for them to get away from it if they get to hot.

I've had them 2 wks, so unless head trauma would show up this late and unless she hit her head then I dont know if it was a "head" seziure.

Now, they have been on esilibac powdered puppy formula mixed with heavy whipping cream and a little yogurt. I did stop putting in the yogurt everyday because I read on ewild that they should only have it a couple times a week.

I finally got my fox valley and I was mixing half FV w/ half esilibac last night and today and was going to slowly decrease into they were on just Fox valley but the seizure freaked me out and I dumped it all and gave them watered down Fox Valley.

as far as I know she hasnt had another seizure and she's back on all four feet instead of laying on her bellying and pulling herself around like she did right before her seizure. I just dont know when to give her more meds ? I know with dogs its every 12 hours for ben. but I have no idea for baby squirrels. and now after your post I dont know if I should give her a crushed tum instead. I hope someone helps me very soon!

she would not drink anymore peds, so I gave her very,very watered down Fox valley she drank 1 1/2 cc. She hasnt had any formula in over 12 hrs now and I'm hoping the little formula she got will keep her sugar up if thats what the problem is.the formula was so watered down though,it was almost clear.

[WldLifeRehabr]

:sanp3

READ THIS POST AND FORGET ABOUT/OR SKIP THE ABOVE POST

Here is the same message as above but without all the typo's! I went downstairs & moved the tank and my 15 min time period was over to go back and fix all my mistakes. hopefully if something above doesnt make sense,this one will

Thanks for your post Islander, I already gave the antihistamine ( Children’s Claritin 5mg and gave a good size drop)

Wednesday night I moved 6 of my baby females to a 55 gallon fish tank, I had them all in a 10 gal (minus 3 boys, so 8 in it all together) but I only moved the females because they are the ones I find sucking on the males penis and I don’t want anymore sucked out/prelapsed penis ( got another the other morning so it was NOT the oldest one doing it like I thought)

one female had learned that she could jump to the rim on the 10 gallon fish tank and pull herself up & out. Maybe that same one tried to do it in the 55 gal this morning but hit her head? There's a screen top on the tank, so she would have been able to grab the rim and get out.And the 55 gal is taller the 10 gal so I don’t think they can jump out (yet)

so besides moving to a bigger & taller tank, early this morning my mom pushed the tank out of the den that has a carpet floor to the living room that has a hard wood floor and I’m wondering if she got to cold? I didn’t have them on a heating pad because I didn’t think they needed it, but on a wooden floor closer to the ac vent and in a galss tank I should have known better, but when I went to bed the tank was in the den with the carpet and not as close to the ac vent before my mom moved it. I wonder if she could’ve gotten to cold to move? Maybe she hit her head,then laid there and got cold? but for all I know,the tank didnt get cold at all.

The tank is to heavy for me to move w/o help so now I have a heating pad back under the tank & a blanket on 3/4 of the top to help keep the heat in. Now that I’m typing this out........I’m going to go back downstairs and pull that tank back in the den so the tank is back on carpet again and try and lift it enough to slip the heating pad under. Its plenty big for them to get away from it if they get to hot.

I've had them 2 wks, so unless head trauma would show up this late and unless she hit her head then I don’t know if it was a "head" seizure.

Until last night, they had been on esilibac powdered puppy formula mixed with heavy whipping cream and a little yogurt. I did stop putting in the yogurt everyday because I read on ewild that they should only have it a couple times a week.(BTW,never again.......Im going to use goats milk if I run out of Fox Valley)

I finally got my fox valley and I was mixing half FV w/ half esilibac last night and today and was going to slowly decrease into they were on just Fox valley but the seizure freaked me out and I dumped it all and gave them watered down Fox Valley.

as far as I know she hasn’t had another seizure and she's back on all four feet instead of laying on her bellying and pulling herself around like she did right before her seizure,She was walking normal once she warmed up until right before the seizure. I just don’t know when to give her more meds ? I know with dogs its every 12 hours for benadryl. but I have no idea for baby squirrels. and now after your post I don’t know if I should give her a crushed tum instead. I hope someone helps me very soon!

she would not drink anymore pediayte, so I gave her very, very watered down Fox valley she drank 1 1/2 cc. She hasn’t had any formula in over 12 hrs now and I'm hoping the little formula she got will keep her sugar up if that’s what the problem is. the formula was so watered down though ,it was almost clear.


while I was downstairs,I gave her more pediatyle.she drank about 1/2 cc.

feeding time is going to be 12:30 EST, I hope someone who can help me post by then so I'll know what to give or not give her

[gs1]

i really have no idea but i'll give it a shot....


i'm glad you've dumped the esbilac... that was one of my concerns...

she sounded like she had a tummy ache as well as the seizure and really i've no idea if esbilac could do that too... but i hate them so much that i'm willing to think it could...maybe ... i really don't know... maybe everything else has to be investigated too ... but esbilac is bad.....

as for temperature either too hot or too cold can kill them... they can't digest properly when cold and they overheat and die when too warm... (which only really happens in sunstroke or when the heating pad overheats and is under the entire box so that they've no where to escape the heat....

[gs1]

i've answered in post....



:sanp3

READ THIS POST AND FORGET ABOUT/OR SKIP THE ABOVE POST

Here is the same message as above but without all the typo's! I went downstairs & moved the tank and my 15 min time period was over to go back and fix all my mistakes. hopefully if something above doesnt make sense,this one will:grouphug

Thanks for your post Islander, I already gave the antihistamine ( Children’s Claritin 5mg and gave a good size drop)

Wednesday night I moved 6 of my baby females to a 55 gallon fish tank, I had them all in a 10 gal (minus 3 boys, so 8 in it all together) but I only moved the females because they are the ones I find sucking on the males penis and I don’t want anymore sucked out/prelapsed penis ( got another the other morning so it was NOT the oldest one doing it like I thought)

has this penis sucking stopped? one cause is underfeeding ... needs more and more often ... what happened to the other little guy?


one female had learned that she could jump to the rim on the 10 gallon fish tank and pull herself up & out. Maybe that same one tried to do it in the 55 gal this morning but hit her head? There's a screen top on the tank, so she would have been able to grab the rim and get out.And the 55 gal is taller the 10 gal so I don’t think they can jump out (yet)

did she hit her head? ...have no idea....

so besides moving to a bigger & taller tank, early this morning my mom pushed the tank out of the den that has a carpet floor to the living room that has a hard wood floor and I’m wondering if she got to cold? I didn’t have them on a heating pad because I didn’t think they needed it, but on a wooden floor closer to the ac vent and in a galss tank I should have known better, but when I went to bed the tank was in the den with the carpet and not as close to the ac vent before my mom moved it. I wonder if she could’ve gotten to cold to move? Maybe she hit her head,then laid there and got cold? but for all I know,the tank didnt get cold at all.


you think she hit her head inside the tank and then lay there and got chilled??? how far would she have fallen? how badly did she hit her head??? no idea....

The tank is to heavy for me to move w/o help so now I have a heating pad back under the tank & a blanket on 3/4 of the top to help keep the heat in. Now that I’m typing this out........I’m going to go back downstairs and pull that tank back in the den so the tank is back on carpet again and try and lift it enough to slip the heating pad under. Its plenty big for them to get away from it if they get to hot.

so heat on low only underneath half the tank

I've had them 2 wks, so unless head trauma would show up this late and unless she hit her head then I don’t know if it was a "head" seizure.

makes sense i have no idea

Until last night, they had been on esilibac powdered puppy formula mixed with heavy whipping cream and a little yogurt.

we do have a recipe for helping with the esbilac but it's exact amounts... i'm not sure if you were using this and also after mixing you have to leave it overnight in the fridge and warm up in the morning....

I did stop putting in the yogurt everyday because I read on ewild that they should only have it a couple times a week.

no the good yogurt used here ... i think yobaby is very good for them all the time... i'll repost the page below....

(BTW,never again.......Im going to use goats milk if I run out of Fox Valley)

if you mean jackies temporary goats milk formula :thumbsup if you mean the esbilac goats milk ... no.

I finally got my fox valley and I was mixing half FV w/ half esilibac last night and today and was going to slowly decrease into they were on just Fox valley but the seizure freaked me out and I dumped it all and gave them watered down Fox Valley.

understandable ... i've no idea if the rehabbers agree ...

as far as I know she hasn’t had another seizure and she's back on all four feet instead of laying on her bellying and pulling herself around like she did right before her seizure,

good



She was walking normal once she warmed up until right before the seizure.



I just don’t know when to give her more meds ? i don't know either....


I know with dogs its every 12 hours for benadryl. but I have no idea for baby squirrels. and now after your post I don’t know if I should give her a crushed tum instead. I hope someone helps me very soon! if island rehabber suggests a crushed tum then i'd go with that.... :thumbsup

she would not drink anymore pediayte ....4swerlz said that pedialyte over 24 hours dehydrates them... and dehydration is so dangerous ... better to go with straight water... although they like a little bit of apple juice in their water too but i'm not sure if that would give her more diarrhea...



, so I gave her very, very watered down Fox valley she drank 1 1/2 cc. She hasn’t had any formula in over 12 hrs now and I'm hoping the little formula she got will keep her sugar up if that’s what the problem is. the formula was so watered down though ,it was almost clear.

understandable too ... but again i can't comment....i don't know... i think it's fine... i see your point she has to eat something... and at this point it's almost fox valley flavoured water


while I was downstairs,I gave her more pediatyle.she drank about 1/2 cc.

feeding time is going to be 12:30 EST, I hope someone who can help me post by then so I'll know what to give or not give her


:grouphug :grouphug :grouphug i hope someone can give you a better idea but at this time there's not many people on....


ps: formula has to be warm for them to want it... think about it ... coldish milk means a dead mother ... omg... horrible thing to think about....

[gs1]

am not sure if you ever got this ...sorry if you did....


Do NOT USE ESBILAC! **TEMPORARY Goat's Milk Formula***

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***While waiting for the Fox Valley to arrive...

Temporary Formula for Infant Squirrels – The Goat’s Milk Formula

Because of recent manufacturing issues, Esbilac and other puppy formulas are no longer being recommended for squirrels or other wildlife. The formula that TSB recommends, Fox Valley Day One, is currently available online at www.foxvalleynutrition.com and www.henryspets.com. But those require shipping and this baby squirrel needs food NOW.

One of our senior members who posts as Jackie in Tampa uses an excellent temporary substitute, and it can be assembled from locally purchased ingredients:

3 parts goat’s milk
1 part heavy whipping cream*
1 part vanilla yogurt

Formula will last 48 hours in refrigerator.

Goat’s Milk
This can be purchased at natural food stores such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, and at most health food stores that sell groceries. It is a product for humans. Do not substitute commercial formula made for baby goats or other livestock sold at feed stores.

Goat’s milk is available fresh in a carton; evaporated in a can; and as a powdered milk. If you purchase either the evaporated or powdered versions, please blend them with water according to the package directions before using to make the formula.

Heavy Whipping Cream
This is found in small cartons in the grocery store near the coffee creamers and half and half. Regular heavy cream may be substituted if it is unavailable, but the heavy whipping cream has the highest fat content, and is preferred.

Yogurt
Yogurt has beneficial bacteria in it that soothes and settles digestion. Full fat yogurt is best, and a good choice that is very widely available is Stoneyfield Yobaby yogurt. However if it is unavailable, a low fat vanilla yogurt may be substituted. Avoid those that have artificial sweeteners in them. Vanilla and banana are both popular flavors, and the sweet taste of the yogurt helps to convince the baby to accept it.

It has been recently discovered that very small pinky squirrels may do better digestively if, instead of being given Fox Valley formula straight, mix the Fox Valley 50/50 with the Goat’s Milk Formula assembled WITHOUT the heavy whipping cream.

*It is recommended that when just starting to feed a new baby that the first feedings be made without the heavy whipping cream. This will give their digestive systems a chance to acclimate from mama’s milk to our substitute without the harder-to-digest whipping cream. Once they accept the formula and are eliminating properly, the whipping cream can be gradually added in.

When your Fox Valley formula arrives, please transition your babies to the new formula slowly, by blending the Goat’s Milk Formula with the blended and liquefied Fox Valley formula, increasing the ratio of Fox Valley with each feeding until you are no longer using the goat’s milk.
__________________
Island Rehabber
NY State Licensed
Wildlife Rehabilitator

[jbtartell]

I found when you have to start them on the new formula you get hydrated and warm first and then do 50water/50Fv first 2 feedings then the third 25water/75FV then full strength.. I have not had a problem doing this.. you want to make sure she is getting her calories.. soo when you feed her again I would do the 50/50 then follow with the 25water / 75FV then next full strength.. she needs those calories and vitamines .. meds I am not sure about.. but food I do from my own rehabing.. good luck

[WldLifeRehabr]

At 3 AM she was good, looking and acting normal.I gave her more of the very watered down FV (1 1/2 cc). I get up every morning at 6:30- 6:40 AM to get my daughter up for school , over slept today.rushing around to get my daughter to school,I rushed in to check my baby girl before I left to drive my daughter to school and my baby girl was dead.

I remember telling my mom about 3 days ago that I had one female that I think had eye sight problems. Today I will see if that same female is still with me, it might have been her.If so,then something must have been wrong from the beginning. I usually mark all my babies w/ non toxic, wash off children's markers but I didnt with the ones I have now because I dont have enough colors. I need to find a different system if I ever end up w/ so many at once again. 12 is not a whole lot, but the most I've had at once before was 5 ( plus 7 opossums ). ( I had at one time 20 squirrels and 5 opossums,I gave another rehabber who doesnt live close by some babies and ended up w/ 12 squirrels plus the 5 opossums I've had in rehab for a month now)

Im thinking about marking the squirrels and even if I need to use the same color,I will just make sure to put that color on the opposite sex. how do you tell yours apart?

I've been rehabbing since 2008, never had one to have the type of seizure she had and the first to die on me like that.I'm very sad and thinking I suck at rehabbing now.:confused: :sad

[Jackie in Tampa]

:grouphug :grouphug :grouphug :grouphug :grouphug
Bless her little body...she is strong again!
Thank you for helping her:grouphug

[gs1]

:grouphug :grouphug :grouphug

if you want to use your markers use it as normal and when you run out of colours ... use 2 dots to mark the next batch or use the same colour on different sex ones... for example .. red dot male ...red dot female....

it must be almost impossible to keep track of them....

with this little girl it was a very unusual thing... and i cannot imagine what went wrong with her....:grouphug

she's in heaven now.....:grouphug

:grouphug


edit: we've both had the same idea about marking opposite sex ones in the same colour...:)