liquid diarrhea for the last 6 hours

[saloli]

Gracey has had liguid stools for the last 6-7 hours. Last week she had soft to liquid stools for 2-3 days. Took her to vet. Her liver is swollen and he gave me chloramphenicol. That same day her diarrhea stopped. So I did not give her the medication. She appeared to recover and she has been eating and sleeping well. She is approxiamtely 1 1/2 years old. She came to me with pneumonia and was on antibiotics for months, hence she has not developed very well. She gets ample sunlight and a mixed diet as do all the other guys who for some reason or another could not go into the wild. I have a 20x34x12 squirrel enclosurer built off the office of my house. She does not spend time in there and no one else is sick. My vet is at a loss and so am I. Any help is very much appreciated.

[Gabe]

Hi Saloli and welcome to the squirrel board. I'm assuming Gracie is a squirrel.

Does her poop stink?

What color is it?

[saloli]

Yes she is a female grey. Her poop smells and is orange to brown liguid

[Gabe]

Have you changed anything in her diet, added a new treat?

Such as sweet potato, acorns...

[saloli]

No. She eats sweet potato but only 2 small and I mean small pieces a day. This morning she had some corn one small piece, 1-2 small pieces of sweet potato one outdoor grown sunflower sprout and one half of a walnut. She is a very finicky eater. She then laid in the sun for about and hour. while she slept her fur was all puffed up. She then got up and the diarrhea started.

[Critter_Queen]

I agree...any change in diet? Exactly what does she eat each day? Too much of any one thing can cause diarrhea.

I'm worried about the enlarged liver...did he give you any digestive enzymes to try to help that?

Have you tried a probiotic? Any kind of stress (illness, change in cage, routine, etc) can cause gasterointestinal upset that will kill most of the good bacteria in the digestive system...antibiotics will ALWAYS do this.

I would suggest getting some powdered Bene Bac for mammals (vet might have it, and it's also available commercially in some pet stores...the gel is icky...get the powder)...or if you can't find that, I've heard that organic yogurt with live cultures works for some folks here. Just make sure it says "live cultures" on it and try giving her some of that.

I would suggest only trying/testing one thing at a time so you can be sure you are getting at the source of her trouble. I've made the mistake in the past of making too many changes at once so I don't know what I did right or wrong.

Have you thought about giving those antibiotics now?

Have you tried giving any kaopectate or similar anti-diarrhea med? You can safely give half of one cc of kaopectate every four hours to a squirrel...but I would try the probiotics first.

Have you had a fecal check done for worms? Worms can cause stinky, runny poops.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Critter_Queen]

No. She eats sweet potato but only 2 small and I mean small pieces a day. This morning she had some corn one small piece, 1-2 small pieces of sweet potato one outdoor grown sunflower sprout and one half of a walnut. She is a very finicky eater. She then laid in the sun for about and hour. while she slept her fur was all puffed up. She then got up and the diarrhea started.

Is this all she eats in one day? What else do you provide for her to eat?

Sorry for all the questions...just trying to figure out what her issue is. :)

[saloli]

No she is offered broc, squash, apples, grapes(peeled and seedless) halzelnut, walnuts, pecans, pumkin seeds, banana, kale and when in season an aray of flowers and fruit grown in my yard for the squirrles. I have tried giving her yogurt but she would not take it. I am going out a little later to try and hunt down benebac. I gave her a little cherry flavored kaopectate much to her displeasure and yes i am considering giving her the medication but i can find no information in relation to squirrels and diarrhea. A rehabber friend told me she has never given a squirrel this medication. I had never given a squirrel chloramphenicol except when I had a squirrell that was jaundiced. He died of liver cancer (necropsy results) but my vet thought he had hep B.

[Gabe]

Chloramphenicol is a broad spectrum antibiotic. I'm not sure what is going on, but I think you should continue to use it as directed by the vet. Squirrels respond quickly to antibiotics, so don't stop if she is better in a day. I would go ahead and get the benebac, or some tasty fruit flavored yogurt with live cultures.
It certainly is a concern if the liver is enlarged. The vet thinks this squirrel has hep B or the other one?
You say she gets sunlight, is this through a window or directly outside?

[saloli]

My other squirrel peanut died about a year ago from liver cancer. The vet thought he had hep B and he was jaundiced. He was the only squirrel i have ever given the chloramphenicol.

My vet does not know what is going on with Gracey. The sunlight she gets is outside light, not window light.

[squirrelfriend]

If she is a finicky eater and it is difficult to get leafy greens down her how about some liquid calcium in her water? You can get it at most drug stores. Just make sure that it is calcium only no other vitamins in it. there is also a powder called Prime sold in pet stores for birds.

How much is ample sunlight? IS it dirrect sunlight, shade or ambient sunlight?

[Gabe]

This is a good med. It is used for unusual bacteria that can result from pneumonia. With Gracey's history, he may think this is the way to go. You are doing a good job with food and sunlight. She is unfortunately one of those little ones that have not thrived well and would definately have died if it were not for your continued care.
If you want to use something to stop the diarrhea you may. Be careful though, some of the kaopectates have either aspirin or tylenol added to them. I prefer not to give anything for diarrhea because then I don't know if my meds are working or not. Same as Critter Queen said, sometimes we try a few different things at once and then don't know which one worked.

[saloli]

Does anyone think raspberry jello would help? She just had a smidge of strawberry Activia yogurt. The only way I could get her to take this without stressing her out was to coat a shelled hazelnut and give her a quater of it, which she ate just fine.

[Timber]

Well, I can understand the anti yogart problem. Timber will not touch anything that even hints of yogart with a ten foot pole. You can't trick him any way you try. But you may want to try the kayopectate but just to through this one out there...What I was told to give a squirrel with diareaha was Banana. I was told by a pharmacist and a vet that bananas had a good anti diareah ingrediant in them. What do you rehabs. think?

[Gabe]

Do we want to treat the diarrhea or the problem. The diarrhea is a symptom of a problem. We can stop the diarrhea, but the problem is still there.
I've never used jello for diarrhea, I use Deliver which coats the intestinal tract, soothes it and has electrolytes for dehydration. There has been some discussion here about jello. The link is listed below.
I would suggest stopping the fresh fruit and continuing the meds the vet gave you.



http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2080

[Apple Corps]

I am not a rehabber but have worked in healthcare for 15 years. If the vet put your fuzzer on an ANTIBIOTIC you MUST complete the ENTIRE dosage. It is a big mistake to stop just because the symptoms stop. COMPLETE the entire dosage regimen as prescribed by the vet.

What your fuzzer may be having is a "rebound infection". The first few doses takes care of the weaker bacteria and improvement is noticed very quickly. HOWEVER - when you stop short of the entire dosage / regimen the stronger bacteria survive and come back quickly with a fury.

That is why people and fuzzers should always complete the entire dosage regimen - always.

[saloli]

To clarify I never started the medication as she stopped the diarrhea the day she went to the vet. She has been diarrhea free and acting normal for a week now. My vet told me the medication might or might not help an enlarged liver. My other squirrel peanut whom was thought to have hep b was given this medictaion for a possible infection. It did not help.
Right now I would very much like to stop the diarrhea and if anyone has any thoughts on an enlarged liver possibly contributing to her diarrhea please share. Thank you

[skwerls_R_soft]

Maybe check with your vet about "Loperamide" tablets to see if it is safe for squirrels. It is the pharmaceutical name for Imodium AD and Kaopectate, but you can get jsut plain Loperamide without the pain med additives like Tylenol. It can be purchased OTC and is usually very inexpensive if you get the store brand version. The vets I worked for made a slurry of the pills with water for dogs who had terrible diarrhea. I keep some on hand for my dog, who has a tendancy to eat rotten things he finds in the woods resulting in diahrrea.

[Apple Corps]

gotcha - I had to reread your post and now see you did not start the antibiotic - my mistake.

Both bacterial infections and parasitic infestations can cause liver enlargement. Could that be what the vet was going after with the antibiotic?

[saloli]

Apple Corp, possibly. When this started I gave her droncet to treat for worms (that what my vet recommends) . So when she stopped the diarrhea and seemed to return to normal I did not treat with chloamphenicol. Now I wished I had. I am worried sick. She has been sleeping all day with her liiter mate who also had the pnemonia.

This pnemonia thing was about 9-10 months ago. He is not sick but is quite a weak little squirrel. They both, off an on over the past months have had a sniffle nose thing and i treated with Baytril and vibramycin, which did not seem to help but they recovered many weeks after medication course. I am wondering if this is something systemic. I have asked my vet for amocillin but he will not give it to me as he says this can cause life threating dairrhea.

She just got up and ate a little pice of kale and bit of broc and a piece of sweet potato. She has been drinking water all day. Now I am afraid to start the medication for fear it will weaken her more. I ahve never had a squirrel with dairrhea for this long. Even when peanut had liver cancer he did not get diarrhea. He did throw up. She is not thwoing up and seems to have a good appitite. What to do?

[saloli]

Oh yes I tried bananas but she turned up her nose on it and dug into deep cover in her chair. I left the banana there and will put out another opiece in an hour or so. The last time she had diarhhea she ate the banana.

[Apple Corps]

Here is a link for the antibiotic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramphenicol

A long period of the runs will also create an imbalance of electrolytes. I am wondering if a small amount of salt and sugar in her water might be of help?

It is a guess on my part - but it sounds like you have so many things going on that it is not clear as to the appropriate course of action. Some fuzzer "Gatorade" may help restore the electrolytic balance. Is there another vet that you could get her to in the morning? Sometimes another set of eyes sees something different.

[Timber]

When I was told to give banana for diarrhea I was also told to mix ( not sure how to spell it so I will do it as it sounds ) assodophiliss with pureed bananas and syringe it to the squirrel. The assodophiliss fights any bacteria and the bananas help control the diarrhea.

[Mars]

Hi Timber, I can't spell it either. The product is a probiotic, one of the live cultures found in yogurt. Mixing it with banana was smart.

If this baby has been on antibiotics and other meds off and on for most of it's life than the best thing for it is to get probiotics into it anyway one can. A number of very good products have been mentioned here. Try to get the probiotics into her several tmes a day. But even so probiotics take time to establish in the gut. In the mean while the trick is to keep the baby well hydrated. To this end I would replace the water source for now with a hydration fluid such as pedilyte. This can be froozen to in an ice cube tray and thawed as needed. Giving exact fluids by syringe a couple times a day wouldn't hurt either. An alternative to the pedilyte is sweet water. In the juice isle (not the freezer section) you can find canned juice concentrate. Look for one that is all juice w/no sweeteners and add just a few drops to her water to encourage drinking. Remember we only want to sweeten the water not to flavor it so just a few drops will do it. Monitor how much she is drinking and watch for signs of dehydration.

[Mars]

PS

I was just reading back over the posts and realized there was a sibling that was also on meds. Antibiotics destroy the good bacterial as well as the bad. The good stuff in our guts ( and in all mammal guts ) are call probiotics or gut flora. They play a vital role in the absorbtion on nutrients in our digestive tract. Without a good gut flora absortion is very poor and will be reflected in poor growth. You can have your babies on the best diet in the world but without good probiotics you will get poor results. So the long and the short of this is I would highly recommend getting probiotics into the sibling as well.

[saloli]

Thank you all for all your help. She is sleeping peacefully for now. She has been drinking water all day and has not had any more diarhea since 3 pm this afternoon. Tomorrow I will head out to get probiotic and see if I can get her to take this. it is 11 pm and I am exhausted and have 15 other little guys that also need my attention. 1 (iggy) was just released and is sleeping out in the yard. He made friends and a nest. Yeah. 5 more are suppose to be released soon. I suppose tomorrow will bring another day of squirrel tails. I will post more tomorrow. Right now all this is in a power greater than myself hands. Thank you all again.
Saloli. (Thats cherokee for squirrel)

[Mars]

Look for probiotics in the refrig at the health food store. Natren's Megadophilus is the product I use but there are others. Buy a powder for ease of use. Benabac powder from the pet store or the vet is another excellent choice. Organic live cultured yogurt is a natural source. My babies like vanilla or banana.

[Rache4173]

When I was told to give banana for diarrhea I was also told to mix ( not sure how to spell it so I will do it as it sounds ) assodophiliss with pureed bananas and syringe it to the squirrel. The assodophiliss fights any bacteria and the bananas help control the diarrhea.

Acidophilus... :) You can find it in powder form at some health food stores. That way you can mix it with anything.

[saloli]

Today Gracey started the day with hard stools that turned to soft then to liquid. Still the orange to brown color. She has graciuosly eaten some Activia strawberry yogurt with some fruit/dairy probiotic mixed in. She is drinking a lot of water, eaten some kale, some dandelions, a few pumpkin seeds and 1/2 of a hazelnut and walnut.

She is not very active and still sits with her fur all puffed out. She also feels hot to me, especially her tummy.

Due to rainy weather no sun for her to sit in. (She likes to lay in the sun). Her abdomen is still swollen especially right below the costal margin on the irght to mid abdomen, her liver. If I can get the diarhhea to stop any thoughts on chloramphenicol and the liver ?

[Gabe]

I have to ask this again. When you say sunlight, she is outside in the sunlight? Explain her way of getting sunlight.

[saloli]

I have a squirrel enclousure built off my bedroom and office it is 20 feet wide by 34-36 feet long. It is approximately 12 feet tall and is covered in hardware cloth and metal screen. she gets outdoor light through the screen material that covers the entire enclousure. I wish i had a way of posting it to see if this is right for the guys. My contractor did not understand when i said i wanted a squirrel enclosure built. I have some guys that stay out there all day. It gets some full sun, partial shade and total shede, just like the backyard.

[Gabe]

Thank you. Do they have access to the indoors too? Or are they outside squirrels. Your enclosure sounds fine by the way.

[saloli]

There are 4 that are soon to be released and are in a section of (I have 2 of these) 10x5x12 foot areas. They never come inside. In the largest area are the keepers, the deaf, the broken backs, etc, those that can walk but not climb and those that can climb but not leap. (I live in Florida and between the hurricanes and tree people a lot of the ones I get are very very injured. Anyway these guys can go indoors and outdoors. I have large french doors and they wander in but only if i am in those room, they adjoin. I run a medical transcriptionist business out of my house so i am in all day. Gracey and Cookie (her litter mate) prefer indoors, especially Cookie, he is extrememly small, like a dwarf. They do however go out and sit in the sun on the bench on the deck.

[Gabe]

Gracey was a sickly baby with frequent pneumonia, she was off and on antibiotics, and has not thrived well.

Has she had diarrhea all along off and on?

How long has this last bout of diarrhea lasted?

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Sounds like a nice enclosure. What did you give your squirrels for pneumonia? I had a baby squirrel (3-4 days old) that had pneumonia and I gave her Sulpha Trim for 10 days and that cleared it up nicely. The antibiotics gave her diarrhea though (her poop looked like milk) but after she was done with the medicine she was very healthy, no diarrhea or pneumonia. She did have one relapse of diarrhea and sniffling about a month later and I put her on Sulpha Trim again for 7 days and it cleared up and she has not gotten sick again (she is now about 4 months old living in the outdoor cage). I think that an antibiotic will help the squirrel. I like to use Sulpha Trim, but I have never tried the stuff your vet gave you, and he would know better than me, so I would go ahead with the antibiotic as perscribed. I would also give the probiotic, but be careful not to give to much because that can overload the stomach with bacteria and cause diarrhea. Good luck with your little fuzzer, I hope he gets healthy and happy again!

[saloli]

I gave Gracey and Cookie Baytrill for the pnemonia. This cleared in about ten days. This was last October. They were fine and sarted to do well untill around January. They did not seem to be getting very large and wanted to sleep alot. Cookie really never has had much of an appetite but staered eating less. Gracey has alway been a cjow hound but just didn't seem to grow/ In the sping of tehs year all the squirrels came down with smoe sort of snezzing anf sniffle this. My vet thought it was just allergies or something like kennel cough. So to be sure we did a herd treatemt of Baytril and vibramycin most of the summer. Gracie started getting sick with abdomial bloat at the same time, no diarhhea. During the summer all were treated for tapeworm with Droncet. The diarhhea started January 5th, lasting for 4 days. Then again yesterday. She and Cookie still sometimes sneeze as do 3 others. They, (punkie, Elija and Nilla) are all right and Cookie who is her litter mate and has has the same diet, sun, and medication does not have the swollen liver and no diarrhea. ??

[Gabe]

How are Gracey's motor skills? can she balance and hold her food or does she act immature when it comes to balance?

[saloli]

She has excellent balance. She can stand on her hind legs and do the Lemur impression. She can do a back flip off a chair. Now Cookie is weak but can leap a short distance. Gracey can hold food with no problem. The only other problem she has is her teeth. I have had them trimmed twice. For some reason she had no bottom teeth. They do no grow. No matter how short her top ones are. That is another issue. The Friday she came down with diarrhea I had planned to have her teeth trimmed. It is two weeks later and they really need to be trimmed now. She is not the type to have me do it. So I take her to my vet who gives her a short burst of gas. I do not want to do anything to stress her out more.

[Gabe]

Could her teeth be painful, therefore not eating as well as she could be, picking softer foods, such as fruit.
Have you ever tried just esbilac mixed with some baby cereal and baby fruit? It would give her the nourishment she needs to get her weight up.

[saloli]

What kind of baby cereal and what kind of baby fruit. She will not take the esbilac. Perhaps mixed with something, she might. I have cheked her gums and mouth. Nice pink gums nothing swollen or ulcerated. Her top teeth are almost touching the bottom. Her weight stable. It is just this swollen liver ??

[Gabe]

I would use baby rice ceral and banana or applesauce or sweet potato. See what she likes.
The swollen liver is not a good sign. Don't really know why she has it. Is it something in the environment from the last one that died? Hep is contagious.

[saloli]

Thank you I will get the cereal tonight. My other baby, Peanut was 5 years old and started getting sick with diarrhea and throwing up. His liver was also swollen. At first my vet though he might have hep B, which yes is contagious even to me. Anyway He shortly turned jaundiced and he was treated with the chloramphenicol. After a course of this and him getting weaker the medication was stopped. He shortly died. I had a necropsy done which showed hemagioscarcoma of the liver. This is a form of blood born cancer that landed in his liver, which to my knowledeg is not contragious. Peanut died in September of 2005. Gracey and Cookie had only been here a week. I also had another little guy die about one year before of abdominal swelling to the point he had several ascites taps. He was only two years old and my vet said he had congested heart failure. I did not have a necrospy at the time but wish i had now. In the last few years I have raised 30-35 little babies. I suppose sometimes they have the unexplainable. I keep thinking there is something i am overlooking. I

[Gabe]

I agree, seems the larger our numbers the better the chances we will get something out of the ordinary. I am truly working on this. We rehabbers are working together behind the scenes. We were hoping to be able to private message you after you had posted 15 times, I see it has not come on yet. Go to your user profile and make sure you do not have it turned off. It should have come on by now.

[saloli]

I went to i think was a user file but i am not sure what needs to be on or off. I really am computer illiterate.

[Gabe]

Go to control panel
Then to "edit options"
Then to "messaging and notification"
Then check mark "enable pm"

[saloli]

I went to edit options
then to messenger and notification
but could not find a box to mark enable pm
I made sure my e-mail address could be seen and marked the box to receive e-mail from all.

[Mars]

Come and join Gabe and I in the rehabber's chat room.

[island rehabber]

While Gabe and Mars are helping saloli in the chat room, I just wanted everyone to know that the Board has been experiencing a 'glitch', as it has not been turning on new members' PM access as soon as it should have. Squerly is on the case right now....when it is working properly, anyone who posts in the Emergency forum should have almost immediate PM access.

[solole]

MY BABY GOT THE DIARRHEA WHEN HE WAS 6 WEEKS OLD GREEN AND YELLOW i GAVE HIM PEDOLITE NOT SURE OF THE SPELLING BUT ITS THE FRUITY STUFF YOU GIVE BABY HUMANS AND IT CLEARED UP IN FACT SALOLE JUST TODAY HAD A LITTLE RUNNY STUFF SO I OFFERED HIM THE PEDOLITE AGAIN HE LIKES IT FRUITY YOU KNOW BUT I THINK IS WAS BECAUSE HE GOT AHOLD OF SOMEONES LIFE SAVERS YESTERDAY AND THE PEPPERMINT AND ALL . hE IS HAS IF A TWO YEAR OLD CHILD YOU HAVE TO WATCH HIM WITH ALL EYES i HOPE THINGS WORK OUT. sALOLE/TRISH

[solole]

:D My baby is doing great now the day of diarrhea stoped I really think it was the sweet potatoe i gave him he has never has them before, I guess I am learning just what he cant eat other wise he loves his fruit and veggies.

[Momma Squirrel]

Good news, thanks for the update. OK is that a cow carcass (sp) being chewed on :dono

[Gabe]

Momma Squirrel, I think that's a crow carcass with antlers.:rotfl