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View Full Version : Oy! Snot-like Poop - is it the FV? Or more Coccidia?



sqrlmum
09-12-2013, 01:39 PM
Hi, All:

Please bear with me on this long, drawn-out post. I have a 3- to 4-week-old boy came in Labor Day weekend with TERRIBLY hard poops and now we've gone completely to the other end of the spectrum! His name is Colton and he is going to be a very big Eastern Grey when he grows up. :)

Attempted to reunite with mom to no avail. She didn't come back as his sister was injured badly when their nest was cut down and was paralyzed (I had a thread on her earlier; she did not make it although she was in super hands with my rehabber).

- Day/night 1 on Pedialyte, then Jackie's awesome GM recipe (Greek no-fat yogurt as it was the only one available to the girl who found them). Poops were awfully hard and we needed to go in for the 'assist' to get them out. They were a healthy wonderful medium-yellow colour, albeit taking a ton of coaxing to get out of his little butt.

- I got them, transitioned over to regular FV 32/40 - and then the diarrhea began.

- I added low-fat vanilla yogurt to the FV and switched to a 3:1 water/FV ratio. Poops got worse.

- Kaopectate slowed down the diarrhea for, like, 20 minutes ... but then it went back to nearly egg-white consistency with a little light-light yellow/white colour thrown in for good measure. Tried Imodium - NOPE! Still bubbly and light yellow snot poo.

- Spaced out the FV feedings from 3 hrs to 4/4.5 hours, and gave Pedialyte around every hour. It was berry and bright orange, and some of the mucous in the poo was also orange which told me that the Pedialyte was going through him (but not bad). I switched to the homemade rehydration recipe after reading what Pedialyte can do to their kidneys.

- The two pinkies that are on the same formula mixture (3:1 water to FV and the low-fat vanilla yogurt) are a tad loose, but pretty firm in consistency. One is looser and I'm worried she's going to head into this snot diarrhea. They are separated from Colton as I think it could be coccidia. :(

- Had previously treated three babies for coccidia and the cocc had cleared up prior to Colton's arrival (they did one dose of Ponazuril and then 1 week on Albon 1x/day and Flagyl 2x/day - right as rain now!). I used bleach, hot water, and ammonia to clear out their bedding and living area, and Colton was never in their cage. I boiled their syringes but he has been using them.

- Colton's poop has resembled the cocc kid's poop, and it's also done that crazy bird-poop white liquid poop with the little white clumps. Yesterday I started him on Albon 1x/day and Flagyl 2x/day. I do not have any Ponazuril.

- STILL bubbly and snotty diarrhea! I have heard that Albon can take a while to show effectiveness, so I am going to stay the course with it for at least 7 days with the Flagyl.

SO ... my questions are:

What to do about the FV?
Should I do a 4:1 ratio with water?
Should I take out the vanilla low-fat yogurt in case the sugar in it is making him poopy?
He is slightly dehydrated and taking the rehydration formula OK (not great), but I am concerned about the Albon being hard on his tummy so should I do FV every other feeding? If so, should I do rehydration every 60-90 mins and then the FV every 5-6 hours?

I have been using FV with absolutely NO yogurt for all of my babies and I have never, EVER had a problem. Ever. I've never even diluted their FV. They've all been happy and healthy with awesome poops and been fat & sassy and have released with no issues. I am at my wit's end. I can't believe that neither Imodium nor Kaopectate is stopping this, even briefly. UGH.

:thankyou

CritterMom
09-12-2013, 02:24 PM
Frankly, you aren't the first to have problems with the 32/40. We had a long thread about it which has apparently been moved to where most cannot read it now.

My suggestion would be either taking him completely off the 32/40 and moving to the 20/50, which does not seem to be causing issues, or switch him to the goats milk recipe and when he gets a bit better you can transition him to 20/50.

SMZ-TMP will work a bit faster than the albon if you have it. Albon is "bacteriostatic" which means it knocks some of the "bugs" out which clears the way for the immune system to clean up the rest. The "SMZ" part of SMZ-TMP is very similar to Albon. The "TMP" is Trimethoprin which is a "batericidal" drug - it kills everything. This is why the SMZ-TMP is faster acting than the Albon - it doesn't rely on the immune system to do part of the work.

I would also stop at a Petco or similar and get some Benebac - they usually have it in the hamster department. You want to give him a bit of that daily, but put as much distance between giving it and giving the antibiotics - if you are doing abx at say 6AM and 6PM, give the Benebac at noon.

sqrlmum
09-12-2013, 02:36 PM
CritterMom - thank you for the suggestions! I have not used BeneBac before, so I'll do some research to make sure I'm properly dosing & will heed your advice r.e. spacing with the meds.

I hadn't considered using the 20/50 - just got a new shipment in from Henry's yesterday so there's plenty to go around. Excellent idea! The GM gave him the hardest poops I've seen in a long time in a baby, so the 20/50 is probably the way to go with him.

I'll check with my rehabber again r.e. the SMZ-TMP. Usually for the cocc we do the Ponazuril, which is amazing and is only 1 dose. I'm not sure if she has any SMZ-TMP but will check with her on that.

:thankyou :thankyou :thankyou

lilidukes
09-12-2013, 08:23 PM
The most wonderful thing about using SMZ-TMP is you
don't have to give a probiotic when using.:tilt