Aspiration of Formula

[Zong]

Hello all,

Quick background: Found these four (two males, two females) without mother for three days over a couple weekends ago. Mother was clearly gone. All were relatively warm except two had fallen out of the nest. Over the last 12 days I have hydrated them back to good health and all were doing really well except the one, until yesterday morning.

I called the rehabiltators, they had no more room for squirrels. I could have driven two hours to one that did, but due to my hectic schedule that was not in the cards. They gave me the option of calling animal services which would have put all four down. I did not consider than an actual option. However, I have otherwise spared no expense on heating pads, soft bedding, etc. Currently they are housed with a 4W heating pad, two warm water bottles changed before and after work with towel wrapped around each, on either side of the pad.

They have been fed the goats milk / vanilla yogurt formula and now that their eyes are open, I have added heavy cream.

They are 5-6 weeks old, eyes open, I have not weighed them as I don't have a scale small enough. I would guess 50 grams on the smaller females and 65 on the males. I feed them at 6:30am, 5:30pm, and 10:00pm. On weekends I keep to a 4 hour schedule. I started with a 1cc syringe, short spout with no nipple (can't find them anywhere), I am now on a 3cc syringe, short spout and they are eating about 4cc each feed.

The one female badly aspirated yesterday morning in her squirrely attempt to get at the feed.

She barely ate last night when I got home from work, she did not eat this morning. She is clicking with each breath. I found a video on youtube, and yes, it's in her lungs for sure. When I got home last night she was on top of the aforementioned heating pad and the two wool socks which cover her nest mates, and not cold, but cool. It was like she needed cooler air for breathing at the expense of cooling her body down. This morning, she climbed up again after I warmed the bottles and kind of sat up with her head poking out from the socks, clinging to the covered water bottle so she was breathing cooler air, but her body was still warmed by the botthe, nest mates and socks-cover. I had to leave for work.

So the clicking seems lighter this morning, but still on every breath. She otherwise is NOT lethargic, but not as "squirrely" as the others when feeding comes about, making squirrel noises, etc. Calling the city wildlife control will result in their immediate deaths. Calling my vet that I take the cats to is uncertain. The vet I take the cats to has a segment on the local talk radio channel and is otherwise on the up-and-up so I don't think they will assist on the down low.

What should I do now? I'm not foreign to rearing baby cats, dogs (grew up on the farm), and children, but squirrels are new to me.

I am confident that the clicking is lighter this morning than last night, I am not certain about her "clinging" behaviour this morning, but if I were sick with something in my lungs, "sitting up" (clinging up) and breathing cooler air while keeping my body warm would be a normal option. As long as she doesn't get all the way out today and on top of the socks cover, perhaps she will stay where she is.

Oh yes, I have a radiant heater down there as well, and a cool mist humidifier and the room as at 58% relative as of this morning.

Anyhow, ideas? DIY / home / herbal remedies would be ideal. Or somewhere safe in the Greater Toronto Area to get antibiotics if you all think that is the way to go.

Signed,
A concerned new pappy.

[Zong]

I found another thread with someone from Toronto and I have PM'd Squirrelfriend for advice or assistance. Anyone who can offer any input I will take it.

I am glad that lawchick had the same response, well not glad, you know what I mean, but at least when the Toronto Wildlife contacted me back they offered the same response and weren't blowing smoke up my arse.

[CritterMom]

Do you know of anyone who has any human antibiotics? Cipro is excellent for this and is a commonly prescribed human drug. You would only need a single pill if you can find it.

[Zong]

Do you know of anyone who has any human antibiotics? Cipro is excellent for this and is a commonly prescribed human drug. You would only need a single pill if you can find it.

Cirpo: No, but I'll talk to my wife and see what she says.

She's more up on the human stuff than I am. And I must be honest, my farm days were a long time ago and the memory is hazy so I cannot even remotely recall what we had access to back then. I'll post back when I hear from her. Thanks for the lead.

[CritterMom]

Cirpo: No, but I'll talk to my wife and see what she says.

She's more up on the human stuff than I am. And I must be honest, my farm days were a long time ago and the memory is hazy so I cannot even remotely recall what we had access to back then. I'll post back when I hear from her. Thanks for the lead.

If you reach squirrelfriend she is just wonderful, but time is important with this. Don't do anything yourself. Come back here with the following info - name of drug, size of pill in milligrams (any prescription bottle has that written on it) and the weight of the squirrel and one of us will help you do this CORRECTLY.

[Zong]

All over it, and I await Squirrelfreinds comments.

If I can get my hands on any antibiotic, a mg / g scale will be the second thing on the list. It's on the "should have" list right now, but until I have to start measuring for meds it wasn't. My wife says no ciprofloxin, but I forgot my neighbour probably has something, and his wife is a pharmacy tech. Not sure it that is going to be possible, but I've reached out to him as well. Worth a shot anyway. Anyhow, just got a txt back from him, he'll ask her after work tonight.

[CritterMom]

If you had a wish list it would be cipro or clavamox. Just in case the Rx tech will help.:grin2

[Zong]

Thanks much. I've put the feelers out there, i have an extended family member who is a registered nurse, and she's nowhere close but is also unwilling to overnight it via the mail to me either (argh) for fear of the authorities. Anyhow, I'm not into getting anyones medical license pulled or fired for filling prescriptions that don't exist so I am hoping the neighbour has something kicking around in the medicine cabinet.

Failing that, what do I do - just so I can plan this out, because that's how I roll.

Force her to stay warm somehow (advice requested)?

Force her to drink more fluids tonight somehow? (no formula until this has stopped, correct?)

Stop feeding period?

Pray to the deity?

I have no qualms with ordering online or going to my local drugstore where I go for my human and cat meds (yes, my cat has feline asthma and uses a human puffer with a cat sized nose piece), but its the prescription that is posing the problem. Is there anything equivalent, or semi-equivalent that I can do aside from the humidifier I have going?

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hi Zong

If you can't get antibiotics, your best bet is squirrelfriend. I'm sure she has them.

There are no natural remedies for this. They crash pretty fast with pneumonia. I would try to keep her on the heat. She does need fluids. I would try to give her formula but they usually won't take it when they can't breathe.

http://www.henryspets.com/1-basic-setup/
Here is a link for taking care of baby squirrels. It is 5 pages long so you will see a next button at the top right. Henry's also has all the supplies that are needed for their care. I would buy some 1 cc O-ring syringes and a Miracle nipple from them. They are MUCH less likely to aspirate with this.

You need the scale anyway because the amount of formula fed is based on weight. They are fed 5-7% of the weight in grams. Example: a 100g squirrel would receive 5-7 ml of formula per feeding.

Praying wouldn't be a bad idea! :tilt

[CritterMom]

If you have any large pet stores - better would be aquarium specific stores - they may sell cipro under the name "Fish Flox". You would have to buy a whole bottle - it is available online but you may want to call any pet places and see if they carry it.

[Zong]

So the big aquarium store up here, which I am also very familiar with (let me not start on the knowledge of the staff there) only has Neomycin Sulphate, and Furan. Neomycin is topical and not gonna work. Furan is for both gram positive and gram negative bacterial diseases. But furan does not look like it ingestible either (besides it is toxic). So thats a negative. Negative at PetSmart and PetValu as well.

[UDoWhat]

"Force her to drink more fluids tonight somehow? (no formula until this has stopped, correct?)

Stop feeding period?"

No ... She must have formula after no more than 24 hours on fluids. You should continue fluids along with formula after that first 24 hour period. She will starve without calories from formula or another food/calorie source and become weaker. Try feeding drop by drop.
Praying for this little one:Love_Icon

[squirrelfriend]

Ok. He came and got the cipro. I gave a couple of 1cc sirynges too. Hopefully all goes well. He's going to get a gram scale so he can weigh it. I passed on the dosing instructions to him as well.

[Zong]

Thanks to all for your advice and help. I'm back to the office and will be heading home shortly.

Mikey needs a kitchen scale anyhow :)

Cheers, will update with results, hopefully good results at that!

Mike

[stepnstone]

Ok. He came and got the cipro. I gave a couple of 1cc sirynges too. Hopefully all goes well. He's going to get a gram scale so he can weigh it. I passed on the dosing instructions to him as well.

:bowdown:thankyou:grouphug

[Nancy in New York]

Ok. He came and got the cipro. I gave a couple of 1cc sirynges too. Hopefully all goes well. He's going to get a gram scale so he can weigh it. I passed on the dosing instructions to him as well.

Probiotics are IMPORTANT two hours prior or two hours after giving antibiotics.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Ok. He came and got the cipro. I gave a couple of 1cc sirynges too. Hopefully all goes well. He's going to get a gram scale so he can weigh it. I passed on the dosing instructions to him as well.
:bliss :thankyou squirrelfriend

[Zong]

Well, I have some crappy news.

By the time I got home, around 3pm, she had already passed. She had crawled from her upright position when I left this morning, straight across the cage, outside of the heated area and away from her mates, to die. She was very cold, and not breathing at all. I tried blowing into her snout but no go. Warmed her up as best I could but she just keeps losing the heat within moments (not sure why I did this, but just for confirmation she passed). Lips were grey-blue and having a kid I babysat be a "blue baby" I know full well what that means.

I am next to positive that this was one of the ones that has fallen out of the nest and was tangled in the netting. I thought she aspirated yesterday morning, which I thought precipitated the clicking, but I wonder if this hadn't been coming or there for longer. She was in clicking mode for less than 24 hours (started last evening sometime between 5pm and 9pm) which would have been around 12 hours after she aspirated. Anyhow, she turned fast, or so it seems anyhow.

Is it normal for it to be that fast / quick?

Weight: 28 grams (I was way off).

On another note, I have a scale now, medication if it happens again which is at least readily available to me, and three still very lively critters that are doing just fine.

Thank you especially to squirrelfriend for her assistance and advice today. It was nice meeting you and you are a very kind person. Thank you as well to everyone in general.

[Annabelle's papa]

:grouphug Bless Your Heart Zong, you absolutely did everything that could be done :Love_Icon

[Kristi S]

I'm very sorry she passed. You did what you could with what was available to you, and came to the right place for help. Pneumonia can cause death extremely quickly in these little guys.

Considering their size and youth, you might want to keep their formula at 5% of body weight, and stick to the 1 cc syringe, which is easier to use and avoid aspiration. If they suck too hard, slow them down, don't let them get more than they can handle.

They seem quite tiny to be 5 weeks old, eyes open, at least for grays in the north - are they reds?

[Zong]

I have already gone back to the 1cc for the others with this evenings first feeding. Sadly enough, i had just moved to the 3cc a couple days ago as it had a better o-ring setup than the 1cc and the piston action was much smoother.

100% sure it's a grey. This one was one of the smallest, which I am pretty sure was one of them caught in the mesh outside the nest and cold as all else when I found them.

Anyhow, it's still three more that are otherwise alive at least, which is the good news. And they are doing very well.

[Zong]

Sorry, I wrote grey in my above post, you are correct they are reds - but she was still the tiniest of them all, she also never ate as much as the others.

[squirrelfriend]

So sorry that she didn't make it. You're doing all you can. At least she was warm, fed and loved instead of starving to death. You're a great person for taking these little guys on. Keep my number in case you need anything else whether it be meds or advice. It was nice meeting you too.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Zong, I'm sorry the little one didn't make it. :(

Is there any way that you can take the babies to the office to feed them? I know you said you feed them at 6:30AM... 5:30PM... 10:00PM. These babies are way too small to go 11hrs during the day w/o formula. That's the reason I can't take tiny babies .. I work too. I'm not familiar with reds and I know they are small but I'm thinking they need to be fed every 4 hrs.

[pappy1264]

I am so very sorry the little one did not make it. Agreed, they need to eat more often, as they will be failure to thrive if not. Longest they should be going is four hours (you can do 8 during the night if need be, but would not go any later then that). What the the weights on the others?

[squirrelfriend]

If needed I will gladly take them.. I can take them to work with me and feed them on my breaks.