baby squirrel with diarrhea getting worse need help pls

[buck308]

Ok so i rescued a squirrel about 3 weeks ago (first time).. her mother was killed by a dog and only one baby was found. Its female, and eyes just opened early this week.. i started off with pedialyte, slowly worked in esbilac puppy formula, shes had diarrhea the whole time in my care and i cant figure it out. Its seems like its gotten worse and shes started to feel pain. Her anus is not prolapsed but seems a little swollen as if prolapse may begin soon but im not certain. So for the last few days she's been fed straight esbilac, I'm about to start giving her straight pedialyte in hopes of flushing out her system. I need some knowledge here please and thanks!!!!

[CritterMom]

OK, which esbilac puppy formula are you feeding? Is it the powdered formula that you have to mix yourself or is it already liquid in a can?

Yes on hydration. Every time you see diarrhea, you must give additional hydration. It does not have to be pedialyte though, and you don't want to give pedialyte for more than 24 hours because of the salt content. You can use plain water or sugar water (1 teaspoon sugar to 1 cup water).

[buck308]

The esbilac is liquid formula premixed.. should i feed esbilac inbetween pedialyte or just pedialyte by itself for the day? Basically what i was told to do from the start is mix 3 parts pedialyte to 1 part esbilac for 2 days and then half/half, and then 1p pedialyte to 3p esbilac until eventually its on straight esbilac.. i guess that person was wrong

[Sara in NW MS]

I'm not an expert but what I've seen suggested on here is you should never mix the formula with pedialyte.

They also recommend using the powdered esbilac that has the blue banner across the top. It has pre and probiotics.

Once the right formula is ingested and it's mixed only with water... you should see an improvement.

Always hydrate your baby between feedings with the sugar/water ratio mentioned in the previous thread.

[buck308]

Damn and i just bought another 2 cans of esbilac!! Well now that her eyes are open and shes got her top teeth coming out, im hoping she starts biting at the rodent blocks soon. It doesn't make things easy when everyone i talk to swears by certain things that all conflict with eachother. One person saying pedialyte is causing the diarrhea and i dont need it, next person saying pedialyte should be preventing it and to mix it with formula, etc.. i knew what i was getting myself into when taking in this baby and i knew it wouldnt be easy but like this is a joke i need someone who actually knows what they're talking about and thats why now im here

[Spanky]

Damn and i just bought another 2 cans of esbilac!! Well now that her eyes are open and shes got her top teeth coming out, im hoping she starts biting at the rodent blocks soon. It doesn't make things easy when everyone i talk to swears by certain things that all conflict with eachother. One person saying pedialyte is causing the diarrhea and i dont need it, next person saying pedialyte should be preventing it and to mix it with formula, etc.. i knew what i was getting myself into when taking in this baby and i knew it wouldnt be easy but like this is a joke i need someone who actually knows what they're talking about and thats why now im here

The continuous diarrhea is almost certainly from the canned Esbilac. I would strongly encourage you to return that and try to get the formula in the pictures I attached. Make sure the third ingredient is dried whey protein concentrate. Even if she starts nibbling block, you don't want to wean her from formula, you want her to continue to take it for as long as possible. She will eventually self wean.

As far as hydration, its counterproductive to provide hydration fluid with nutrition (formula). The hydration takes away form the nutrients being absorbed and the formula takes away from the hydration being absorbed. The Esbilac powder should be mixed with water and if hydration is needed, as CM said, that should be in between feedings.

You can use this temporary Goat Milk Formula which I believe she'll do okay with versus the canned Esbilac and help start to resolve the diarrhea.

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

You may even leave the cream out when you start since she is already having tummy issues.

:thankyou for helping this baby. If you'd like us to try to locate a rehabber or member that can maybe help finish raising her and perform a proper release, just provide us your general location and we will attempt to match you up with someone!

[Mommaluvy]

I understand your confusion. But please trust us that the Esbilac premixed is the problem. Plus your accidentally diluting it further with the pedialyte. If she has been in your care for a few weeks she needs to be on full strength formula.

Pedialyte is GREAT for the first 24 hours that they are in your care.
but after that hydration should only be with sugar and water. I think someone here already gave you that information.

You can use the temp goats milk for now..

or maybe you can take the premixed back and exchange it if you have not opened the two new cans.

I am near Cincinnati Ohio. If you are anywhere near me I can help you in a couple of different ways :P If you are .. send me a PM and I will give you my number.

There is a special formula ( online ) ( If your near me I can give you some), that you can give her to stop the runs in its tracts. BUT i agree that once she is on the Esbilac Powder with probiotics then it should right itself.


Caring for a baby squirrel is not hard... but there is alot of different things involved that a first time care person may not know about. Accidents of that kind can kill the squirrel. I even know of several vets that advise finders to use kitten milk and that is really dangerous. But they mean well. They just don't know.

So again.. you should stop the pedialyte .
Work on getting the powdered esbilac.
and in a few days.. it should be normal.

[buck308]

Thank you all for the advice! Well this weekend im going camping for a week and a half, and im going to leave the squirrel with a friend while im gone. Shes one if the people whos been giving me the wrong advice, and being an animal recuer whos been working at a pet store selling esbilac for 17 years, she probably wont take to this advice too easily (she also currently has 5 rescue dogs and 9 cats plus kittens AND a newborn daughter of her own, otherwise she wouldve been caring for the squirrel herself). Im going to return the cans and get powdered, andvI will try to encourage her to use the powdered instead of premix, hope that goes well. Im in Mississauga ontario, a number of pkaces had been called but no one could take it, which is why i decided to, my friend called me knowing i would haha. Thanks again and wish me luck!! Ill be here again if problem persists

[Mommaluvy]

We have people in Canada .

Please leave him with one of us.

We have been trained and it does not sound like your friend will take proper care. Kittens and dogs are totally different things.

[CritterMom]

I have alerted a wonderful rehabber who is in Toronto to this thread. She posts as "squirrelfriend."

[squirrelfriend]

Hi. I just got the message. I am at work right now. I haven't been able to read the thread yet. You can call or text me at (416)270-2166

[squirrelfriend]

I can take him while you're camping

[buck308]

I can take him while you're camping

Let me see what my friend says, shes already looking forward to having it for the week. I wouldn't mind leaving it with someone else because she does have so many other things to worry about as it is, but she wants to and is pretty excited for it.. im just waiting for the powdered milk to show a difference so i can show her instead of trying to tell her, and she should be fine with it.. she just has this thing for canned esbilac but aside from that shes been good help. Her store doesnt even sell the powdered stuff i had to go elsewhere to get it. like buddy said before, some people have the best of intentions but just dont know better, itll be a learning experience for us both! i will link ya if otherwise!! Thanks for all the great advice everyone!

[CritterMom]

Diarrhea is an inconvenience for humans. It will quickly kill a baby squirrel. Think long and hard about what you do from here...The fact that she is a "fan" of liquid esbilac isn't gonna be very important if it kills this baby.

Thy are NOT the same formula - you would think it would be, but it isn't. They have different protein sources and that makes a HUGE difference for baby squirrels. Simply comparing the ingredients will show the difference.

[buck308]

Yes i will try to convince her as i said. Thank you

[buck308]

Im already seeing a difference.. ive been working today, came home at lunch for feeding time and i when i got to her i noticed she had pooped a little while i was gone, and her pooper was crusting over. Immediately took a q-tip and warm water to her butt and gently moistened it up until it came loose, and she pooped up a storm. There were some darker soft sticky bits but most was still the pale yellow liquid as before. Happened again when i came home after work, with even more darker chunks but still lots of liquid. She hadn't done this before, but seems like her system is starting to flush everything out, the more darker chunks i see the more ill take it as a good sign other then the crusty blockage and im keeping a good eye on it to make sure it doesnt keep blocking up. Plus shes looking much more active and better climbing skills already. Ill keep you all posted until shes perfectly healthy. This is a huge learning experience and i will share this with my friends who initially helped out, especially the one who will care for it while im gone, shes gonna have to use what i got anyway and ill make sure i stress the need for the powdered. And then i can officially say we are both capable of rescueing a squirrel in the future! Passing on knowledge is one thing but you just cant pass on the experience, how do ya gain without starting right?

[Spanky]

Great update and yes, please keep us updated! It should take a day or two at least before she fully turns the corner, but then she'll "take off" on her way to the trees, And we certainly do not want the babysitter to change things once she is heading in the right direction! :nono

[nutsaboutanimals]

I am in Toronto Canada and I would love to take in one more baby the one I have is 6-7 weeks old and I believe they would do better in pairs if anybody has one that they don't want to take care of maybe we could arrange something.:dance

[buck308]

More good news so ive been checking her often and shes been pooping nothing but solids.. gooey sticky solids but at least next to no liquids. Shes getting there! AND my friend took it a lot easier then i expected. She says shed rather do it that way anyway as its more cost efficient as well.. and ive seen her work with lots of baby critters mainly cats and dogs but she did have a little chipmunk at one point and she managed to release it.. i think im safe leaving it with her no offense to any of you haha its been 3 weeks with this thing and i am definitely getting attached to it and shes crawling all over me very active, loves the belly rubs, i catch her nibbling on her toy a lot too, shes always been pretty active like shes looking around for that nipple all the time. Just hoped i was helping with the diarrhea but couldnt tell if it was getting any better which is usually not a good sign especially after weeks. But seems like thanks to your help we've got the issue under control and ill make sure this little squirrel is raised right and healthy! Progress update tomorrow before i leave

[buck308]

I am in Toronto Canada and I would love to take in one more baby the one I have is 6-7 weeks old and I believe they would do better in pairs if anybody has one that they don't want to take care of maybe we could arrange something.:dance


Well it *could* use a friend its own age lol i know only one other person with a squirrel and she couldnt take the one i have now because hers is a male thats few years old and apparently he might not play nice.. i might just leave you my number though, possibly meet up sometime let the squirrels play around and communicate, at the same time we can taln more about next steps in squirrel rehab haha

[buck308]

Shes doing fantastic no more liquid poop its all soft sticky solid now. She also stopped moaning and groaning ang getting all disgruntled when i try to stimulate her areas, so i think the pains are gone.. and holy crap i can barely hold on to her when feeding shes so active and fast haha

[buck308]

Hey just an update..

So i got home from my camping trip, picked up the squirrel, shes grown so much since i last saw her and her poops are rock solid she looks very happy and healthy! My friend did an excellent job looking after her! Couldn't be more pleased to see how well everything went!

Thanks again for all of your help, i sincerely appreciate it!

[Spanky]

Thanks for sharing that wonderful update! :thumbsup

Now, we just need pictures! :tap :flash