Help! Peeing blood

[Sharrian]

I have a 12 week old grey squirrel rescue. Last night while playing I noticed her stop and strain to pee. After a few drops of cloudy/red pee, she went on and played like normal. After reading several threads on here, I realize I have been a bad parents and given her waaayyyy too many treats! Tough love starts today!! But.... Is there anything I can give her today to help her? I read several different things and just need to know the best and quickest solution please....

[Milo's Mom]

Have you fed her any acorns lately?

What was she doing that appeared like straining to pee?

[Sharrian]

Yes..... I had no idea they were bad! My yard is full of squirrels and left over acorn bits! So I thought I was doing the right thing.... Natural habitat food, what she will eat when I release her, she's a squirrel too... Ugh! If I had only found this page earlier! I feel horrible!

Yes! Strained and only like 3 drops came out and it was bloody.

[Sharrian]

Sorry! I read the question wrong. She just squatted for several seconds after the few drops. And it looked like she was waiting for more?

[Shewhosweptforest]

Sharrian the acorns aren't bad for her....we ask about acorns because the tannins in them can make their pee look reddish brown....especially if you're feeding the ones with orange meat....black oak trees are one. I feed them to my squirrels....only fresh that I pick up daily....no cracks or holes:great straining she may have a UTI or she may be going around marking territory:dono if she seems fine otherwise I'd lean towards the acorns....my squirrels are doing it too.

[Sharrian]

How would I know if it is a UTI?

[Spanky]

Stop the acorns and see if her pee clears up and goes back to normal.

Also, please follow the healthy diet and a quality Rodent Block should be the foundation of her diet:

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?44440-Healthy-Diet-for-Pet-Squirrels

[Milo's Mom]

Yes, let's start with stopping the acorns. This "should" change the pee color. If in a few days it's still there, then we may be dealing with something else.

Yes, please focus on changing the diet. Diet is paramount for squirrels.

[Sharrian]

Thank you so much!!! Def will stop the nuts for awhile. I have been giving her rodent blocks I bought a my local pet store. I ordered henrys last night. They seem to have better ingredients and vitamins. Thank you again! I am a newby at this.... Expect several more questions as we go through this winter and get ready to release in the spring!

[Gardentoes11]

Sharrian, I'm pretty new at this too, just about 5 months-ish, but everyone on here is so helpful, & they never make you feel dumb for asking what you later learn are very basic questions! Don't ever hesitate to ask. I spend a lot of time reading other people's threads on TSB & have learned SO MUCH. The experts here are very generous with their knowledge, & even supplies when needed. I look forward to becoming one of them & giving back someday....

[Spanky]

Thank you so much!!! Def will stop the nuts for awhile. I have been giving her rodent blocks I bought a my local pet store. I ordered henrys last night. They seem to have better ingredients and vitamins. Thank you again! I am a newby at this.... Expect several more questions as we go through this winter and get ready to release in the spring!

The Henry's are awesome and specifically formulated for squirrels!! :thumbsup

You only need to give a couple Henry's each day and you can supplement with "pet store" rodent block as long as it is one of the better brands like Harlan Teklad or Oxbox, etc. If you care to share what you were feeding, someone will let you know if it's okay to feed that in addition to the Henry's. Some of the "pet store" stuff is real crap and does more harm than good!

[Sharrian]

I've been giving her fresh French style green beans, carrots, broc stems, apples, a little other fruit here and there and lots of nuts! I bought natural raw almonds, walnuts and reg sun flower seeds (I was told the salt was good for her). Sunday night I bought a mix of raw nuts in the shell (almonds, pecans, walnuts, Brazil nuts and macadamia nuts), she LOVED the pecans! Really didn't care for Brazil nuts (thankfully). She never opened a macadamia nut. I took them ALL away from her last night. I just left her veggies and rodent block in her cage. I'm sure she has others hidden in there?? She weened herself off of formula about 2 weeks ago and has been doing really well with fruit and veggies until she got the nuts!! She will be on restriction from them for a while. I'm looking forward to the henrys blocks. I think she will love them too.

[Shewhosweptforest]

Henry's are the best....you can rest easy knowing they're getting exactly what a squirrel needs :great it might take a day...my Baby had to go a day without anything else and then she loved them:grin3 I get her the picky eater type.