Diarrhea squirrel, very weak and tired squirrel

[socnau]

I have a one month old squirrel and I feed him daily with goat milk. Recently, he is a little bit tired, and not very energetic as usual. He often finds a place to hide and lay down and his faeces has a mixture color of greendish and black. After that, I bring him to the vet, and the vet tells me that my squirrel has his intestine infected and there is no way to cure. I still feed him with milk until today and he now has diarrhea, so I stop feeding him. Instead I use oresol to rehydrate him. He is a bit better now but still very weak.

Is there anything that I could do to save him? Thanks in advance.

[Anne]

If your vet isn't used to seeing exotics maybe you should find another vet for a second opinion. At least one who will give you some antibiotics so you can try and save this little one. Your little guy will need all the nutrition you can give him to help fight this infection.

[socnau]

Thank you for your reply. However I live in Vietnam not the US, and it is very rare to see a vet that could cure sick pet, if it is an exotic-pet vet that seems like winning a jackpot.

I hope that if there is anyone here knows any antibiotic that could cure intestine infection.

Thanks in advance

[Mel1959]

Yes, there are human antibiotics that can be crushed and dissolved in water and given to your squirrel. Do you (or family or friends) have any human antibiotics? Augmentin, Clindamycin and Doxycycline come to mind. If so, what can you get your hands on? Also can you get a weight on your squirrel or post a picture so we can guesstimate the weight? The weight is needed for dosing the medicine. Post the names and strengths of any antibiotics you can find and someone will be able to determine if they will work. In the meantime continue to offer hydration fluid. Mix your own with 2 cups warm water, 1.5 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well and offer in a bowl or with a syringe. Your little one needs fluids. Check back here often for guidance with the medicine. Thank you for trying to help him. :Love_Icon

[missPixy]

hi socnau, can you tell us what species of squirrel you have?

the goat milk may or may not be part of the problem. 1 month old is also very young, and he may never have developed the proper gut flora required to help his digestive tract stay healthy.

do you have access to Esbilac with pre and probiotics? I know this is available in Thailand, I have some Facebook acquaintances who use it for their baby Palm Squirrels. It's very important to use *this* type of Esbilac as the version without the pre and probiotics will only worsen the diarrhea. There should be a thin blue bar at the top left of the can with the notation that it includes pre and probiotics.

secondly if he has diarrhea he must be very dehydrated, which can lead to death as well. you can prepare the Homemade Pedialyte formula~~ I've reduced the ingredients to make a smaller batch:

1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup warm water

mix all together and take up in the oral syringe and administer ideally 2.0 or 3.0ml of this fluid within an hour's time.

also do any of the other more experienced rehabbers recommend Immodium in this instance (if it's available to socnau?)

[socnau]

Thank you for your advice, I tried all of the above but no hope, he has just died moments ago. Also, I would like to share you guys all the symptoms so that your squirrels won't be like mine as intestine infection is a very dangerous

First of all, you would see your squirrel shows signs of tired and often find a place to hide and lay down. Couple with that is anorexia, it could mislead you guys that he is undisgested. After that he would suffer from constipation and his faeces is mixture black and green-ish. A few days after that he would have diarrhea. The cause is unknown, but from a person who also have his squirrel suffered like mine told me that do not feed squirrel with milk and especially probiotics or yogurt. It would do more harm than good. I made this mistake so my squirrel died.

The best way is to feed him with oresol mixed with sugar and vitamin supplements and pray for the best. If he is energetic again after a few days than you might try to feed him milk, if the symptoms appear again you have to try the process again for atleast a month.

[Mel1959]

I am so sorry for the loss of your buddy. :sadness:sadness. Goats milk is only a temporary formula. Most folks on here feed Esbilac puppy formula or Fox Valley squirrel formula with great success until the squirrels wean to solid food. I'm not familiar with the product you were feeding your guy, but milk in general is not the culprit. Intestinal infections can successfully be beat with the proper medication. I realize the medication and other necessary items to ensure a healthy squirrel may not be easy to acquire in your country. Bless you for trying to do what was best for your little buddy. :hug