squirrel not gaining weight and losing hair

[Binkster]

Hello

I work at a rehab and we have a female Eastern Gray that came in on August 22nd at two weeks old weighing 55 grams with eyes closed. She has now been with us 6 weeks and only weighs 103 grams. She had a bough with diarrhea which turned out to be Coccidia and has had numerous medications administered, two cycles of Sulfa then finally Metronidazole before it cleared up. Naturally her weight was up and down during this period. This has now resolved and she is eating her allotted formula for her weight however was still not gaining weight so we supplemented with 2 ccs of baby food in addition to the formula. This seemed to work however we stopped the baby food because she was not eating solids and then she started to lose weight again. In addition to this she started to thin out in terms of hair. We applied Revolution in case there was mange however she lost all her hair in this area and the bald spot has continued to get worse with no recuperation of hair loss in that area in three weeks and continuing thinning in other areas. All the squirrels that have come in younger and after her have passed her and many are now in outside cages, weighing over 200 grams. We cannot put her outside given weight and lack of sufficient hair thickness. At this point we are wondering if both issues are nutritional and could use some advice in this regard. I have started to feed her a mixture of avocado with powdered rodent block as she's started eating nuts and now is weaning herself off of her formula. She is active, alert and showing signs of maturing in behaviour but is still tiny and looks awful. Any advice?

[Mel1959]

What rodent block are you feeding? I have had wonderful hair re-growth on my dwarf squirrel when I started feeding ground Harlan Teklad 2018 block. I mix it with baby food and also add formula to thin it so it will flow through a syringe. I have attached pictures showing the change in just 3 months.

I also grind the Harlan block and make boo balls for my rehab squirrels. There are lots of different recipes for boo balls in the squirrel Nutrition section. I mix ground block, ground nuts, powdered formula, calcium powder and then use baby food and coconut oil to hold it together. All of my guys like them.

I have had very good luck adding Fox Valley Ultraboost to the formula for weight gain.

[Binkster]

I have no idea what the name of the rodent block is but we're in Canada, Ontario and I know we only have access to that one variety, which she won't eat. I will look up how to make Boo Balls. This may take care of weight gain but still don't know what is causing the hair loss. Tried to attach a pic. Let me know if it came through

[cava]

Hi there, and welcome!

We've had quite a few babies on the board this fall with hair loss or complete baldness related to inappropriate diet. Once they got on the correct diet, the baby gained and hair grew back, so based on your story, it's likely nutritional.

What formula were you feeding her before. She looks pretty young to be weaning, but that could be her small size. How old is she?

Liquid puppy esbilac (comes in a can) and Kitten milk replacer (kmr) are terrible and causing most of the problems.

She's adorable.

[Mel1959]

I have no idea what the name of the rodent block is but we're in Canada, Ontario and I know we only have access to that one variety, which she won't eat. I will look up how to make Boo Balls. This may take care of weight gain but still don't know what is causing the hair loss. Tried to attach a pic. Let me know if it came through

The Harlan block has to be ordered online. It can even be purchased from Amazon. You might check to see if anyone will ship to Canada.

She is adorable, but because she’s so thin and under-nourished the hair loss could definitely be from nutrition. Her body may not be able to use the nutrients in the formula and block that you are giving her. I would definitely try some other options for block and formula.

[Binkster]

she was originally on 32/40 Fox Valley but we switched her to Esbilac around the time we put her on Metronidazole. The Coccidia cleared up with that and she was doing well on the Esbilac so we have kept her on it. She was heartily eating 7 percent of her body weight on the Esbilac plus 2 ccs of baby food and gaining weight but we stopped the baby food because we figured maybe she was too dependent on this and that's why she would not eat solids. That didn't help for a few weeks, she was losing weight. Now she's starting to get bloated when she does eat. It's exasperating, we're afraid to keep feeding her full strength formula because of the bloat but of course she's not interested in the diluted formula. She's only 103 grams and is about 2.5 months old at this point. She seems to be more interested in nuts now despite bloat but we feel she needs the formula for phosphate/calcium ratio if not for weight gain. And the hair loss.... The other squirrels in her cage don't have that, she's not scratching and there are no bumps so we don't think it's mange. We think her immune system is deficient and has been from the get go and are scratching our heads as to what we can feed her that will fix this

[stepnstone]

she was originally on 32/40 Fox Valley but we switched her to Esbilac around the time we put her on Metronidazole. The Coccidia cleared up with that and she was doing well on the Esbilac so we have kept her on it. She was heartily eating 7 percent of her body weight on the Esbilac plus 2 ccs of baby food and gaining weight but we stopped the baby food because we figured maybe she was too dependent on this and that's why she would not eat solids. That didn't help for a few weeks, she was losing weight. Now she's starting to get bloated when she does eat. It's exasperating, we're afraid to keep feeding her full strength formula because of the bloat but of course she's not interested in the diluted formula. She's only 103 grams and is about 2.5 months old at this point. She seems to be more interested in nuts now despite bloat but we feel she needs the formula for phosphate/calcium ratio if not for weight gain. And the hair loss.... The other squirrels in her cage don't have that, she's not scratching and there are no bumps so we don't think it's mange. We think her immune system is deficient and has been from the get go and are scratching our heads as to what we can feed her that will fix this

I agree with the consensus, this is nutritional, She has been stunted in development as well as growth.
She may be 10+ weeks old but she don't have the development of the age. I suspect she bloats because she's not able to process what she's being fed.
For starters you need to cut out the nuts and not expect her to be eating solids at this stage. This baby needs the formula without the additions.
She also apparently by that picture needs hydration. Not being completely hydrated could be another reason why she has not been able to process what
she eats to result in gain.
How are her poops now?
What kind of Esbilac had she been taking, was it the powder puppy with both pre and probiotics?

Just looked back and saw she had been on FV32/40, that even explains more. That stuff has been junk to these babies
and sits in their gut like sludge. Maybe she would benefit from the goat's milk formula to help get her system stabilized.

[cava]

I wonder if she has had her normal gut flora wiped out with all the antibiotics and doesn't have what it takes to digest properly...

Start her on a probiotic twice a day.:dono

[Mel1959]

I agree with the others. This baby needs some type of formula that is going to be digested easily and allow her to gain some weight. Why are you concerned about her being dependent on baby food and therefore withholding it if she was gaining weight on it? It seems to me that she needs to be given the nutritional food that will help her gain weight and then worry about weaning her off the baby food when the time comes. This little one seems like a classic case of failure to thrive. I wish I was close to you (I’m in Florida....couldn’t be further away :sniff) I would love to take this baby and see if I could help her. Nuts are never a good choice when little ones are already compromised, even though they do love them. :grin3