Diarrhea! I’m pulling my hair out!

[Jen413]

I’ve had Sadie two weeks as of yesterday. She was 73g when I got her and was 151 this morning. She’s eating well at most feedings and gaining weight but the diarrhea is back after a day and a half of normal poopies. I just have her some pepto. It isn’t watery just REALLY loose and smears everywhere. I thought we were in the clear but I guess not. She’s still on the Brac diet. Haven’t removed her from it. I haven’t changed anything with feeding since she’d gotten solid poops. She’s eating about 9ml-10 ml every five hours. Some feedings she only wants 3 but that usually only happens once a day. What I’ve done so far is below. Please help. I don’t know what else to do.



Day 3-She started the diarrhea approximately 15 hours after starting esbilac. We switched to goats milk formula and started the brat diet that same evening.
Day 4- Appeared to start to firm up but was mushy and wet. Started to get watery again then just fluctuated back and forth.
Day 5- Dropped the cream from the GMF. Continued with GMF and brac diet. Was no longer as watery but still very mushy and mucousy.
Day 6-Started trying imodium. Tried that for a few days and it just went back and forth between super mushy and mushy both with mucous.
Day 7 – 75/25 GMF/FV 20/50. Still on Brac diet.
Day 8 – 50/50 GMF/FV
Day 9 –Tried wet tail
Day 10-25/75 GMF/FV
Day 12- 100% FV. Still on Brac diet
Day 13– Tried pepto bismal after last feeding of the day.
Day 14 – Solid poopies at mid-day feeding!! Still weren’t as firm as they should be but it was more progress than I’d seen so far. Stopped wet tail drops and gave one more dose of pepto at last feeding of the day.

[Chickenlegs]

Put some baby rice cereal in her formula. Give her exactly 5% of her body weight for awhile. If the poop doesn’t have a strong smell she likely has a sensitivity to something in the formula— or is just getting more than she can digest at a time (I am the queen of overfeeding). Once she firms up some she can have more food. There’s no chemicals in the rice cereal and it tightens them up. The extra bulk keeps them from feeling so hungry while you figure out what’s going on. Diastat is also a possibility for getting the runs under control.

[Jen413]

She’s been on the Brac diet for almost two weeks now. I will cut her back to 5% though and see if that helps. It didn’t really have much of a smell the first time but today it has that upset stomach smell. Not anything that I think would indicate it’s anything more than regular tummy trouble but I really don’t know.

[Nancy in New York]

Have you tried giving her probiotics just to see if that will help?
Poor baby.
I found this thread and Toni80 had some different suggestions.
Granted it's suggested to treat diarhhea from antibiotics,
but it may work for you as well.
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?57363-Meds-to-treat-Antibiotics-diarrhea&highlight=kaolinite

Have you tried Fox Valley Dia-Stat?


IMO loperamide (Immodium) isn`t the best idea for antibiotic induced diarrhea.
I don`t know what you have available in Canada but when everything else failed, this worked:
https://www.bioiberica.com/animal-health/companion-animals-1/internal-medicine/diarrhoea/pro-enteric-triplex-1/

Basically, it`s a kaolinite-pectin complex + synbiotic (prebiotic + probiotic), maybe you could find something similar?
It`s best given between meals because kaolin can interfere with absorption of some nutrients (it`s a weak cation exchanger) and personally I would administer it for 3-7 days and continue with pure probiotic or synbiotic.

Also, I had success with carob flour and a mild tea made from dry (very important!) blueberries. Mind you, my squirrel was 2 years old, so maybe wait for someone more experienced in caring for babies like yours. :)

[cava]

Jen, what's the BRAC recipe you are using? And how often are you feeding a this point? And I didn't see it, but what percentage of body weight?

[Loudhouse2]

I just wanted to share that my Lincoln struggled with diarrhea for 2 1/2 months when he was lil ( started at 5 weeks). One of the thing that helped was the brac diet but I also uses organic plain pumpkin. I would mix up the brac mix but only do half rice cereal and the other half pumpkin. It didn’t make him solid but it kept it from just running straight outta him.

This didn’t fix the problem but it helped from keeping him dehydrated. If you would like I can go through the old thread and tell you everything that was tried and in what order.

The pumpkin is just a suggestion from my single experience on helping firm her up until the cause is found. Also bunch of hugs :glomp

[Jen413]

I almost ordered dia-stat the other day when I ordered more syringes and nipples but it was after her poos got better and I didn’t. I’m kicking myself now. I’m gonna go ahead and order it. I haven’t tried probiotics but I will add a pinch at tonight’s feeding. I’ll go read through that thread as well. I’m up for anything if it helps.

For the brac diet I’m doing 3tbs formula, 1/2 tsp of baby banana food and 1/2 tsp of rice cereal. She’s been on this since the 3rd day I had her when the diarrhea first started. One day I did leave the baby food out early on because I forgot it at home but other than that I’ve followed the recipe.

Loudhouse, I read through some of your thread to get some ideas. I bought the wet tail drops because of it. I also tried pumpkin baby food instead of banana but she refused the formula. Did you use regular canned pumpkin?

The only things that haven’t kept me from a complete panic is 1) it’s not watery diarrhea anymore and 2) she’s still gaining weight well.

[Loudhouse2]

I feel for you :Love_Icon I remember how awful it was with mine.

I used plain organic canned pumpkin. It’s basically just puréed cooked pumpkin. It’s NOT the sugary pie filling kind. I kept the banana baby food in the brac mix’s also. An example of what I did based on your measurements would be keep formula and banana the same, cut the rice cereal to 1/4tsp and add 1/4tsp of pumpkin purée.

Like I said it didn’t fix the diarrhea but it did help keep his poop soft/mushy instead of watery.

If I’m remembering right I also had to give him infant gas meds because of being on the brac diet to long. Might have just been a problem unique to him but I’d say keep an eye out for that

[lennysmom]

The diastat helped the two littles I had with chronic diarrhea to finally stop it after trying the BRAT diet, pumpkin, and a few other things. But after I took them off of it, the diarrhea would start back. I ended up having them tested for parasites and they both had them. After a couple of rounds of Panacur the diarrhea stopped and I never had another issue with it. Just a suggestion if you are never able to get it to stop that you might consider. Prayers that you are able to get that under control.:grouphug I know what a nightmare that is. I did so much laundry, I thought I was going to wear my washer out!
:wash

[Jen413]

Ok. I’ll get canned pumpkin and try that. I found this awesome ice cube tray that’s really small so I measure out the baby food. The bottom of each cube is soft so they pop out easy. It’s fantastic. I use so little of the baby food each time I didn’t want to waste the rest because of it going bad.

I’m going to try diastat and if that doesn’t do the trick then I’ll take her to the vet to get tested. Did your babies have solid poops when you first got them? Her first one was normal. The second was after starting formula and was mushy and had a little blood.

Oddly though I fell asleep after starting this thread and had a dream that someone told me to stop giving her formula for a few feedings. I’m even dreaming about it now! :gigg

And I don’t think I answered one of Cava’s questions. She’s 151g and I weigh her every morning and use the chart for the 5-7% numbers. She’s been eating about 9ml every 5 hours. I’ve been trying to make sure I don’t overfeed her but I did have a question about those numbers considering she’s got cereal and baby food in there. Didn’t know if I was overfeeding when using the 7% because of the additions. I think I asked but never got an answer. Or maybe I thought I asked and didn’t.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Jen, I think I would treat them. I would try Metronidazole first and then the Panacur second. Albon is also an option.

[lennysmom]

I’m going to try diastat and if that doesn’t do the trick then I’ll take her to the vet to get tested. Did your babies have solid poops when you first got them? Her first one was normal. The second was after starting formula and was mushy and had a little blood.



Yes they both started out solid on day one. Then a day later, one of them had diarrhea. And a few later, they both had the diarrhea.

[Jen413]

I have metronidazole 250mg tablets. I’ll need someone to send me the dosing info? She was 151g this morning.

[cava]

Jen, if it were me, and since she continues to gain, I'd go down to 5%. We know that overfeeding can cause diarrhea and you bring up a good point with the additives. Plus, sometimes the guts just need a rest.

Not to suggest you shouldn't try the meds suggested.

[Loudhouse2]

We think metro was what cleared Lincoln’s up in the end. We ended up doing 2 courses of it because the first time didn’t work. We think what happened is he gained a lot of weight the first time we tried it and we didn’t adjust the meds accordingly. If you do the metro make sure to weight her everyday and adjust the meds, that’s what we did the second course and he cleared up.

I’d like do also add that he stopped taking formula that week also so it’s a head scratcher as to wether the metro cured it or if he was lactose intolerant.

[Nancy in New York]

I have metronidazole 250mg tablets. I’ll need someone to send me the dosing info? She was 151g this morning.

I will send you a pm with dosing instructions, if you need/want to dose metro.

[Jen413]

After CL suggested feeding her 5% I did bump her back down. She’s not very happy about it though. :grin2 I added some extra probiotics to her diet as well. I’ll start her on meds and go from there. Thanks for everyone’s help. Hopefully this works.

[Loudhouse2]

How old is she? Have you introduced blocks to her yet? The probiotics are an excellent addition while on meds from what I’ve been told and advised. :grouphug

P.S. might you be able to maybe post a pic or 2 of her :grin2 :Love_Icon

[Jen413]

She’s about 7 weeks. I got her on the 9th and it looked liked she’d just opened her eyes because they were still sleepy looking. She is eating/shredding on block. I have a thread for her in the nursery with pictures. Her name is Sadie and the link to her thread is in my signature below. I don’t have any recent ones on my tablet that I’m on. They are all on my phone. Guess I’ll need to correct that today. :grin2

[Jen413]

Poops are better today but still not firm. Hoping we are working our way back to it though. I ordered dia-stat but I read she can't take it while on meds. Guess I'll have it for after in case she needs it. I'm hoping we won't need it though and it can just take up some space in the freezer! :grin2

[Nancy in New York]

Poops are better today but still not firm. Hoping we are working our way back to it though. I ordered dia-stat but I read she can't take it while on meds. Guess I'll have it for after in case she needs it. I'm hoping we won't need it though and it can just take up some space in the freezer! :grin2

If I'm not mistaken the only problem with giving DiaStat is that it contains probiotics.
I don't think there's a problem if you space the DiaStat and the antibiotics apart, like
you would anyway when giving probiotics, 2 hours prior or after dosing,
perhaps even spread out a little longer.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?59761-Diastat-Dynasty-TSB-Prayers-Answered!&highlight=

[Jen413]

Oh great! It’s been shipped out and I’m hoping I get it soon and it will be the final thing to help firm her up. Her poopies are looking a little better at each feeding. I’m just hoping once we get where we need to be we stay there this time. Finger crossed!

[LanSeaAir]

Also make sure that the esbilac is the powder not the liquid. The liquid causes bad diaherra. The can should have a blue strip across the top that says prebiotics. I noticed some cans don't and that makes diaherra. Only mix enough that lasts 24 hours. Usually 1 scoop to two tablespoons seems to give the perfect poop. I have successfully raised 20 with no issues on the powder. At night I would add a little extra water for dehydration while on heating pad below there home. Hope this helps ya some.

[Jen413]

Also make sure that the esbilac is the powder not the liquid. The liquid causes bad diaherra. The can should have a blue strip across the top that says prebiotics. I noticed some cans don't and that makes diaherra. Only mix enough that lasts 24 hours. Usually 1 scoop to two tablespoons seems to give the perfect poop. I have successfully raised 20 with no issues on the powder. At night I would add a little extra water for dehydration while on heating pad below there home. Hope this helps ya some.

I started her on the correct esbilac formula after rehydrating her. The next morning stools were mushy then watery. Switched her to goats milk with Brac diet. Then slowly transitioned to fox valley. She was on esbilac for less than 24 hours. I make a fresh batch of formula every day.

She’s currently eating 5% of her body weight at each feeding of fox valley 20/50 with Brac (3tbs formula, 1/2 tsp banana baby food, 1/4 tsp baby rice cereal, 1/4 tsp organic canned pumpkin). I started her on the metro Sunday morning so she’s had 9 doses of that. I got the dia-stat in last night and gave her some of that in between feedings. I could only coax her to drink 3ml of it. She’s eating booballs(HT 2018 with unsweetened applesauce) with probiotics mixed in two hours after her morning dose and two hours before her evening dose. Poops are still fluctuating. Sometimes they are soft pellets and others they are just mush. The best way I can describe it is like tapioca pudding. A little more firm that that though. They come out looking like they might be solid but if you touch it it smears. Here’s a picture for reference. I don’t know how much you can get from the picture though.

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She LOVES her boo balls and is eating HT block. I want to start introducing regular foods to her but I’m hesitant with her tummy issues. I don’t want to cause further upset. I’m hoping more of the dis-stat will finish forming her up. It’s frustrating.

[Nancy in New York]

Also make sure that the esbilac is the powder not the liquid. The liquid causes bad diaherra. The can should have a blue strip across the top that says prebiotics. I noticed some cans don't and that makes diaherra.


You're right that some cans don't have the blue banner.
The important ingredient to look for is the third one, dried whey protein concentrate.
If it says that, it's the correct one.
I don't think they even make the old one anymore.

[Nancy in New York]

Yeah, I think I would hold off too with introducing any type of regular foods.
However keetz05 had a little one that was non stop diarrhea, regardless of what was tried.
She finally decided to take her off of all formula, and the poop issue cleared up.
How old is your little one now?

[Jen413]

She's between 8/9 weeks now. I guestimated her age of 6 weeks when I got her on the 9th because it looked like her eyes had just opened.

[island rehabber]

Yeah, I think I would hold off too with introducing any type of regular foods.
However keetz05 had a little one that was non stop diarrhea, regardless of what was tried.
She finally decided to take her off of all formula, and the poop issue cleared up.
How old is your little one now?

I had one like that, named Sky -- could NOT cure his diarrhea nomatter what I did. I took him off formula at 8 weeks as well, since I know that some babies wean themselves at that age and do fine. He did, too.

[Milo's Mom]

I had one like that, named Sky -- could NOT cure his diarrhea nomatter what I did. I took him off formula at 8 weeks as well, since I know that some babies wean themselves at that age and do fine. He did, too.

My guy last year named Lucky was like that, and the 2 years prior his name was Dunk. Had to wean much earlier than normal...poop got perfect crazy fast. I did end up keeping both of them a little longer than usual just to pump them full of good foods and get some extra weight and fluff on them

[Jen413]

She’s drinking water from a water bottle. I think I may try to wean her then. If I decide to do this would it be a good idea to put powdered formula in her booballs? At least she’s still getting it? Or would you leave that out all together?

I’m going to cut her mid-day formula out and replace with dis-stat and a boo ball. We will see what that does.

[Jen413]

Just following up after changing some stuff up today. Sadie is still on the metro through tomorrow. She isn’t taking the dia-stat well. I did get her to take a little yesterday and the day before but nine today. I fed her formula this morning at 5% of her body weight with Brac. I gave her chayote squash last night so I gave her more of that this morning and added a little sweet potato with it and some boo balls made with HT block and applesauce for her lunch time feeding. She ate that well. Tried to give her the dia-stat and she refused to take any of it. But she’s drinking water from her bottle really well. I gave her more boo balls around the time of her third feeding and I fed her formula (5%) for her fourth feeding time. Tonight her poops seem pretty good. They are pretty darn solid. So, I think I will stick to giving her formula twice a day until she weans herself from them. Unless some issue pops back up with her poops. Fingers crossed we’ve found a solution to the poo-poo-pa-choo she’s had going on. I mean, I found poop on my wall a good four feet from the side of her cage this afternoon!! I’m finding poop EVERYWHERE!

[cava]

But at least it's squirrel poop.

I had kittens last summer the diarrhea that was treated two million ways before it got better and there was nasty kitten diarrhea EVERYWHERE, no matter how fastidious I was about cleaning and disinfecting. I noticed fat black flies on the screens trying to get into the house, only in that room. It was so Amityville that I hung fly strips from the ceiling.

Bless their hearts but kittens can be the grossest little fluffers ever.

[Jen413]

That sounds awful Cava!! Yep, it’s squirrel poop. Mushy, wet, touch it and it smears into everything squirrel poop. BUT...we have beautiful perfect poops this morning. They are NORMAL!! Solid!!

300114

The best they have been the entire time I’ve had her. So something I’ve done has worked and I’m not changing anything else. Besides discontinuing meds after today cause it’s her last day on them. I’m sorta holding my breath that it doesn’t cause a change but I don’t think it will.

[Nancy in New York]

That sounds awful Cava!! Yep, it’s squirrel poop. Mushy, wet, touch it and it smears into everything squirrel poop. BUT...we have beautiful perfect poops this morning. They are NORMAL!! Solid!!

300114

The best they have been the entire time I’ve had her. So something I’ve done has worked and I’m not changing anything else. Besides discontinuing meds after today cause it’s her last day on them. I’m sorta holding my breath that it doesn’t cause a change but I don’t think it will.

Fantastic update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:w00t

[cava]

Beautiful, just beautiful!

[lennysmom]

Yay, a long awaited great update! :w00t:clap

[Jen413]

Unfortunately it didn’t last long. We’re back to mush. But it’s formed mush but still mush. But as long as it’s not anymore loose than this I guess it’s not bad. Im going to decrease her formula some more and see what type of change that makes. Idk.

[Jen413]

I updated her regular thread in the nursery but figured I'd update this one too in case anyone comes along with this issue.

Friday morning I fed Sadie her last formula feeding. I had to get her eating solids better than she was to fully wean her. Over the weekend her poops continually improved. I'd say at this point they are 90% normal. All I did was stop her formula and Saturday night I gave her one dose of pepto. Her poops had already improved by then but still had mucous so I tried to pepto to see if it would help things along now that she was off of formula.

So unless we have some sort of set back, none of the formulas (esbilac, GMF with and without cream, and FV 20/50, as well as combinations of them in addition to brac diet) agreed with her little tummy. Thankfully she was old enough to wean even if I feel awful for it.:tap The question that keeps going through my mind is...what if she hadn't been?

I was going to take her to the vet last week but the one who sees squirrels was out and the other didn't feel comfortable because she wasn't knowledge able enough with them. I was going to take her today now that the squirrel vet is back, but her poops look better so I'm going to wait and watch. Hopefully we have no set backs and this is the end of Sadie's poop saga. :dance