4-5 week old baby dehydrated w/ diarrhea and not eating or drinking. Please help!

[Dez]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm new to this board/squirrel rescue in general. I've never taken care of squirrels before, but when I found these babies birthed in the dash of my Jeep, I knew I had to take them in or they wouldn't survive without their mother. A dear friend of mine loaned me her log-in info so that I could make this post.

Only one female of a litter of four ended up surviving in the three weeks I’ve had them. Her name is Kichi, and now she is struggling too, and I just don't know what to do or who to turn to. I found her at what we believe to be around 2 weeks old, and I've had her for nearly three weeks now. I've been feeding her Esbilac puppy milk replacer around every 2-3 hours and electrolytes/water whenever she didn’t care for food. Tonight she stopped accepting any liquids/food entirely but I know she’s sick and very dehydrated. It’s gotten to the point where she’s lethargic and wont move, but is still breathing.


I can’t force water or food without asphyxiation.

In almost a 24 hour period she lost all of her water weight/her skin got very tight and I've noticed diarrhea leaking from her/stuck to her thighs. She's very lethargic and unresponsive, but I've just been trying to keep her clean and warm. Please let me know if there's anything I can do for her, I'm pretty depserate not to lose another.


304540

[Sottinger]

Poor thing, I’m so sorry. ❤️🙏❤️ Didn’t want to read without commenting something. However I’m a new squirrel mom as well so I don’t have any good advice beyond asking that you’re sure she’s warm enough. I’m sure someone with loads of experience will respond soon. If not, I’d look for a vet in your area to get her to.

[stepnstone]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm new to this board/squirrel rescue in general. I've never taken care of squirrels before, but when I found these babies birthed in the dash of my Jeep, I knew I had to take them in or they wouldn't survive without their mother. A dear friend of mine loaned me her log-in info so that I could make this post.
Only one female of a litter of four ended up surviving in the three weeks I’ve had them. Her name is Kichi, and now she is struggling too, and I just don't know what to do or who to turn to. I found her at what we believe to be around 2 weeks old, and I've had her for nearly three weeks now. I've been feeding her Esbilac puppy milk replacer around every 2-3 hours and electrolytes/water whenever she didn’t care for food. Tonight she stopped accepting any liquids/food entirely but I know she’s sick and very dehydrated. It’s gotten to the point where she’s lethargic and wont move, but is still breathing.
I can’t force water or food without asphyxiation.
In almost a 24 hour period she lost all of her water weight/her skin got very tight and I've noticed diarrhea leaking from her/stuck to her thighs. She's very lethargic and unresponsive, but I've just been trying to keep her clean and warm. Please let me know if there's anything I can do for her, I'm pretty depserate not to lose another.
304540

Questions to be answered in order to try and help you....
How is it's breathing, any clicking when it breathes? Did this baby aspirate, choke on formula or have it come out her nose?
Is the formula you've been feeding liquid or powered?
Have you had a weight on these babies to know how much you should have been feeding?
This is just sad, three weeks ago you could have registered yourself on TSB and we possibly could have helped you save them all. :shakehead

[Dez]

Questions to be answered in order to try and help you....
How is it's breathing, any clicking when it breathes? Did this baby aspirate, choke on formula or have it come out her nose?
Is the formula you've been feeding liquid or powered?
Have you had a weight on these babies to know how much you should have been feeding?
This is just sad, three weeks ago you could have registered yourself on TSB and we possibly could have helped you save them all. :shakehead

No, there has been no clicking in her breathing and I’ve been incredibly careful to syringe feed her slowly enough to prevent aspirating or overflow. Sometimes I worried it was a bit too slow, but she’s been doing perfectly up until the diarrhea yesterday.

I feed them powdered formula.

While unable to get an actual weight on them (I have no idea how I’d go about getting one on something so small. I could purchase a food scale, maybe?) I’ve been feeding around 2-4ccs or mls per feeding. Sometimes a little more, if she’s still eager for it. Correct me if I’m wrong but I figured it would be better to be a bit overfed then undernourished.

As for the other babies, you have to understand that I found them in the dashboard of my vehicle. The mother was already dead due to toxicity from the soy-based wiring insulation used as well as two of the other babies. I took the remaining two in, and the first of those two passed within the first few days. Perhaps I could have prevented it somehow had I known more about them, or even known they were there, but this is my first time attempting anything like this and it’s certainly my first time hearing of this community. I'm not sure what point there is to hindsight beyond exaserbating the grief I'm already facing.

Thank you for your insight. I've been up with her all night and did manage to coax her to drink some water.

[stepnstone]

No, there has been no clicking in her breathing and I’ve been incredibly careful to syringe feed her slowly enough to prevent aspirating or overflow. Sometimes I worried it was a bit too slow, but she’s been doing perfectly up until the diarrhea yesterday.

I feed them powdered formula.

While unable to get an actual weight on them (I have no idea how I’d go about getting one on something so small. I could purchase a food scale, maybe?) I’ve been feeding around 2-4ccs or mls per feeding. Sometimes a little more, if she’s still eager for it. Correct me if I’m wrong but I figured it would be better to be a bit overfed then undernourished.

As for the other babies, you have to understand that I found them in the dashboard of my vehicle. The mother was already dead due to toxicity from the soy-based wiring insulation used as well as two of the other babies. I took the remaining two in, and the first of those two passed within the first few days. Perhaps I could have prevented it somehow had I known more about them, or even known they were there, but this is my first time attempting anything like this and it’s certainly my first time hearing of this community. I'm not sure what point there is to hindsight beyond exaserbating the grief I'm already facing.

Thank you for your insight. I've been up with her all night and did manage to coax her to drink some water.

Yes, you need to purchase a food scale that weighs in grams. Neither over feeding or under feeding is good. Babies are fed between 5-7% according to their body weight that determines stomach capacity. If you were to need medications, they too are administered / dosed according to body weight. It is essential to having a scale when raising these babies.
Is her formula the one pictured below? Is it hot enough when you feed? Squirrel babies like their formula hotter then you'd give a human baby.
Go to this link this can be a HUGE help. It's 6 pages long with the next button on the top right corner.

http://www.henryspets.com/baby-squirrel-care/

304544 (http://www.henryspets.com/baby-squirrel-care/)

[Dez]

Yes, you need to purchase a food scale that weighs in grams. Neither over feeding or under feeding is good. Babies are fed between 5-7% according to their body weight that determines stomach capacity. If you were to need medications, they too are administered / dosed according to body weight. It is essential to having a scale when raising these babies.
Is her formula the one pictured below? Is it hot enough when you feed? Squirrel babies like their formula hotter then you'd give a human baby.
Go to this link this can be a HUGE help. It's 6 pages long with the next button on the top right corner.

http://www.henryspets.com/baby-squirrel-care/

304544 (http://www.henryspets.com/baby-squirrel-care/)


304545

This is the exact formula I've been using. It matches, so it seems.

I usually warm the formula to the wrist test (as one would before feeding a human baby) so it's likely not hot enough. I'll try increasing the temperature.

[Spanky]

I am going to cover the basics of the formula since she is being fed the correct formula.

I ideally the formula will be mixed up 4 - 6 hours before feeding. This helps the formula more fully dissolve and thereby making it more digestible to the little tummies.

Mixed up formula should be stored in the fridge, and the opened can of powder in the freezer.

Formula is fed very warm and it should never be reheated. Discard any warmed but unfed formula. We have seen real problems with folks warming the entire dish of formula then putting the warmed formula in the fridge and used again later.

We typically use a cup of hot water and place the syringes full of formula into the water to warm it up before feeding. Coffee warmers work great for keeping the water hot.

Speaking of that, syringes should be used to feed baby squirrels and not bottles. They need to be held upright and not on their back, with the syringe at a 45 degree upward angle (so pointed towards the roof of their mouths). Feeding slow is never a bad thing, feeding too fast is always a bad thing... so the slower, the better.

[Spanky]

A digital kitchen scale is a must. They are usually less than $20 at a big box store... often much cheaper.

Maybe posting a picture of your baby along with something for size reference (maybe a soda can?), we can estimate the weight TEMPORARILY until a scale is available.

How often are you feeding her?

[Sottinger]

How’s it going? Just thinking of you and your little one.