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View Full Version : Pneumonia and Antibiotic induced diarrhea



Peanut
09-14-2018, 09:25 AM
Needing help please. I have a little of squirrels that one of which seems like she aspirated and could have pneumonia. I've had them for about 3 weeks and all are doing well and should be about 6 weeks old or so. I have a couple rehabber in my area that I've contacted and none want to help so hoping to get some advice. I attempted to five a small amount of Bactrim for the pneumonia. She perked up a bit but didn't realized that she needed probiotics in time so she got diarrhea. I ha e since got the probiotics but hasn't worked...shes still not really "normal " and not sure how much more antibiotic to give if any and any of the proper dosages for this stuff. I now have a 2nd squirrel,with diarrhea this morning and didn't know how he got it...bc he shouldnt be able to catch it from the other one should he? Anyway, just doing the best I can with what I can and hoping for help. I'm using the Esbilac powder and had been doing really well until this incident...

Spanky
09-14-2018, 10:14 AM
Needing help please. I have a little of squirrels that one of which seems like she aspirated and could have pneumonia. I've had them for about 3 weeks and all are doing well and should be about 6 weeks old or so. I have a couple rehabber in my area that I've contacted and none want to help so hoping to get some advice. I attempted to five a small amount of Bactrim for the pneumonia. She perked up a bit but didn't realized that she needed probiotics in time so she got diarrhea. I ha e since got the probiotics but hasn't worked...shes still not really "normal " and not sure how much more antibiotic to give if any and any of the proper dosages for this stuff. I now have a 2nd squirrel,with diarrhea this morning and didn't know how he got it...bc he shouldnt be able to catch it from the other one should he? Anyway, just doing the best I can with what I can and hoping for help. I'm using the Esbilac powder and had been doing really well until this incident...

Yes, there is a way to dose the antibiotics properly but we need to know what medication you have, they strength and form (liquid versus tablets, etc). We also need to know how much the squirrel weighs. Too high of a dose of antibiotics can cause this.

Overfeeding can cause diarrhea as well.. how much formula are you feeding and how often? How much do they weigh (weight is the only way to determine correct feeding... not too much and not too little).

Peanut
09-14-2018, 10:34 AM
I have Bactrim(SMZ) 800mg tabs. And the problem is I don't have a scale that weighs that small... I'll see what I can do about that. And I didn't realize about the over feeding bc the one that seems to have gotten the diarrhea has eaten alot more the last couple days... He eats about 7-8cc at a time and they're about 6-7 weeks ish. The info I had been using was going the same amount of CCs for the number of weeks old.... The one that's sick I know didn't have diarrhea before antibiotics tho... I'll do my best to get them weighed somehow today

Spanky
09-14-2018, 10:39 AM
You can get a kitchen scale at Walmart for $10-$15. A scale is a must when caring for baby squirrels.

Feeding by age is a crap shoot... northern squirrels are larger than southern ones, foxers larger than greys... I have had 7 week old babies where one may be half again the size of another and needs more formula, etc.

Spanky
09-14-2018, 10:40 AM
Is the diarrhea whitish? That usually indicates overfeeding.

Yellow is most common for antibiotics throwing off the digestive system.

Other colors mean other things...