Help with bloating

[Cas080718]

I have a 5 1/2 week old Male grey squirrel. I found him on August 7th 2018. Everything has been fine with him until yesterday. He wouldn't poop. I soaked him in warm water and he went some. Same thing today. I have held back feedings and have strictly went to pedialyte since this morning. He is so bloated. Idk what to do. Please help.

[Mel1959]

Use water with a touch of sugar or honey or apple juice. He doesn’t need the salt or electrolytes if he’s constipated. Keep pushing the water. A little mineral oil rubbed around the rectum might also help.

What are you feeding him?

[Cas080718]

I am and have been feeding him puppy formula. I gave him a couple doses of the gas relief. I noticed his labored breathing and I rushed him to the vet . They wanted to euthanize him. I brought him back home and kept reading. I listened with the stethoscope and heard the clicking that everyone has been describing. I have liquid amoxicillin 400mg/5ml. I gave him 0.2ml. He is now resting on my chest. I'm trying to keep him warm. My questions are now: does pneumonia cause the bloat? Or does he have both? How often do I give him antibiotic? Do I feed him anything? He's hungry. So many ?'s

[redwuff]

Is his stomach hard? What does he weigh?

[redwuff]

2 separate issues give us a chance and we will get your questions answered. How did you know to dose .2mls of amoxicillin?

[cava]

How much does he weigh? How old is the reconstituted amoxicillin? It's not the first drug you want for AP but will do until you can find ciprofloxicin or Baytril or Augmenten/Clavamox (amoxicillin-clavulanic acid). One human tablet will do and we can tell you how to dose.

Until then how much does this baby weigh so we can confirm you are giving the correct dose of what you have on hand.

[redwuff]

Do you have Cipro or Baytril? Those are better for Aspiration pneumonia or AP? We need a weight to get the proper dose for your little one. 2 times a day for amoxicillin.

[redwuff]

What type of puppy formula are you feeding?

[Cas080718]

The amoxicillin is within date. I also have 2 amox-clav 875-125mg tablets but its expired by 3 months.
He weighed 1.4 ounces on my stamps.com scale.
I came up with the 0.2ml from another post. I'm pretty sure it's not enough. I by far am no expert. I'm just trying to save the little guys life. Like I said I took him to Er vet earlier and they just wanted to put him to sleep. This guy has been my life for the past 5.5 weeks. I need help.

[Cas080718]

Petag formula from walmart. He's not had a problem with it. I started him on it the morning of August 8th.

[Cas080718]

I would like to get the correct antibiotics. How would I get it if the vet wont even see him?

[Cas080718]

His belly is soft, squishy, round and big!

[cava]

Ok, you for sure want to change him to the Puppy Esbilac powdered formula made by pet ag but different than the Pet Ag formula. You will have far fewer GI issues and he will grow appropriately with the correct formula.

You should be using no larger than a 3 ml syringe to feed him, based on his weight, which is 5% of his body weight, so see your scale can weigh in grams and if not, convert his weight from oz to grams in the future, it's easier, everything we do is in grams.

1.4 oz is 39 grams which is VERY, VERY small for a 5.5 week old baby. I am worried about this weight. Please reweigh and confirm before we dose meds.

We can send you a pm with directions for using the expired augmenten, it's okay that it's expired by a few months.

[Cas080718]

Picture

[Cas080718]

39.6 grams
To me that seemed low too. The scale kept going up and down. It's all I have that will weigh below a pound. I will see if my neighbors have anything. Thank you for your help.

[cava]

Please start this protocol until this baby poops:


Here is the protocol given by a member who has had constipated/bloated babies. The trick for me seemed to be getting in as much water, as quickly as possible, once you see and feel the hardness in the belly. Not sugar water or Pedilyte, but plain water. I did this every hour (giving about .2-.3 ml) and ensure you stimulate after each, for 2 reasons.
1. You have to get that water out of the bladder, and it will burst if you don't.
2. You want that water to start working on the crud in the belly.
After 8-10 hours, you should start seeing some movement out of the bowel (they will continue to poop, but you will start to see it more watery, which is what you want). At that time, start introducing diluted formula at the ratio of 25% Esbilac, 75% water. Feed this for the first half day. The second half day, I bumped up the ration to 50/50. I fed this for a day and then went to 75% Esbilac, 25% water and introduced full food the next day (and the blockage was gone!). So far, I am at 100% success rate. One note though. I check my pinkies after every feeding, so see if their bellies are hard or squishy. I would suggest everyone get in the habit of checking them after every feeding as habit and you can't go wrong in catching them before they bloat up. Once they take on that angry red color on their bellies (this is when their system goes septic), they are gone and can't be saved, so the trick is to catch them before this happens (hence, getting in the habit to see if their tummies are hard or not).

Also, give infant gas x (simethacone) to reduce the amount of gas in the gut. It decreases pain and may help baby push a bit. Give 0.1 ml. You can get this at a pharmacy.

Constipated babies can't eat therefore this is an emergency that will require you to stay up all night and get this baby hydrated. The water should be warm and you may have to give drop by drop. Shoot every hour and remember to stimulate to pee!

You can also put baby in a bowl of warm water, up to the armpits and gently stroke belly downward. Be sure to keep her warm during and after and stimulate by petting or simulating grooming, moving legs around, etc might also help promote peristalsis (gut moving) and poops. Dry and keep warm after.

[cava]

Meanwhile, while you work on getting poop, buy the Powdered Puppy Esbilac formula for when you begin feeding again.

304708

[redwuff]

Give him another dose of gas x , a dose for his size .08 ml.

You must change his formula! This baby is in trouble. Will dose for amoxicillin.

[redwuff]

I am and have been feeding him puppy formula. I gave him a couple doses of the gas relief. I noticed his labored breathing and I rushed him to the vet . They wanted to euthanize him. I brought him back home and kept reading. I listened with the stethoscope and heard the clicking that everyone has been describing. I have liquid amoxicillin 400mg/5ml. I gave him 0.2ml. He is now resting on my chest. I'm trying to keep him warm. My questions are now: does pneumonia cause the bloat? Or does he have both? How often do I give him antibiotic? Do I feed him anything? He's hungry. So many ?'s

You gave an overdose of amoxicillin. Please don't guess at dosing. I know you want to save your babies life...we do too. Please do not give another dose tonight. I have to leave for awhile but will be back on to dose the clavamox for tomorrow, or someone else will. We will help all we can, I promise. The correct dose for the amoxicillin is .06ml, not .2.

[Javarat]

NO more formula until you get that belly down.
Just water, every two hours, and just a dab of Mylicon. Belly rubs in warm water. Stimulate penis and anus for like 10 minutes each time.
Keep him warm, but not hot to touch.
I know the post above says you can start him back on formula after 8 to 10 hours and he poops some.. but you may have to go shorter or longer, they key is until he shows some appetite.
He will probably not voluntarily take the water. You are going to have to hold him in an upright postition, sneak the syringe tip into his mouth with his head tilted up slightly. Put a little water in his mouth. If he swallows do a little more. If he does not swallow pull the syringe out (which make make him swallow) and repeat. You need to do this EVERY TWO HOURS.. so get prepared to not sleep for a while.
One you get the belly down.. go to 1 part Esbilac and 4 parts water. You just want a 'taste' of formula to see if he acts hungry. If not, got back to water for the feeding. At some point he will show a little appetite, then go to 1 part Esbilac 4 parts water for 12 hours, then step to 1 part Esbilac 3 parts water for 12 hours, and then 1 part Esbilac 2 water to bring him back to normal formula.
I just went through this with a 50 gram female.. she took 9 hours on water before she was pooping and showed appetitite. Even after this she was only hungry for 1 syringe, and then I had to sneak the rest of her 5% body weight into her. It took her 24 more hours to get her back to eating normally.

[Cas080718]

2.1 ounces 59.5 grams

[Cas080718]

2.1 ounces
59.5 grams

[Javarat]

60 grams.. you are going to want to try to get 1 to 1.5 ml of water into him every two hours. Try to slowly work him up to 2 ml when you see some poop. Don't go over that.
When you get his belly down and he shows appetite, start slow with not more than 2 ml each time. Gradually work that up to 2.5 but stop if his tummy starts to look full.. a half full tummy is a good thing right now. A full tummy may cause diarrhea and dehydration.. sending your progress backwards.

[Javarat]

It would not hurt to give him just a touch of Mylicon before every water feeding, and let the water take it down.

[Cas080718]

Thank you for all your help. I will never do this again. He passed away around midnight. My entire family is heartbroken. Thank you again for help.

[cava]

I lost one due to bloat and it was devastating. I know how you feel and I'm so sorry. They grab our hearts to quickly and when they go it leaves us empty.

Sometimes they are too bloated for all the interventions to help. I'm obsessive now about watching bellies and poops.

Thank you for caring for him. RIP little baby.:hug

[redwuff]

So sorry. RIP little buddy:grouphug

[mel_la_fee]

Thank you for all your help. I will never do this again. He passed away around midnight. My entire family is heartbroken. Thank you again for help.

The very first squirrel baby I had was crushed by a dog at only 6 1/2 weeks. I'd had her since she was only 5 days old and my entire soul felt broken apart by losing her. She'd had diarrhea, pneumonia, an infection that ruined the cornea of one of her eyes (she'd been very young and severely compromised with injuries when she was brought to me) but somehow, despite being a newbie, I'd nursed her through all that...Only to lose her in an instant because I was living with other people, didn't place her carrier high enough, and someone else let a German Shepherd into the kitchen while I was gone (the dog knocked the carrier off the kitchen table, the front grate of the carrier came loose or was broken, and the dog reached in and bit her). Why did someone let a dog into the kitchen? Why didn't anyone hear it when the dog knocked the carrier off the table? Why didn't I lock the carrier in the back room before I left the house? All questions that no answer will remedy the pain of. It bothers me to this day, even though that was almost ten years ago.

Since then I've done raccoons, skunks, opossums, kittens, squirrels, you name it. I have a 7 yr old rescue rabbit and a tiny crab that someone placed in a full tank without any ledge for it to climb onto to or easy way to get air (it's a red claw crab and actually needs to surface to breath- a fact petsmart apparently does not tell people buying them). Being heartbroken does not mean you can not or should not ever try to help a baby again. There's a lot to learn but the satisfaction of loving another creature and then seeing it be free and happy (or at least alive and content- depending on the species' releasability) is an incomparable experience. It's the one good thing you'll do that no one thanks you for directly, least of all the animal you saved. It is an act of selflessness that changes your persective on everything else...and afterwards, we are all the better for it.

[stepnstone]

I sympathize with you and for the lost life of this baby. :grouphug



He weighed 1.4 ounces on my stamps.com scale.
I came up with the 0.2ml from another post. I'm pretty sure it's not enough.

You gave an overdose of amoxicillin. Please don't guess at dosing. The correct dose for the amoxicillin is .06ml, not .2.
This is exactly why we have gone to dosing through pm's and keeping dosing off the board.
Cas, over dosing is never good but many do survive it. Undoubtedly it was the extreme bloat
that took him out. However, if you can point out where you saw this dosing info if on the board,
please point it out so it can be removed and another don't make the same mistake.