Help needed for aspiration pneumonia

[Brandon, Anna and Barbas]

Hi, I also have a 5-6 week old baby Eastern Gray that has aspirated food and has just within the hour started clicking. I believe my parents have amox/ K Clav and I also planned on going by a pet store as soon as it opens tomorrow to get some Baytril or Fish Flox. Which one of those medications would you suggest I use?

[stepnstone]

Hi, I also have a 5-6 week old baby Eastern Gray that has aspirated food and has just within the hour started clicking. I believe my parents have amox/ K Clav and I also planned on going by a pet store as soon as it opens tomorrow to get some Baytril or Fish Flox. Which one of those medications would you suggest I use?

You are posting in someone else's forum. Please start a new (your own) post in emergency to get the attention you need.
Go to emergency section, click on "new post" left top of page.

[Nancy in New York]

You are posting in someone else's forum. Please start a new (your own) post in emergency to get the attention you need.
Go to emergency section, click on "new post" left top of page.

Thank you stepnstone.
I started this thread for them and sent them a link to it.

[Spanky]

Hi, I also have a 5-6 week old baby Eastern Gray that has aspirated food and has just within the hour started clicking. I believe my parents have amox/ K Clav and I also planned on going by a pet store as soon as it opens tomorrow to get some Baytril or Fish Flox. Which one of those medications would you suggest I use?

Please tell us the strength of the Amox/K Clav you have and the weight of the squirrel and someone will help with dosing. I will not be around much this morning but someone will help...

[Brandon, Anna and Barbas]

Update: He was clicking moderately loud at around 10PM and it is now 12PM the next day and the clicking while he breathes has significantly reduced, but is still vaguely present. Should I still treat him with medication?

[Spanky]

How is his appetite? Is he lethargic?

[Brandon, Anna and Barbas]

How is his appetite? Is he lethargic?

No, his appetite has defiantly not been affected. Even last night when the clicking was loud enough to hear without putting an ear against his chest he was eating just fine before we noticed the clicking. Is it possible he might have just aspirated a small amount and has recovered from it on his own?

[Spanky]

Aspirating formula (any liquid) does not always lead to Aspiration Pneumonia (AP). The smaller and younger they are the higher the likelihood. Often there is a click right after eating in healthy squirrels. If you catch them clicking while sleeping, that is more worrisome.

Pay close attention to the appetite and be on the lookout for lethargy.

Regardless of the age of the squirrel, AP is deadly and very fast acting and only antibiotics can save them.

[Brandon, Anna and Barbas]

Okay, thats good to know. When I heard the clicking last night, it was immediately after feeding. I was expecting that by morning if he had AP he would definitely be in worse shape than before he fell alseep for the night, but he was acting like a healthy squirrel should. I really appreciate your help and this forum; it is very helpful and important to ensure that people are correctly rehabilitating orphaned squirrels and I’m glad that it’s still active.

[Spanky]

Stick with us and we will help you help your squirrel... What are you feeding?

Edit: :thankyou for helping this little one and :Welcome to TSB!

[Brandon, Anna and Barbas]

Like I said I definitely appreciate the information and help this site provides, so I will be checking it daily for knowledge! I have been feeding him Esbilac puppy formula ever since he came up to us starving a week ago, he is now very interested in real food. He ate a tiny bit of a raw mushroom today which is his first taste of real food so far. I am a bit foggy on how to correctly ween him, but he seems to be ready for the process.

[stepnstone]

Like I said I definitely appreciate the information and help this site provides, so I will be checking it daily for knowledge! I have been feeding him Esbilac puppy formula ever since he came up to us starving a week ago, he is now very interested in real food. He ate a tiny bit of a raw mushroom today which is his first taste of real food so far. I am a bit foggy on how to correctly ween him, but he seems to be ready for the process.

His first "real food" should be a good quality rodent block that he should be eating well before other solids are introduced.
If he starts other solids first they often reject the block which is his first line of defense against mbd once he does ween.
We don't recommend weening them, we allow them to ween themselves when they are ready.
I'm attaching link to the healthy diet pyramid for reference.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?44440-Healthy-Diet-for-Pet-Squirrels

[Brandon, Anna and Barbas]

thank you.

I am also torn and need advice on whether to release him or not. I work from home and my fiance is epileptic which bounds her to the house most of the time due to her condition. We only get out of the house to go to the store so we are fully willing and able to put in the work, money, care and attention to keep him if we need once he's an adult. I've read that it is not suggested to release them if they aren't afraid of predators including humans, and he is very comfortable with people. We also made the mistake (which we are definitely not going to make twice) of letting my mother in law watch him for a 30-45 minute trip to the store for formula. We told her explicitly and repeatedly not to let her dog around him as he will not recognize dogs as threats if he becomes comfortable with them. We come back and she has let the dog (a chihuahua) and a kitten play with him. As a result, he has no fear of dogs or cats and acts as if he wants to play with them. Our backyard and the area we live in is full of coyotes, which makes me very nervous. we also have neighbors who will shoot squirrels that they catch eating out of their bird feeders with pellet guns, or just shot them for fun :(.

I also don't want him to be unhappy with his life as a captive squirrel. If we were to keep him, our plans were to convert our spare room in the house in to a large (but squirrel proof) enclosure tailored for a tree squirrel for the rare times when we can't actively keep an eye on him or play with him. I know that would never amount to what he would get from living in the wild, though. What should I do?