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beaniebaby
03-13-2019, 12:30 AM
Hello! First time poster here, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

About a week ago I received a squirrel, assuming he was 2 weeks at the time. Overall, he seems to be doing really well. He rehydrated quickly and he’s always very eager to eat. He crawls around whenever he’s not sleeping and doesn’t have a problem retaining heat.

However I’m starting to become concerned. For the past couple of days, he’s been eating normally and pees a good amount when I stimulate him (up to 10 minutes), however he only poops once out of about every 3 feedings. When he does, it’s a dark golden color. Just today I noticed that his stomach seemed a little rounded than usual, but I’m not sure if this is actual bloating. Although I wouldn’t be shocked if it were considering how little he poos.

If it is, what’s the most effective and safe thing I can do for him?

I’m feeding him Esbilac Goat Milk formula every 4 hours, making sure not to overfeed him. If anything, I haven’t been giving him as much after I noticed his stomach. I cannot currently attach photos but with his belly, he looks a bit pear shaped right now. Not too terribly, but I’m afraid to make any problems worse.

Please let me know if this is normal and if so, what I can do to get him to poo more.

Nancy in New York
03-13-2019, 06:52 AM
Hello! First time poster here, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

About a week ago I received a squirrel, assuming he was 2 weeks at the time. Overall, he seems to be doing really well. He rehydrated quickly and he’s always very eager to eat. He crawls around whenever he’s not sleeping and doesn’t have a problem retaining heat.

However I’m starting to become concerned. For the past couple of days, he’s been eating normally and pees a good amount when I stimulate him (up to 10 minutes), however he only poops once out of about every 3 feedings. When he does, it’s a dark golden color. Just today I noticed that his stomach seemed a little rounded than usual, but I’m not sure if this is actual bloating. Although I wouldn’t be shocked if it were considering how little he poos.

If it is, what’s the most effective and safe thing I can do for him?

I’m feeding him Esbilac Goat Milk formula every 4 hours, making sure not to overfeed him. If anything, I haven’t been giving him as much after I noticed his stomach. I cannot currently attach photos but with his belly, he looks a bit pear shaped right now. Not too terribly, but I’m afraid to make any problems worse.

Please let me know if this is normal and if so, what I can do to get him to poo more.


Welcome to TSB, we're glad you found us!

First off he needs to be on the proper formula.
Get some Esbilac powdered puppy formula like the one
listed below.
If the goat's milk is powdered, how are you mixing it?
How much does this little one weigh. There's no way
to determine if you are over feeding without a weight in grams.

For bloat this is the recommendation:
"You can offer a few drops of human baby gas drops (simethicone) to ease the gas. You can also soak the baby’s lower half in a warm water bath while you massage his tummy. Do this for 5 minutes or so, then dry the baby and let him rest in a warm spot for 15 minutes and try again. Your goal is to get the baby to pass stool, gas or urine, and relieve the bloat."

Great information here:
https://www.squirrelsandmore.com/pages/basic-steps-to-taking-care-of-a-baby-squirrel
There is also a picture of a little one with bloat if you scroll half way down.

Here's another great site explaining baby squirrel care.

It's 6 concise pages long with the NEXT button in the top right hand corner.

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

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-fbcDH6c/0/5fb600fb/O/i-fbcDH6c.jpg