Squirrely Dan has pneumonia! I think..?

[Arwise90]

I took in a squirrel last night and he has been sneezing a lot, wants to sleep, has fluid coming out of his nose, clicking in his chest and open mouth breathing. I can’t find any of the suggested medicines anywhere near me except for baytril tablets. Please help, I want him to make it through this!

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hi, we can help. Sneezing is not pneumonia. Clicking with every breath is. Is the clicking constant? How old is the baby? Baytril is exactly what you need.

Usually pneumonia is caused by aspiration of fluid. If they get formula into the lungs they will get pneumonia.

All baby squirrels sleep at lot. :)

I have never seen a baby with aspiration pneumonia have fluid in the nose.

[Ozzy2019]

Baytrel is the go to med 4 pneumonia. Please keep posting and some one with more experiance will answer. Do you have a vet where you live. If you are close to sc I can recommend one. There is a medicine category on here and the admins are awesome for helping here. Jump on this quick cause they go down hill super fast.

[HRT4SQRLS]

If this is pneumonia we can dose the Baytril for you. We need a weight and the mg of the Baytril.

What are you feeding the baby?

[Arwise90]

Hi, we can help. Sneezing is not pneumonia. Clicking with every breath is. Is the clicking constant? How old is the baby? Baytril is exactly what you need.

Usually pneumonia is caused by aspiration of fluid. If they get formula into the lungs they will get pneumonia.

All baby squirrels sleep at lot. :)

I have never seen a baby with aspiration pneumonia have fluid in the nose.

I’m new to this thread thing so I hope I’m doing it right. I think he is at least 5 weeks maybe older! He eats solid foods I ordered some squirrel food from amazon and I’m giving him water through a syringe because he doesn’t seem to be ready to drink by himself yet..I don’t know if it’s pneumonia or kennel cough maybe? All I have is penicillin but I’m scared to give it to him because of all I’ve read and it’s 1ml for every 100 pounds and he’s maybe 5 ounces!

[Arwise90]

Guess we need to figure out what it is first. If I can figure out how to make a video I will

[Arwise90]

https://youtu.be/GrNyrlshgJM

It’s a weird URL but I tested it out and it works. This shows his breathing etc

[Arwise90]

Baytrel is the go to med 4 pneumonia. Please keep posting and some one with more experiance will answer. Do you have a vet where you live. If you are close to sc I can recommend one. There is a medicine category on here and the admins are awesome for helping here. Jump on this quick cause they go down hill super fast.

I am in North Carolina on the TN side :/ I know it can progress very quickly and I’m trying to figure it out. I’ll check out the medicine thread too. I included a video of him breathing on this thread as well

[Spanky]

Hold him up to your ear and listen to his breathing, in his chest... does it sound like Rice Crispsies cracking?

Do you have Baytril tablets as previously posted and if so what strength tablets are they?!?!?

[Arwise90]

Hold him up to your ear and listen to his breathing, in his chest... does it sound like Rice Crispsies cracking?

Do you have Baytril tablets as previously posted and if so what strength tablets are they?!?!?


Yes it does sound like that and no I don’t have the baytril tablets but they are at Walmart and are 22.7mg tabs. I do have penicillin on hand

[HRT4SQRLS]

That’s very odd. Did he sound like that when he came in or is this new. It looks like the clicking is coming from the mouth. Did he have a bloody nose when he came in. The penicillin won’t work. Walmart... Baytril... I’m sure that would require a prescription, right?

[Arwise90]

That’s very odd. Did he sound like that when he came in or is this new. It looks like the clicking is coming from the mouth. Did he have a bloody nose when he came in. The penicillin won’t work. Walmart... Baytril... I’m sure that would require a prescription, right?

I just got him late last night and I didn’t notice it until today but there are noises inside and from his mouth he had some stuff that looked like scabs around his nose and I cleaned them off and now it’s just fluid coming out of his nose but not blood. I’m not sure about if it needs a prescription or not. It doesn’t look like it

[HRT4SQRLS]

It sounds like he might have fallen on his nose OR the other possibility is Bordetella. It looks like he is mouth breathing. The clicks might be from that. Squirrels are not efficient mouth breathers.

Let me look at the Walmart Baytril. I guess it is online? I feel certain it would need a script. It might be on their $4 formulary but still it is a veterinary prescription antibiotic.

[HRT4SQRLS]

He does look sick but I don’t think this is aspiration pneumonia. It looks like a nasal issue. AP would be lungs. Can you look in his mouth? You might need to wrap him burrito style. Look at his mouth and teeth. Do the incisors look normal? Broken?

I feel certain you can’t get Baytril from Walmart. I tried loading it into my cart. It let me put it in the cart but there is an area with vet information. Baytril wouldn’t be indicated for ... (Kennel cough) squirrel version. :)

We would need doxycycline or a tetracycline type antibiotic.

[RockyPops]

Thank you Arwise for helping and loving this precious baby. He is so handsome.

Keep in touch here as much as possible. The best help you'll find anywhere short of a vet is right here.

[Arwise90]

He does look sick but I don’t think this is aspiration pneumonia. It looks like a nasal issue. AP would be lungs. Can you look in his mouth? You might need to wrap him burrito style. Look at his mouth and teeth. Do the incisors look normal? Broken?

I feel certain you can’t get Baytril from Walmart. I tried loading it into my cart. It let me put it in the cart but there is an area with vet information. Baytril wouldn’t be indicated for ... (Kennel cough) squirrel version. :)

We would need doxycycline or a tetracycline type antibiotic.


https://youtu.be/sQW-PF9sl0c

Maybe this will help? He also feels like he’s shivering now :/ but maybe he’s just scared. I hope so anyway!

[HRT4SQRLS]

I really don’t know what to make of this. I would get him on a heating pad. It should be on low under half of the bin. I don’t know what we would be treating and no antibiotics anyway. Penicillin is a very narrow spectrum antibiotic.

It appears his nose is blocked. I’m not sure if it’s from a nose injury or an infection. Do you think you could get an antibiotic from friends or family? All we need is a single pill. Some options are Clavamox (Augmentin), SMZ-TMP (Bactrim), doxycycline, tetracycline.

He needs formula. He is still very young. There is a temporary formula that can be made with goat milk, heavy whipping cream, full fat yogurt and 1/2 egg yoke.
Let me get the recipe. You will need a syringe. Pharmacies will usually give you a 1 cc syringe.

Homemade Goat Milk Formula Plus (HGMF+):
3 tablespoons goat milk
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 tablespoons heavy cream
½ egg yolk


https://www.henryspets.com/1-baby-squirrel-care-guide/

[Arwise90]

I really don’t know what to make of this. I would get him on a heating pad. It should be on low under half of the bin. I don’t know what we would be treating and no antibiotics anyway. Penicillin is a very narrow spectrum antibiotic.

It appears his nose is blocked. I’m not sure if it’s from a nose injury or an infection. Do you think you could get an antibiotic from friends or family? All we need is a single pill. Some options are Clavamox (Augmentin), SMZ-TMP (Bactrim), doxycycline, tetracycline.

He needs formula. He is still very young. There is a temporary formula that can be made with goat milk, heavy whipping cream, full fat yogurt and 1/2 egg yoke.
Let me get the recipe. You will need a syringe. Pharmacies will usually give you a 1 cc syringe.

Homemade Goat Milk Formula Plus (HGMF+):
3 tablespoons goat milk
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 tablespoons heavy cream
½ egg yolk


https://www.henryspets.com/1-baby-squirrel-care-guide/


So it doesn’t seem like Bordetella though? I was worried it might be and we have dogs and I know that can get bad quick. Do his teeth look ok? I’ll start milk ASAP. Is puppy milk formula ok too?

[Arwise90]

So it doesn’t seem like Bordetella though? I was worried it might be and we have dogs and I know that can get bad quick. Do his teeth look ok? I’ll start milk ASAP. Is puppy milk formula ok too?

I might know someone who has some of that medicine but I won’t be able to get it until tomorrow

[RockyPops]

Poor little one! Hang in there little buddy!

[Spanky]

Is puppy milk formula ok too?

No.

[HRT4SQRLS]

So it doesn’t seem like Bordetella though? I was worried it might be and we have dogs and I know that can get bad quick. Do his teeth look ok? I’ll start milk ASAP. Is puppy milk formula ok too?

I can’t say that. It might be Bordetella. Either way, the squirrel shouldn’t be near the dogs.

The top teeth look very short to me but the gums don’t look inflamed.

A humidifier might help his breathing. I doubt he would let you put a warm cloth on the nose to soften the hard material blocking his nose.

Order Fox Valley 20:50 formula as a permanent formula. The goat milk recipe is a temporary formula.
At one time we used Esbilac puppy formula but it went bad last fall and we don’t recommend it any longer.

[HRT4SQRLS]

I might know someone who has some of that medicine but I won’t be able to get it until tomorrow

Tomorrow would be good. See what you can get.

[Arwise90]

Tomorrow would be good. See what you can get.

I read somewhere that fish mox might be an option? Can you speak to that?

[Spanky]

Fish Flox is optimal.

Fish Mox is less effective and slower acting on Aspiration Pneumonia. It is better than nothing, but there are many antibiotics that are better options.

[Arwise90]

I’m having a hard time getting medicine but he is way less sneezy today and I was able to clean his nose and I don’t see any external injury...I ordered the formula and he is staying very warm. He seems better today so I want to say it’s not bordatella since I know that can get worse quick. He also isn’t mouth breathing anymore and maybe that noise I heard inside was just normal noises? Not sure what a healthy squirrels chest sounds like..

[HRT4SQRLS]

I’m having a hard time getting medicine but he is way less sneezy today and I was able to clean his nose and I don’t see any external injury...I ordered the formula and he is staying very warm. He seems better today so I want to say it’s not bordatella since I know that can get worse quick. He also isn’t mouth breathing anymore and maybe that noise I heard inside was just normal noises? Not sure what a healthy squirrels chest sounds like..

He was definitely mouth breathing so I suspect he had a nose injury. The click seemed to correspond exactly to the mouth breathing. I think his nostrils were clogged with mucous and dried fluid. Yes, Bordetella doesn’t go away. I’m glad he is better. This is the best case scenario. By the way, face and nose injuries are pretty common in baby squirrels, especially the very young ones. Their head is heavier than the body so they plunge down right on the face or head. Bloody noses are pretty common when they come in.

[Arwise90]

Thanks so much! I’m so glad he’s going to be ok :)

[Arwise90]

So he is not ok. He’s basically on the edge of death. I can see him breathing but he’s not doing much else. He was cold this morning when I got up and I warmed him up and he is just not moving much :’( please help. We looked up his symptoms and he was gasping for air and arching his back and very light weight which indicates starvation?! I’m feeding him every time he wakes from a nap. Is he supposed to be on some kind of schedule?

[HRT4SQRLS]

Oh my goodness YES. He should be fed on a schedule. You wake them up to feed then. He probably is starving. Let me get some links.

You should be weighing him and the frequency is determined by age.

We feed 5-7% of the weight every feeding.

I just went back to the pic posted earlier. He looks about 7-8 weeks old. He should be fed every 6 hrs. He should also be on solid food by now. At this age, formula would be primary but he would be nibbling rodent block and a few veggies.

Make sure he is warm. He should have had the option of a heating pad under half of the bin. Put syrup or molasses on the gums.

You need a weight NOW. It might be too late.

[HRT4SQRLS]

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=310759&d=1565448777

[HRT4SQRLS]

We never did establish what you were feeding. ?

[Spanky]

Where is North Carolina are you? If we can find experienced help are you open to that?