Severe swelling in hand and feet joints ,itching near ear and whole body

[Shubhi]

I have a pet 9 months old three stripped Indian palm squirrel.He has been sick from 4 months now.Recently the vet said he has MBD and respiratory and urinary infection.So he prescribed HimCal for calcium, Cephalexin 1pinch in 5ml warm water then 0.5ml from it as antibiotic once a day, Melonex for pain.His feet and hands joints are starting to severely swell tightly and painful .It has been 16 days since I am giving antibiotic and the calcium has been stopped because the swelling in the joints was not reducing and now the vet is saying he is allergic to something in the house because 4months ago we have shifted from another place to here and he has been sick ever since and he injured his left leg internally somewhere when we first arrived here and still he is not able to put pressure on it .The swelling in the joints first appeared when the vet gave him vitamins, appetite and calcium medicines.After stopping these medicines his swelling started reducing and again appeared when the vet told me to give the medicines again and I did.From 17 days I am giving him only antibiotic and Melonex but the swelling is becoming worse.He is eating and drinking properly but the swelling is not good at all.His infection has healed 50%.He had problems in drinking water and eating because he was feeling pain in throat when opening mouth fully,sound of discomfort from nose while urinating and sneezing every now and then but all of this has improved 50% now but the swelling is worse.The vet is saying he has allergy but I seriously think he is having severe side effects of the medicines.I don't know what to do.For now I am giving him only antibiotic and pain medicine.Should I stop the medicines now or do something else?The painful and tight swelling and itching is worse. I also think he has calcium deficiency because he tries to eat cement on the walls and his some brown hair has also become greyish white.Please help .

[Chirps]

Oh no, poor baby! Please check back here often for responses. Hopefully someone here has seen this before or if not will still have good advice for you. It does sound like a reaction to SOMETHING. The only useful thing I can suggest is probiotics if you don't already feed those. Being on antibiotic will have killed a lot of the good gut bacteria that help his digestion and boost his immune system. Yogurt with live cultures can help replace his gut bacteria. Plain or maybe vanilla, just nothing with artificial sweetener.

Is HimCal a prescription item, or can you get it at a store? There are lots of options for calcium. You are probably right about calcium deficiency. If you've stopped giving it, I would resume. Can you post a pic of the HimCal label so the experts can have a look?

Also, can you describe his current diet? That may give some insight for people to help.

[CritterMom]

If his swelling reduces when you take him off the drugs, and gets bad again when you put him back on, it does sound as though he is having an issue with one of the drugs - not really a side effect, but is actually allergic to one of them.

If the initial problem was urinary tract infection, ask your vet if he will prescribe Baytril, drug name enrofloxacin, for him. It is much, much more effective and much faster acting than the cephalexin for UTI. I have actually gotten urinary tract infections for years and used to take a drug much like cephalexin for it. They usually took 10 days or so to go away. The first time I was able to take the human version of Baytril it was like magic. The pain and symptoms were gone in ONE DAY though the course of the meds was for a week. In the US, it is almost the only drug prescribed for this in humans.

I would take him off the meds and see if the swelling begins to go away.

If your vet cannot get Baytril - it is VERY common here in the US and almost all vets have it right in their office - if the human version of the drug is available, it can also be used. It is called Cipro (drug name ciprofloxacin). If this is available, and your vet is not able to properly dilute and dose it, we can do that for you. We use it very routinely in squirrels for both this and bacterial pneumonias. We would need to know the weight of your squirrel, the size of the Cipro pills in milligrams (here in the US it is available in 250mg and 500mg size) and you will need a 1cc syringe without a needle to properly dilute and dose it. It is taken orally.

The Melonex (drug name meloxicam) is being given for pain but one can develop allergies to almost anything, so it could also be the problem here. If the pain is from the UTI, the Baytril drug will get rid of the infection so quickly it likely won't need to be used. Animals can also take tramadol, which is a narcotic drug for pain. It works very differently than the Melonex does, and may be an issue because it IS a narcotic, but it is very effective for pain, and given the tiny amounts that would be given to a palm squirrel may be okay over there because such tiny amounts are given.

So first is to see if your vet will work with you to get him on the new drug for the UTI. If you take him off the current meds and the swelling starts to go down, it is as close to proof that he is having a reaction to one of them that you can have.