Help, bulged and bloody anus on squirrel

[Salymo]

Really worried about our little guy as it appears he has an external hemorrhoid.

The only thing that has changed recently was the fact I fed him his first solid, apple.
This was two days ago.

It’s hard for me knowing how old he is, guess is 8-10 weeks old.
We’ve had him since infancy.

Any suggestions on how to tend to this, please let me know.

[CritterMom]

Did he have diarrhea from the apple? The first thing I would do is look closely at his anus - clean it up so you can see if there is feces stuck inside. Diarrhea does a really good job of plugging up their little butts because it seals it, then poop begins to pile up behind it, unable to get out.

If this guy does have a poop plug, it needs to come out. You want to fill a large container with nice warm water, hold him under the arms and let his lower body dangle in the water and keep him in there as long as you can. Then get him out, dry him and keep him warm and start working on him. Get behind the lump like (sorry for the squeamish) you are squeezing a big pimple and very gently see if you can work any out. If not, wet a cotton ball and hold it against the anus for a while. You need to get enough water into the plug to turn it back to something soft enough to get out.

If there is no sign at all of any poop in there, it is possible that he already got rid of it but managed to prolapse his anus doing it. So do this if what you are looking at looks like a hemmorhoid: Clean the area and pat away excess moisture, leaving the prolapsed area damp. Now pack the area with regular table sugar. What you want to do is build a little cast around the area with the sugar. If it is kind of runny, just add more sugar. It is like dredging a piece of chicken in flour before frying! Then let it dry on the area, adding a little more if he knocks it off. Sugar will pull water from what is around it and that is what the edema is. It is also safe. Leave it on for several hours then just dissolve it off with water and assess it. You might need to do this several times but I swear it works.

At the same time, start giving him additional hydration. You can add a small amount of sugar to the water - so it just barely tastes - it will make it a little more palatable AND the sugar will do the same thing inside it does outside - pull additional water from the bowels to mix with the poop and make it easier to pass. You can give him plain water, too. Warming it to the same temp you do formula will make it more attractive.

[Rock Monkey]

The only thing that has changed recently was the fact I fed him his first solid, apple.
This was two days ago.

It’s hard for me knowing how old he is, guess is 8-10 weeks old.
We’ve had him since infancy.



What does his diet consist of?

How much of the apple did he eat?

How long have you had him? Did he have his eyes open when you found him? How did you come to find him?