pneumonia or a cold help

[kenzieb0708]

Hi so I have two 6-7 week old baby squirrels who are still on formula. One of them was aspirated early last week and started with symptoms such as sneezing and breathing with her mouth open. I began giving her medication Cipro 500mg at a .04 dose every 24 hours. Her symptoms cleared and then this morning she started breathing with her mouth open again but it sneezing a lot more. She did aspirate a little last night when I was feeding her. She was also extremely bloated this morning and I gave her some infant gas relief to relieve the bloating. She stopped acting sick and was eager to eat and play but about an hour later she is breathing with her mouth open again and sneezing. I'm not sure if this is actually pneumonia or could it potentially be a type of upper respiratory infection or a little cold and shes just breathing through her mouth because her nose is stuffy? When I put her up to my ear to see if there is any clicking when she is breathing I dont hear anything in her chest but there is clicking coming from her mouth so its a bit hard to tell if that is actually the clicking from pneumonia. She has had pneumonia previously about 2 weeks ago but was cleared of symptoms until this Wednesday. I know it sounds silly that I think she may have a cold of something of that sort but I am currently sneezing a lot right now as well and am having really bad allergies. I just want to make sure she is okay. Also if she does have a cold or an infection would the medicine clear that as well? This is day 5 that she has been on the medication. Thank you for any help that if given.

[Spanky]

It looks like you got dosing on the Cipro on the 24th for aspiration pneumonia: This baby should have been getting the medication for at least 5 days and maybe even 7 days. It has only 4 days: Is she still getting her Cipro?!?!?!

[Mel1959]

I have been helping this member and after talking to HRT4SQRLS and sending her a video of the baby wheezing/gasping for breath (it’s more like open mouth breathing) we have switched the antibiotic to cephalexin. It appears to be an upper respiratory infection more so than pneumonia. Kenzie has dosing for cephalexin.

[Mel1959]

If anyone has suggestions that they know have worked like running a humidifier, etc. please advise. I have suggested a nebulizer using sterile saline if she has access to one.

Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[Rock Monkey]

Since this squirrel has been struggling with respiratory problems and aspiration for some time, please watch this video. It contains lots of do's and don't's about feeding baby squirrels formula.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLjRlzTOGHY&ab_channel=squirrelsandmorellc

What size syringe are you using to feed them?

Also if you could post a picture that would be very helpful to assess the squirrel's health and age.

Thirdly, if you are giving water in a dish, the side of the dish should be no taller than 1/2" and the depth of the water not more than 1/8". Young squirrels are very clumsy when it comes to drinking and can aspirate themselves. Their nose will often go under water and water gets up their nose and on down.

[kenzieb0708]

Hi sorry for the late reply busy day! they are eating out of a 3 ml syringe with a nipple on the tip.

[Rock Monkey]

Hi sorry for the late reply busy day! they are eating out of a 3 ml syringe with a nipple on the tip.

Three cc's is too big for feeding a baby. (1 cc = 1 ml, one cubic centimeter equals one milliliter.) A one cc syringe would be preferable. Each centimeter the plunger is pushed delivers one third of the volume formula thus dramatically reducing the chance of aspiration. Using a 3 cc is almost guaranteeing trouble.

Secondly, syringes with an o-ring are much better than those that do not have them. The plunger on an o-ring syringe (It has an o-ring where the tip of the plunger touches the insides of the syringe.) slides much more smoothly. It doesn't hang up like the plunger that doesn't have an o-ring. When a non-o-ring plunger hangs up the natural thing the user does is to push harder, this results in an extra large (glob) quantity of formula being pushed out all at once, vastly increasing the chances that the baby squirrel will be overwhelmed and aspirate.

Try to find some one cc o-ring syringes as soon as possible.

In the meantime you can lubricate the tip of the plunger with a small amount of vegetable oil, just enough to make it glisten.

[Rock Monkey]

Slip tips (luer tips) syringes are also preferable to those that take a needle.

You can buy them online at henryspets, squirrelsandmore, and the squirrelstore, or elsewhere.

You also might inquire with the pharmacy department. Tell them you don't want the needle.

If anyone else has any suggestions of where to get them, that would would be helpful.