opinions needed

[thundersquirrel]

*sigh* what a homecoming.

my mother has a baby boy foxer that she left at home for me to feed. she said he was fine yesterday, but developed heavy clicking overnight (i believe he was found in cold and wet conditions, but this didn't pop up until now). i just got home, and she had warned me that he might be dead when i got there.

he's not dead, but he desperately needs baytril. our stupid dispatcher "doesn't have time" to get the medicine to us, which means she is basically sentencing this poor little guy to death.

what i need to know is if there are any homeopathic remedies to hold off pneumonia. he's very weak but responds lovingly to touch, which is breaking my heart already (i've been home, oh...twenty minutes?). i thought about steam but i'm not sure how much that would help. i'm going to try to get some pedialyte down him.

any advice, as always, is welcome.

[Critter_Queen]

Steam is good, will help the breathing.

I don't know for sure, but I think Mars told me once that gunpowder can be used homeopathically for infections. (note to folks reading this, gunpowder must be used in HOMEOPATHIC STRENGTHS, please DONT give your squirrel regular gunpowder!!)

I will PM you TS...

[jules]

Some alternative methods of treating pneumonia are as follows;

1.Give extra vitamin C.
2. Humidity eases the breathing. (as CQ has mentioned).
3. Aconite homeopathic remedy. (Unsure of the dose required at this point. For a child it is 30c, every 5min. Up to 10 doses). May be Hazel can help out with this one? I will PM her!

Good luck!:Love_Icon

[Mars]

I'm here. The remedy you want is Phorphorus 30c. I'll pm you the instructions. :)

[Critter_Queen]

TA DA! Mars saves the day!!! :bowdown :bowdown :bowdown

The Homeopathy Godess. :D

(can someone change her listing to Homeopathy Goddess like we did with Gamma being the Ambassador?!?!? :D)

[hazel]

Mars recently helped me with my very first pneumonia squirrel and the results were nothing short of miraculous. (NO antibiotics and one dose of homeopathic med - and this was a severe case)

Hang in there TS. Thoughts and prayers are yours:grouphug

[jules]

excellent!

Didn't realise we had a homeopathic goddess, or I would have PM'd her!!:bowdown :bowdown :bowdown

Thanks Hazel!:thumbsup

Way to go Mars!:wahoo :alright.gif :thumbsup

Good luck TS, my prayers are with you both!:grouphug :Love_Icon

[Mrs. Jack]

Mars cure my migraines! :Love_Icon glad y'all are in touch and good luck with the foxer TS! busy dispatchers.. indeed.

[thundersquirrel]

i have the phosphorous. i'm off to get a couple drops in his mouth. thank you so much mars. i'll update you all very soon.

[Critter_Queen]

Mars cure my migraines! :Love_Icon glad y'all are in touch and good luck with the foxer TS! busy dispatchers.. indeed.

Have you tried taking bioplasma salts? The combo ones can be bought at Chris's store. I figure if they get the squirrels going good when they come in, they gotta be good for me, too. :D And they aren't nasty to take!

[Mrs. Jack]

Have you tried taking bioplasma salts? The combo ones can be bought at Chris's store. I figure if they get the squirrels going good when they come in, they gotta be good for me, too. :D And they aren't nasty to take!

Haven't. But will give it a go. because yes, if it's good for the squirrels... although one must remember they DO eat poison mushrooms sometimes. :thinking

[thundersquirrel]

update-

not much has changed. i would say his clicking isn't as loud, but i wonder if that's because i want it to be subconsciously.

he's on heat and in an unconscious state. i'm just upset the clicking is so advanced...a minor click went to major chest congestion and unconsciousness in less than 24 hours. we must remember this for future reference.

if he doesn't improve by 7:30, i'm allowed to give him more. i wouldn't be surprised, considering how severe his condition is.

if anything changes i'll be back on quick...let's hope the only changes are for the better. :Love_Icon

oh, and i can't believe i didn't age him. he's about six weeks old, very frail for his age though.

[4skwerlz]

:Love_Icon :grouphug

[Critter_Queen]

Hope he hangs in there. :grouphug I had a little girl go from early-stage clicking to death in 12 hours flat one time. (thank God it's only happened once!) Now, if they come in in bad shape, they get a shot of Baytril just for good measure.

[Mrs. Jack]

I'll be thinking of you and the little one. :Love_Icon

[thundersquirrel]

thank you all for you support. :bowdown

mars and i decided to decrease his time so he can get more at six (in ten minutes).

the fact that he's hung on all day is very encouraging to me. i'm hoping it's a slow-moving pneumonia and that the phosphorous will at least get him to regain consciousness. at that time we could administer baytril.....if we ever GET any...grrr....

[Apple Corps]

thundersquirrel - can you not get Baytril from a local vet - sounds as if it IS NEEDED now.

My experience thus far is that a few calls will uncover a kind hearted vet that will at least get you a few doses.

[thundersquirrel]

baby died. he got up, opened his eyes. that made me excited. then he coughed and lurched forward. he was gaping, choking. the pneumonia, i think, blocked his airway so that he wasn't getting enough oxygen. i tried to sit him up, pat his back. eventually i just pet him until he was gone. :sad

he didn't have to die. not like this. our dispatcher doesn't allow us to have emergency medicine on hand. she holds it all.

my mother and i are furious. if he had gotten baytril this morning, he'd probably be alive. the vet we know would have given us some but he wasn't in today. this is the dispatcher's job anyway.

time to write an angry letter.

[Mrs. Jack]

damnit. I am SO sorry. You did what you could. :grouphug

[Mars]

:sad

[Apple Corps]

thundersquirrel - sad news - what is a dispatcher - I do not understand ?

[thundersquirrel]

we work for an organization, not alone. there are a handful of licensed rehabbers who have permission from the DNR to train citizens to become rehabbers. while the DNR allows us to raise and care for babies, we don't technically have a license, so we have to do what the licensed rehabbers tell us to do.

our dispatcher is very experienced and has a license, but her organization skills and lack of commitment are horrible. this is not the first time we've had a problem due to her inability to cooperate. we think we at least deserve to have emergency medicine on hand, but she feels the need to control it all.

she's not the one with the pager right now, but we still consider her a dispatcher because what she says goes. but how do you tell the DNR that you're better at what you do than the person they licensed? :thinking :shakehead :dono

[Apple Corps]

CQ - in your earlier post you mentioned that fuzzers get a "shot of Baytril just for good measure".

I'm not sure I understand - do you mean that you give them a single dose and that is all?

[Apple Corps]

thundersquirrel - thanks - your description of your lil fuzzer's last minutes of life brought a tear to most of our eyes - really sad - especially since it might have been prevented

Really mad to hear about the cr@p you are putting up with. Here is my two cents: there are 3 or 4 meds that will cover 99% of the injuries you will be presented with. Baytril (the animal counterpart to human Cipro) / Clavomox (the animal counterpart to Augmentin) and a couple of others. I would get hold of a supply through a vet with a heart and have them IN HAND for emergency use. You did an excellent job of seeing that the lil fuzzer needed an antibiotic then and there - no vitamins / minerals / homeopathic treatment is going to bring a fuzzer back from that serious a condition in my opinion.

If you are going to be helping these critters out in the future go AROUND this rehabber that is in the way and doing more damage than good. She sounds like one of those people that needs some power / control to have any self esteem - and fuzzers die in the process.

[Critter_Queen]

CQ - in your earlier post you mentioned that fuzzers get a "shot of Baytril just for good measure".

I'm not sure I understand - do you mean that you give them a single dose and that is all?

Well, sort of. Let me see if I can explain. Hubby and I have noticed that most of the fall babies come in emaciated and VERY cold. In a lot of cases finders try to feed them something and the hungry baby inhales the water/milk/whatever. We don't always get the truth from finders, so I always assume baby has been fed by an inexperienced hand, in addition to any problems it's otherwise presenting.

So, generally speaking (but not in all cases, we take it squirrel by squirrel) we give most intakes a single, double-dose injection of Baytril during rehydration if they are in bad shape. Before doing this, we found that at least half of all "bad case" intakes had to be medicated for at least a five day course in order to cure respiratory distress that presented after initial physical exam. AFTER implementing our new strategy, we find that only 10% still need more antibiotic treatment after that initial dose.

My personal opinion is that the single, double-dose injection helps boost their immune systems enough to keep them from getting the infection to begin with. Does that make sense?

In every case where a squirrel comes in with a respiratory problem, it's given a full 5-7 day regimine...the single dose squirrels aren't showing symptoms, but are otherwise in poor shape and likely candidates for pneumonia.

[Critter_Queen]

I'm so sorry your boy didn't make it TS. :grouphug People like that suck. I know rehabbers like that too. :(

[LynninIN]

I'm sorry TS. I can't believe the state requires you work this way. It is not in the best interest of the squirrel. Can you and/or you mom get a license to work on your own? You alone know more than enough, with your mom way more than enough to have a license to work without the "help" of the dispatcher.

RIP little squirrel. :grouphug

[thundersquirrel]

i'm sorry my description made some of you sad. i felt like....deep down, beneath all the grief and sadness, there's a hunger to know exactly what happens to these little guys. the way that he died tells a lot about what his problem was. i'm actually worried that the steam treatment loosened up the stuff and when it resettled it was blocking his airway....

gammas, unfortunately there are a few people in command who are like this. they become jaded. they give up on the harder cases. "can't save them all" and "they'd probably die anyway" seem to be their mottos. makes me furious...when mom and i had the pager, we would call back within five minutes, most of the time getting the babies ourselves.

AC, you actually have a point there. we have an extremely kind vet (whose most common job, unfortunately, is euthanasia) and i think we could talk to him about getting us some medicine next time, at discount prices. i just need to convince my mother, because i probably won't be home when she sees him next.

thanks all for the support. i'm just tired. didn't mention that there are two other (and perfectly healthy, thank GOD) young foxers that need feeding. both girls, both adorable. :)

[thundersquirrel]

lynn, we would LOVE to have licenses, but it's not in the cards right now. mom's got a very stressful job (due to a very stressful boss) and i'm busy with college until may.

i definitely plan on getting a license during grad school, though. i think being a wildlife biologist kind of includes that anyway. :)

[Apple Corps]

thundersquirrel - the meds I mentioned can often be obtained in sealed foil physician sample packs. Stored properly - they retain their clinical efficacy way beyond the expiration date shown. What I have been noodling on is getting sample pics of fuzzers at various weights and list the proper dosage and duration of treatment for several injuries - along with the proper med.

It may not be perfect - but pretty good.

I'll try to post an example of this over the weekend.

[I Love Lucy]

Thunder - I just read this thread and I'm appalled at your dispatcher's behavior. I hate people who try to play god deciding who is worthy or not. It's the most frustrating thing when you know there is something simple you can do to save a life and for some reason it is just out of reach. You did everything you could, when your hands were tied by your dispatcher. I'm glad the little guy knew a loving hand in the end.

[Apple Corps]

I Love Lucy - we all feel the same frustration and anger.

That said - when some damn idiot tries to tie your hands we need to cut the rope and go around the idiot - we want to encourage creative action to all of these silly and harmful restrictions in helping squirrels.

There are many easy ways around idiots like this as well as all the state laws that people are concerned about.

[Preacher]

TS...i just read all of this...I am so sorry about the loss of your little jewel. You are ONE special person to care so much, and try so hard.

[4skwerlz]

So sorry, TS. I've had many run-ins with these petty people who love to exert their power over others. Authority sucks sometimes. You tried, which is more than he/she can say. :grouphug

[muffinsquirrel]

So sorry you lost him - I know how much that hurts. And then the anger from knowing you could have saved him if it hadn't been for that stupid dispacher - I'm surprised you are calm enough to even type!!

Don't let it get you down - you do so very much good for so many babies.

muffinsquirrel

[thundersquirrel]

oh, i know. i had fun with the other two that are alive and well. i got out the fiesty one and played climbing games to build her strength. she's pretty good at climbing vertically downwards now.

the other one is a sweety. she might have some eating issues, but nothing crazy enough to post about yet.

i'm going to bury the little guy tomorrow at the top of a hill where the sunset can be seen. :)