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View Full Version : Dosing Augmentin for 5 week squirrel - Aspiration Pneumonia



themechanicssquirrel
03-08-2022, 03:55 PM
Hi! New to the forum. We have three baby squirrels who have been doing well - they are on 32/40 Fox Valley after being on Esbilac for about a week.

BUT, they are such voracious eaters they have aspirated a few times in the last weeks :shakehead They get fed with a 1ml (or sometimes 3ml as we only have one, 1ml right now) syringe with a nipple on it, as slow as we can go. If formula comes out their nose or they sneeze they get held upside down until it stops. No one has aspirated (that we know of) in the last 24 hrs.

One of our boys (Reg or Reginald) started making a clicking noise when he breathes this afternoon! I can only hear it if I hold him up to my ear. Tried listening to the other two to see if I was misinterpreting what I was hearing... Hep (Hepzibah) sometimes makes a snuffling noise, but that was it....

We have squirrel specific antibiotics on the way in the mail, but they won't arrive until Friday. (Just to have on hand.) A family member has some human antibiotics though - I think the brand is Augmentin, but my mom is picking them up now. How do I go about dosing a baby squirrel (closed eyes, about 60 grams - we forgot to weigh before feeding this morning) with human augmentin? Will he need probiotics as well? I have human probiotic capsules... how do I dose those? Do we continue feeding him even if he is clicking?

He is not lethargic yet, but we had a little girl almost die last week :( She was fine one day and then had terrible diarrhea the next and started blowing liquid out her nose, breathing slowly, lethargic etc. To get her to the vet we had to relinquish her, so I don't know what happened in the end. I think we are all still so scarred from that experience that I am super nervous.

Do we wait to dose him until he "seems" sick? Or start now, even if he is eating and pooping well?

I will be back on soon with the specifics of the antibiotic, once I find it out.

themechanicssquirrel
03-08-2022, 04:36 PM
We have Augmentin 500, 125 mg tablets. He just only ate 1.5 ml at his feeding, as opposed to his usual 3-4ml so I think we'd like to start him on antibiotics.

CritterMom
03-08-2022, 05:01 PM
I just sent you dilution and dosing info by PM. I forgot to add - keep the mixture in the refrigerator and make sure you stir it up well before each dose.

And to reiterate, if you are unsure of how to read the syringe, please say so. It is a very small amount you will be giving.

themechanicssquirrel
03-08-2022, 05:29 PM
Thank you!!!