TheSweetestChip
06-20-2022, 11:53 AM
Hey all
We're raising a small red squirrel (Hudson squirrel) and she's 8 weeks and 2 days old.
Everything was going perfect until yesterday and this is where I need your advice
I apologize in advance for the long message, I just want to give you guys as much information as possible.
Our little Penny suddenly began vomiting around 10 am. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, because I didn't even know this was possible.
After reading all of the amazing advice here on the board I decided that she probably drank a bit too much milk or too fast. I started her on pedialyte, so that she remained hydrated. But she still was becoming weaker and my heart began to sank, trying everything to keep her warm. These are the action I undertook:
=> Pedialyte: 1 cc / hour
=> Heat pad on low - container placed on it with a fleece bottom, but only half.
=> Penny behavior: very wobbly / unbalanced, squeaking, vomiting, constantly scratching her ears, still peeing as normal, no poo's.
After reading that the pedialyte would just "flush" everything out, I continued making sure she was hydrated and warm.
Around 12 am I gave her another syringe of pedialyte and suddenly a lot of milk came out of her tiny mouth. Hoping that that was it...
It went from bad to worse.
=> She started arching her back
=> Her activity dropped quickly as time went by
=> At this point I read that arching her back is a signal of hypoglycemia. So we immediately gave her some honey (had nothing else in the house) - Seizures?
=> During all of this I kept her very warm on her heat pad and gave her 1cc of pedialyte / hour.
But even after this there was no change. So we went all out, as we noticed that we didn't have much time left. She was becoming more and more lifeless by the minute, eyes rolling into her head, started gasping through her mouth (at this point I was ugly crying and so heartbroken). This is what we did:
=> We made a warm bath and put her in it. Her tiny head in my hands so that her nose, mouth and ears would not touch it.
=> After this we put her directly on the heating pad and started rubbing her dry / warm.
=> We massaged her belly, discovering that the mouth breathing stopped because of this. (Some kind of blockage?)
=> We dried her as quickly as possible with a hair dryer (level 1 - far enough from our little baby - and never on the same place to avoid burning) - During this part I also covered her face, ears, nose and mouth as I didn't want to risk her getting pneumonia.
=> Every 2 minutes we put a warm towel onto her (until 7pm) while I was rubbing, my husband gave me a fresh towel.
We continued doing this for an hour and suddenly she was getting more responsive. She also started pooing. However she was still very weak, tired and wobbly.
She couldn't sit without falling to her side. We decided to continue with the pedialyte as she was peeing and pooing normally at this point. (at this point we were 8 - 9pm). We gave her another cc of pedialyte at 11 pm, including a bit of honey, then another at 3 am, 5 am en 7 am. Visibly getting stronger.
Overjoyed that we got through the night and Penny clearly getting better, we started our day today with optimism. However even after a day of drinking her milk again (smaller portions, very slowly and less time between feedings + a bit more water as to make more liquid) and keeping warm (as described above). She remains very weak and wobbly. Her head seems to heavy for her, she can't use her wrists / back and frontlegs are clearly weakened. Grinding her teeth (with saliva...), and most of the time still arching her back... We haven't seen her improve since this morning.
My Question is:
=> She obviously has had a seizure - was this because of the hypoglycemia? If so, how can we prevent this in the past?
=> The symptoms of the seizure and then her wobblyness / weakness, her legs not working properly seems MBD.
=> How does the vomiting fits into this all?
=> What else can we do for her now? Or should I just give her time to recover from yesterday?
Diet info: She was drinking Esbilac - 4 times a day. 1 Henry's Picky block (introduction - eating just bits and pieces of it)+ healthy veggies / fruits with the best calcium / phosphorous ratio. (introduction - not really eating it) - She has a calcium stone in her home, fresh water every day
Extra info: She did not fall, she only live inside, she has tons of playroom and she is never alone. We don't have a vet at our disposal.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story.
And please, don't hesistate to share your advice or ask for more information!
Kind regards
A very worried squirrelmom and dad
We're raising a small red squirrel (Hudson squirrel) and she's 8 weeks and 2 days old.
Everything was going perfect until yesterday and this is where I need your advice
I apologize in advance for the long message, I just want to give you guys as much information as possible.
Our little Penny suddenly began vomiting around 10 am. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, because I didn't even know this was possible.
After reading all of the amazing advice here on the board I decided that she probably drank a bit too much milk or too fast. I started her on pedialyte, so that she remained hydrated. But she still was becoming weaker and my heart began to sank, trying everything to keep her warm. These are the action I undertook:
=> Pedialyte: 1 cc / hour
=> Heat pad on low - container placed on it with a fleece bottom, but only half.
=> Penny behavior: very wobbly / unbalanced, squeaking, vomiting, constantly scratching her ears, still peeing as normal, no poo's.
After reading that the pedialyte would just "flush" everything out, I continued making sure she was hydrated and warm.
Around 12 am I gave her another syringe of pedialyte and suddenly a lot of milk came out of her tiny mouth. Hoping that that was it...
It went from bad to worse.
=> She started arching her back
=> Her activity dropped quickly as time went by
=> At this point I read that arching her back is a signal of hypoglycemia. So we immediately gave her some honey (had nothing else in the house) - Seizures?
=> During all of this I kept her very warm on her heat pad and gave her 1cc of pedialyte / hour.
But even after this there was no change. So we went all out, as we noticed that we didn't have much time left. She was becoming more and more lifeless by the minute, eyes rolling into her head, started gasping through her mouth (at this point I was ugly crying and so heartbroken). This is what we did:
=> We made a warm bath and put her in it. Her tiny head in my hands so that her nose, mouth and ears would not touch it.
=> After this we put her directly on the heating pad and started rubbing her dry / warm.
=> We massaged her belly, discovering that the mouth breathing stopped because of this. (Some kind of blockage?)
=> We dried her as quickly as possible with a hair dryer (level 1 - far enough from our little baby - and never on the same place to avoid burning) - During this part I also covered her face, ears, nose and mouth as I didn't want to risk her getting pneumonia.
=> Every 2 minutes we put a warm towel onto her (until 7pm) while I was rubbing, my husband gave me a fresh towel.
We continued doing this for an hour and suddenly she was getting more responsive. She also started pooing. However she was still very weak, tired and wobbly.
She couldn't sit without falling to her side. We decided to continue with the pedialyte as she was peeing and pooing normally at this point. (at this point we were 8 - 9pm). We gave her another cc of pedialyte at 11 pm, including a bit of honey, then another at 3 am, 5 am en 7 am. Visibly getting stronger.
Overjoyed that we got through the night and Penny clearly getting better, we started our day today with optimism. However even after a day of drinking her milk again (smaller portions, very slowly and less time between feedings + a bit more water as to make more liquid) and keeping warm (as described above). She remains very weak and wobbly. Her head seems to heavy for her, she can't use her wrists / back and frontlegs are clearly weakened. Grinding her teeth (with saliva...), and most of the time still arching her back... We haven't seen her improve since this morning.
My Question is:
=> She obviously has had a seizure - was this because of the hypoglycemia? If so, how can we prevent this in the past?
=> The symptoms of the seizure and then her wobblyness / weakness, her legs not working properly seems MBD.
=> How does the vomiting fits into this all?
=> What else can we do for her now? Or should I just give her time to recover from yesterday?
Diet info: She was drinking Esbilac - 4 times a day. 1 Henry's Picky block (introduction - eating just bits and pieces of it)+ healthy veggies / fruits with the best calcium / phosphorous ratio. (introduction - not really eating it) - She has a calcium stone in her home, fresh water every day
Extra info: She did not fall, she only live inside, she has tons of playroom and she is never alone. We don't have a vet at our disposal.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story.
And please, don't hesistate to share your advice or ask for more information!
Kind regards
A very worried squirrelmom and dad