Bloating, constipation, and diarrhea in ~11 month old red

[Syd and Squeegee]

Hi all,

I got home from work today and went to see Squeegee as usual. When I walked in his room he didn’t even get up to greet me, he was obviously feeling very sick sitting on a tree stump. I could tell he was trying to poop and nothing was coming out. I saw a little bit of diarrhea (pic attached) from some time before. I massaged his tummy (which is very bloated, but there are no hard spots) with a warm washcloth and he pushed out a little more diarrhea. He doesn’t really seem to have urinated either. He was totally normal yesterday. He is fed boo balls made with Teklad 2018 and HHB. I’m about to try and get some honey water into his system. Any advice? Thank you!

324388
324389

[Syd and Squeegee]

He just threw up while trying to poop.

[CritterMom]

With diarrhea, you are going to need to address his hydration but if there is vomiting too, you have to be very careful and do tiny amounts to not trigger more vomiting.

Any chance there are some old, stashed boo balls somewhere? Stuff like that needs to be cleaned out daily - that food goes bad and will make them ill if they eat it.

They CAN have pepto bismol. Do you have a weight guesstimate?

[Syd and Squeegee]

With diarrhea, you are going to need to address his hydration but if there is vomiting too, you have to be very careful and do tiny amounts to not trigger more vomiting.

Any chance there are some old, stashed boo balls somewhere? Stuff like that needs to be cleaned out daily - that food goes bad and will make them ill if they eat it.

They CAN have pepto bismol. Do you have a weight guesstimate?

I try to keep up on it but recently I found a stash of dried mushrooms that I never knew about so I can’t say there aren’t other stashes I’ve missed :-( Also, there was a weird feeding thing yesterday. My partner and I had a miscommunication about who would feed when (one of us feeds in the AM, the other in the PM). We both thought we were feeding in the PM but we work slightly different schedules so weren’t around each other to correct this so he did not get food in the AM and got double food in the PM.
I keep rubbing his tummy and so far he’s in a pattern of pooping (diarrhea) a little bit after I massage it.
I would say around 230 grams also!

[CritterMom]

I try to keep up on it but recently I found a stash of dried mushrooms that I never knew about so I can’t say there aren’t other stashes I’ve missed :-( Also, there was a weird feeding thing yesterday. My partner and I had a miscommunication about who would feed when (one of us feeds in the AM, the other in the PM). We both thought we were feeding in the PM but we work slightly different schedules so weren’t around each other to correct this so he did not get food in the AM and got double food in the PM.
I keep rubbing his tummy and so far he’s in a pattern of pooping (diarrhea) a little bit after I massage it.
I would say around 230 grams also!

I sent you Pepto dosing...but I would continue stimulating him to poop for a little while before you give it to him. If he has something in his system making him ill and it sure seems like he does, it is a lot better OUT of him, and it doesn't look like you are seeing watery diarrhea at this point. It should soothe his little bowels, too. He won't like the pepto. Rodents don't like peppermint... I hope he is okay.

Reds are notorious stashers so you have to go full SWAT team on the stashes because of this. I almost lost my little flying squirrel the same way and I ransack that little grubs cage daily now.

[Syd and Squeegee]

Just in case anyone was following along and wanted an update in case it happens to their little guy…Squeegee is a thousand times better today! I dosed him with pepto last night and again this morning and he is chipper as can be! So much less bloated, back to constantly oinking, jumping around and climbing nonstop, drinking water, and begging for food again :)

Such a scary thing, I am so so so thankful for this site and the incredible admins (CritterMom!) that share their expertise! I was absolutely and completely panicked and the fact that I was able to reach out and this community responded so quickly just to help little man Squeegee makes me so happy and so hopeful.

[Tashahaven]

I’m so happy he is doing so much better! What a relief! TSB community is so amazing 🥰

Glad you were able to help him, and the folks here could help.