little runt developing AP

[firefly21]

Hi, I have 3 little cuddlies, about 6 weeks old (had them for 5 weeks) Riff the runt looks like he's developing AP. Very lethargic compared to siblings, very very slight crackle, sneezing, breathes through his mouth when sleeping and I have to go get a new thermometer, but he's deffinatly warmer than the other two. He still has a big appetite, but doesn't want to move around. He was also the only one that had trouble feeding without having to turn him upside down a few times. I have fostered / raised and released more squirrels than i can count, but haven't had one develop AP in over 20 years. (and they were all pinkies when they got it) the place I volunteered at is long since retired, we used to break open a (deleted) and dose them according to weight, but it's been so long since I've had to do it, I can't remember dosage. I have the (deleted) amox capsule, and also sent a message to my vet friend to see if I can get some baytril or clav from her, but I don't want to wait too long in case she can't get back to me for a while. I read the crushed tablet solution is (deleted), is it the same for capsule? if so, according to my mostly accurate scale, he's about 112 grams, so that would be a hair over (deleted) correct? I am so happy I found this board!!! Any help is appreciated!

[CritterMom]

Hi, I have 3 little cuddlies, about 6 weeks old (had them for 5 weeks) Riff the runt looks like he's developing AP. Very lethargic compared to siblings, very very slight crackle, sneezing, breathes through his mouth when sleeping and I have to go get a new thermometer, but he's deffinatly warmer than the other two. He still has a big appetite, but doesn't want to move around. He was also the only one that had trouble feeding without having to turn him upside down a few times. I have fostered / raised and released more squirrels than i can count, but haven't had one develop AP in over 20 years. (and they were all pinkies when they got it) the place I volunteered at is long since retired, we used to break open a (deleted) and dose them according to weight, but it's been so long since I've had to do it, I can't remember dosage. I have the(deleted) amox capsule, and also sent a message to my vet friend to see if I can get some baytril or clav from her, but I don't want to wait too long in case she can't get back to me for a while. I read the crushed tablet solution is (deleted), is it the same for capsule? if so, according to my mostly accurate scale, he's about 112 grams, so that would be a hair over (deleted) correct? I am so happy I found this board!!! Any help is appreciated!

In a word, yes, your calculation is correct. And the 500mg pill and capsule work the same (the pill will result in more total powder once ground, but the extra is the stuff they mix it with to make it stick together in pill form. It would be administered 2 times a day at that rate.

PLEASE try to get your hands on either the baytril or the amoxicillin clavulanate. The plain amoxicillin is really just so-so. Also, if you have or someone you know has a leftover Cipro from a UTI or something, we can break that down and dose it for you. It is (more or less) the human equivalent of Baytril and will work extremely fast.

I am going to wait until you respond to this and then if you don't mind, I am going to delete the dosing info in your post. We try to keep dosing off the main board and provide the info by PM. The fear is that someone who doesn't really understand it will miscalculate and do real injury to their animal. We have a number of folks who can do this and we try hard not to let the requests go unanswered for long.

[firefly21]

In a word, yes, your calculation is correct. And the 500mg pill and capsule work the same (the pill will result in more total powder once ground, but the extra is the stuff they mix it with to make it stick together in pill form. It would be administered 2 times a day at that rate.

PLEASE try to get your hands on either the baytril or the amoxicillin clavulanate. The plain amoxicillin is really just so-so. Also, if you have or someone you know has a leftover Cipro from a UTI or something, we can break that down and dose it for you. It is (more or less) the human equivalent of Baytril and will work extremely fast.

I am going to wait until you respond to this and then if you don't mind, I am going to delete the dosing info in your post. We try to keep dosing off the main board and provide the info by PM. The fear is that someone who doesn't really understand it will miscalculate and do real injury to their animal. We have a number of folks who can do this and we try hard not to let the requests go unanswered for long.

Thank you so much!! and dang it! I had some cipro but it expired in january so i threw it out then, it probably would have still worked! I will let you know if I get my hands on anything else, and I have yogurt and probios for him too

[firefly21]

unfortunately I haven't found any amoxiclav or cipro, and my vet friend is away, i'm still looking, and have a few friends looking for me too. the only other things I can come up with is keflex 500mg caps and clindamicyn hcl 300 (probably spelled that wrong lol) and I personally have never used those with rodents, and couldn't find much about that either.
His condition hasn't worsened so I held off on the amox while searching, he still has a great appetite I'm going to go ahead with the amox because I don't want him to go downhill. If any of the two listed above are preferable to the regular amox, please let me know, and if I can manage to find the amoxiclav or cipro I will post asap! Thank you again for your help for my little fuzzy baby!

[CritterMom]

unfortunately I haven't found any amoxiclav or cipro, and my vet friend is away, i'm still looking, and have a few friends looking for me too. the only other things I can come up with is keflex 500mg caps and clindamicyn hcl 300 (probably spelled that wrong lol) and I personally have never used those with rodents, and couldn't find much about that either.
His condition hasn't worsened so I held off on the amox while searching, he still has a great appetite I'm going to go ahead with the amox because I don't want him to go downhill. If any of the two listed above are preferable to the regular amox, please let me know, and if I can manage to find the amoxiclav or cipro I will post asap! Thank you again for your help for my little fuzzy baby!

One of the raps against amoxicillin is that it can cause stomach issues - diarrhea. Add some probiotics to the baby's food wile you are dosing him - you can add yogurt to the food or give just a tiny pinch of the powder from inside probiotic capsules for humans. Try to separate giving probiotics by 2-3 hours from the meds.

[firefly21]

Just want to thank you for your help! I wound up just doing the amox, and with in 24 hours he was all over the place again! he's doing great, and I always add greek and then alternate greek and plain yogurt because of lactose and calcium differences to their formula, I first started that by accident, I was mixing homemade with too much yogurt, but I noticed a lot less aspiration because its a thicker consistency, so when I moved to regular formulas, I kept adding the additional yogurt and haven't had a death or one develop ap since! for around 20 years! This time was the first time I used the fox valley, and it was slightly thinner the first few times I made it so I added a little more yogurt to thicken it after i had trouble with the runt aspirating. All 3 are fat and happy now, nibbling on their rodent blocks! Thank you so much for your Quick response! This board is wonderful, wish I would have discovered it sooner!:Love_Icon

[CritterMom]

Oh that is wonderful! He is the second little one with this turn around overnight! I am so pleased.

I am going to have to re-think amoxicillin and pneumonia.

[firefly21]

Its the only one we used to use for that at the center i volunteered at 20 years ago, (probably because there wasn't much else available) and I really only used it on the pinkies, once they were a little bigger we never had any issues, and ive been taking in squirrels and opossums mostly, since they retired years ago. I'll take other things too, but if its a bird lol aside from an owl or buzzard (they are better off closer to where they were found) I try to find another rehabber to take the liitle birds! Ill only take them if I have to lol just not a bird person! and any of the top 5 Rabies Carriers I bring to a licensed rehabber ( I don't have a booster and don't hold a license because i don't do it full time anymore, people just keep finding creatures and bring them to me because they don't know what to do and they know ive always done it:grin2)

[Mel1959]

I’m not sure where you’re located in Florida but I’m also in Florida and work under a licensed rehabber. I’m on the east coast, just south of Cocoa Beach. I have had my rabies booster and love to rehab raccoons and opossums! If you ever need someone to take any of these little guys please reach out to me, provided we’re relatively close in proximity. My number is 321-961-2548.

[firefly21]

I’m not sure where you’re located in Florida but I’m also in Florida and work under a licensed rehabber. I’m on the east coast, just south of Cocoa Beach. I have had my rabies booster and love to rehab raccoons and opossums! If you ever need someone to take any of these little guys please reach out to me, provided we’re relatively close in proximity. My number is 321-961-2548.

I am not far, in the bayside area, I do opossums too, but I will definitely send any raccoon’s or little guys I am not experienced enough to handle! I mainly do little rodents and opossums and occasionally birds (I hate birds lol I like other people’s birds!) do you take birds? I will be more than happy to send those your way 😂!

[island rehabber]

Good news about amoxicillin because Clavamox has been so hard to get around here.
May I interject a little word about expired meds? When I got licensed in 2004 my vet gifted me a large, heavy glass bottle of Baytril -- back then it was still THE go-to drug for AP. It was about to expire but she told me to go ahead and use it.
I used it until 2014, and it cured more precious baby squirrels than I can remember. And cured them quickly!
Don't throw out anything just because of the expiration date EXCEPT DOXYCYCLINE, which does actually change and "go bad".