Black Tarry Stools

[BSDE]

My little guy has black tarry stools starting this morning, May 4th. The only obvious suspect would be ibuprofen that i administered April 27th - 30th (4 days), half-dosing, using the chart here on TSB. I'm always a little overly concerned about NSAIDs so I always go with the minimum effective dose (on me -- this is my first time giving him Ibuprofen). As such, I gave him .12ml of Childrens (not infants) Ibuprofen, and saw results/relief. I stuck with .12ml Childrens (not infants) two times daily, as needed, for four days, so it was a very conservative dosage, while still offering pain relief. Unfortunately, even with that, he has black tarry stools today, and has showed the signs of a stomach ache yesterday and today (3 to 4 days after stopping ibuprofen). What remedies are best for our little friends with these symptoms?

Summary of facts:
2.5 years old, Eastern Gray that has been with us from birth.
~500 grams
Injured rear foot/ankle
Responded favorably to .12ml of Childrens (not infants) Ibuprofen twice daily for four days.
He did take meloxicam from the vet last year without any issues at all (just for reference).
His diet is fantastic, consisting of Henry's Healthy Blocks and various correct calcuim:phosphouous ratio fruits and vegetables, dried mealworms, and roughly 1/2 of a large pecan, broken up, per day, as rewards for various behaviors.

Thank you all for your help!

[CritterMom]

It was even less ibuprophen than you may be aware. The children's is actually about half the strength of the infants (in fact the infant is actually labeled as concentrated). So you gave him 1/4 of the dose. I don't think we have ever seen a problem with it, especially so long after having taken it.

Could he have eaten something that he had stashed? Something that had perhaps gone bad? The HHBs will do that - the nice thing is they have no preservatives but unfortunately, that means you have to be pretty vigilant about removing stashes.

Did you at any point give him Pepto Bismol? That makes poops just like that - it is a normal part of giving pepto...

[BSDE]

Thank you for your reply. I can't see the rest of your message after "Pepto..." but I can confirm that we haven't given him anything at all to treat his tummy issues because I wanted to ask here first. Do you recommend Pepto Bismol or other over-the-counter remedies for squirrels tummies? I haven't seen him nibbling on any old HHBs or any other old stashes. We keep a pretty clean environment, but the possibility still exists. In that case, what advice do you have for helping his tummy get better?

I understand that you said 3 to 4 days after administering Ibuprofen is too long to point back to ibuprofen as a cause. Are problems usually seen right away, or within the course of treatment, and not after? Luckily, I, myself, haven't experienced any stomach issues from nsaids so I'm ignorant of the onset timeframe of problems.

I tried to look back and search for the dosing chart that I looked at at the end of April, before I went to CVS to get children's ibuprofen, but I couldn't find it. But in my search, I found this:
CritterMom
02-10-2014, 07:01 PM
This is the children's, NOT the infant? Children's is one half the strength as the infant - yes, the infan't is stronger so you don't have to give a little baby so much of it. So if you are sure it is children's, it would be .24cc for a 1 pound squirrel.

This is why I thought .12ml was a half-dose (half of .24ml). Am I interpreting that wrong? Math is not my friend, and when you throw decimals in there I should just run away!

Thank you, again, for you time and help!