***Post-Odontoma Surgery Help**

[FurBabyMom80]

Our 4.5 yr old girl Tina just had surgery to remove an odontoma a few days ago (it's Sunday and she had surgery Friday...here's the original thread for those interested:https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?70471-Seeing-The-Great-Dr-Emerson!). The first 2 days were rough - she didn't want to do anything but sleep and she was so uncomfortable. She wouldn't eat anything either, but at least she was drinking.

Last night she turned a BIG corner! She is back to being her active normal self! We may even be transitioning her from her small recovery cage back into her large enclosure today (after we make a couple changes to it - like removing her shredded paper bedding and replacing it with soft blankets, just so her stent hole doesn't get dirty). Tomorrow we go back to Dr. Emerson to get the stent removed.

My question is...for those of you who've had a squirrel with this surgery, when did you start to reintroduce regular food again, rather than just soft food? Tina won't have anything to do with the baby food we got her (bananas, pear & raspberry, sweet potato, and carrot...normally all foods she LOVES). She won't even eat applesauce or avocado, both things she would normally BEG us for! Maybe it's a texture thing? Of all things, my husband had her out yesterday and he was eating saltine crackers and she suddenly STOLE one from him and started eating it as fast as she could! He ended up taking it away, then wetting a little piece and giving it to her which she absolutely loved. Not sure if her body needed the salt or what...next surgery she has (in 6 weeks to remove her other odontoma), we'll be getting Pedialyte to make sure she has the electrolytes she was obviously craving!

Pics of little Tina post-surgery and then this morning, bright and chipper again which is so exciting!! I hated seeing her so uncomfortable :sniff
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[Charley Chuckles]

If she likes avocado that's a good food for her now👍
Can even mush it up with some FV. Can even sprinkle on a bit of HHP calcium. Grind up the HHB add yogurt, etc. and keep her hydrated.
After the squirrels I had with odatomas, I gave them anything healthy they wanted, and even no so healthy 😉 peanut butter, just a bit to get them eating....
I remember having 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed when I was just out of highschool my mom fed me icecream 😁
I'm not actually suggesting that 🤫

[FurBabyMom80]

If she likes avocado that's a good food for her now��
Can even mush it up with some FV. Can even sprinkle on a bit of HHP calcium. Grind up the HHB add yogurt, etc. and keep her hydrated.
After the squirrels I had with odatomas, I gave them anything healthy they wanted, and even no so healthy �� peanut butter, just a bit to get them eating....
I remember having 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed when I was just out of highschool my mom fed me icecream ��
I'm not actually suggesting that ��

Well unfortunately we can't even get her to eat avocado which she usually LOVES!! I was surprised she was so obsessive about the saltine crackers after stealing one from my husband :rotfl

We did take one of her Oxbow Adult Rat Garden Selects pieces and mushed it up with some water and she's taken a little bit...but I am talking like 3 tiny bites all day. The vet told us not to worry about her not eating yesterday since it is such a major surgery, but now it's 2 days post-surgery and I'm a little concerned that she isn't eating much at all. She was SO active this morning but it seems like that was a weird little burst, because she's been asleep all day since then. We wake her up every couple of hours to check her stent and nostrils but she's very tired and back to just wanting to snuggle up against us when we pick her up, rather than her usual which is running up and down our arms and trying to run off to play!

The good news is that we go back to Dr. Emerson tomorrow to get her stent removed so she can give us some advice if Tina's appetite isn't back by then.

[Charley Chuckles]

My Conker got almond butter 😁

[FurBabyMom80]

My Conker got almond butter ��

At this point, we've tried mixing her regular food with water, we've tried multiple baby foods (pear & blueberry, carrots, sweet potato, banana), fresh apple, fresh banana, unsweetened applesauce, avocado, peeled grape, and watermelon. She took a tiny bite of the grape and watermelon but won't take any more. She won't have anything to do with any of the other foods we've tried. All she wants is wet SALTINES! No idea why, as we've never fed that to her before! (or maybe that's why she wants them LOL)

Do you think perhaps her wanting the saltines means she's craving salt ie electrolytes? Think it would be worth going to the store and getting her some Pedialtye to see if she wants that?

Side note...as I am typing this, my husband decided to try some peanut butter (we didn't want to before because we were worried about it possibly clogging her nostrils) but she seems to like it and she's actually taking some so I guess it's a win, whatever we can do to get her to eat SOMETHING at this point I guess! :rotfl

[Charley Chuckles]

Let us know how her vet visit goes🙏
Yes I even gave Conker some ice cream ( guilty 😁 )

Oh some Pedialyte even home made would be good 👍

[FurBabyMom80]

Well she had her stent taken out today and it went well. We talked to the vet tech about Tina's lack of appetite and they said it could be due to the pain med she was on, Buprenorphine. She had her final dose this morning so hopefully her appetite comes back this evening or tomorrow morning!

How long should we keep her on a soft food diet before letting her go back to her usual free choice diet base (Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat food)?

[CritterMom]

If she appears to be in pain after the pain meds wear off, she CAN have infant ibuprophen for it. If you post her weight I will send you dosing - better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it!

[FurBabyMom80]

Thank you! We need to buy a new battery for our kitchen scale so we can weigh her! We do still have Metacam that they have us giving her once a day and it says it's an anti-inflammatory & pain reliever?

[CritterMom]

It is in the same class as ibuprofen and you wouldn't give them together. One or the other. The difference is the dosing frequency - Metacam is usually once a day and ibuprofen can be given every 4-6 hours.

[FurBabyMom80]

It is in the same class as ibuprofen and you wouldn't give them together. One or the other. The difference is the dosing frequency - Metacam is usually once a day and ibuprofen can be given every 4-6 hours.

Ok thanks! I'll run out and get a battery for our scale so we can weigh her tomorrow and grab some infant ibuprofen and post in here to get the dosage, appreciate the help! For the Metacam it says to give it to her once a day for 5-7 days so I think we'll stick to that for the next 2-4 days, then switch to the infant ibuprofen if we still need it!

[FurBabyMom80]

Oh, looks like the vet took her weight for us, just noticed on our invoice! 😁 She weighs 564g.
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[CritterMom]

Dosing sent by PM.

[FurBabyMom80]

Omg this squirrel, she won't eat anything we give her but my husband offered her a tiny piece of his pancake and she is OBSESSED! :rotfl

Sooooo all we can get her to eat at the moment is pancake! Sigh...normally not anything we would feed a squirrel (we stick to the Henry's Squirrel Food Pyramid + Oxbow) but we figure it's better for her little tummy to have something in it with her pain meds and antibiotics so we gave in and let her have a little pancake LOL

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[supersquirrelgirl]

Such beautiful facial expression! "Its MY turn to makes decisions around here....And I WANT pancakes!"

She is a real cutie! Love the big eyes......looks so serious.

[FurBabyMom80]

Such beautiful facial expression! "Its MY turn to makes decisions around here....And I WANT pancakes!"

She is a real cutie! Love the big eyes......looks so serious.

Haha that's exactly it! :rotfl

And of course she had pancake breakfast this morning too LOL

[FurBabyMom80]

Hopefully this video link works...this was Tina eating her dinner pancakes last night after meds :grin2

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4xbSnGw4qMupeBh17

[Charley Chuckles]

I'm laughing because I always made Conker squirrel size blueberry pancakes 🥞 always and he lived to be 13 so just saying, it wasn't all the time but on occasion 😁
I'm now wishing I would have added foxvalley to it, I bet that might be a good idea for your girl, and mom don't forget the blueberries 🤤

[FurBabyMom80]

I'm laughing because I always made Conker squirrel size blueberry pancakes 🥞 always and he lived to be 13 so just saying, it wasn't all the time but on occasion 😁
I'm now wishing I would have added foxvalley to it, I bet that might be a good idea for your girl, and mom don't forget the blueberries 🤤

Great idea!! We need to just come up with a Squirrel Recovery Pancakes recipe! :rotfl

[Charley Chuckles]

Great idea!! We need to just come up with a Squirrel Recovery Pancakes recipe! :rotfl

:laugh2:laugh2

[supersquirrelgirl]

Haha that's exactly it! :rotfl

And of course she had pancake breakfast this morning too LOL

She looks great! Nothing wrong with those teeth - she is quite busy with chomp, chomp, chomp! Pancakes must taste good.

I wonder what food will be next.....crackers, then pancakes, then what ?? Atleast she is eating!

[FurBabyMom80]

She looks great! Nothing wrong with those teeth - she is quite busy with chomp, chomp, chomp! Pancakes must taste good.

I wonder what food will be next.....crackers, then pancakes, then what ?? Atleast she is eating!

Well this morning she decided she doesn't want pancakes anymore go figure! :rotfl

Today she wanted a peanut and finally a healthy food - avocado! We also got her to eat a few little shavings from a carrot. She even took a couple small bites from her regular Oxbow pellets! She still doesn't have much of an appetite so we're just offering her anything and everything we can think of and letting her choose what she wants, just to get something into her stomach. I don't know if it's the same for squirrels, but I know every time I've ever been on antibiotics it definitely upsets my stomach, and she still has another 4 days go on those.

[CritterMom]

Well this morning she decided she doesn't want pancakes anymore go figure! :rotfl

Today she wanted a peanut and finally a healthy food - avocado! We also got her to eat a few little shavings from a carrot. She even took a couple small bites from her regular Oxbow pellets! She still doesn't have much of an appetite so we're just offering her anything and everything we can think of and letting her choose what she wants, just to get something into her stomach. I don't know if it's the same for squirrels, but I know every time I've ever been on antibiotics it definitely upsets my stomach, and she still has another 4 days go on those.

Squirrels can have probiotics to help with that just like people. You can buy special stuff at the pet shop or you can use the capsules for humans, or if she likes yogurt that too. An hour or two after meds dosing is best for probiotics.