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Thread: My baby Peanut

  1. #1
    Chandlerdubberly Guest

    Default My baby Peanut

    Hello everyone! My name is Chandler and I have a 6.5/7 week old Eastern Grey baby squirrel named Peanut! He is the light of my life. My fiance found him when he was about 4 weeks old. He was leaving work and was walking to his car when he saw Peanut in his nest. It was raining and very windy that day so we are thinking his nest fell from the tree. My fiance didn't touch the nest at first as he read he needed to wait and see if the mother would come back. Well about two hours later there was no sign of momma and my fiance didn't want to leave the baby out anymore as it was raining. He brought Peanut home and we cleaned him up, warmed him up and gave him Pedialyte for the first 24 hours as he was a little dehydrated. I called my vet and got some Fox Valley formula and he has been on that since we've first had him. A little after he opened his eyes he started getting a little aggressive with feedings. On Sept 7th, he aspirated a huge amount because the plunger on the syringe gave out. I think it was because I cleaned it with hot water and it loosened the rubber on the plunger. I was so worried but there was nothing I could do as it was late at night. The next morning Sept 8th, he was acting lethargic, was hard to wake up and started sneezing and sniffling. I also heard the clicking noise. It was a very soft clicking noise but it still worried me, so I called the vet and made an appointment for that same day. Turns out he has aspiration pneumonia so the vet prescribed I inject 0.02ml once daily of Baytril and Nebulize twice daily adding 2ml saline, 0.20mls Baytril and 0.20ml Budesonide to the nebulizer. We have been doing this every day since Sept 8th. He has been acting very healthy. Very active and has a great appetite. His bathroom business is all good as well. Yesterday though, Sept 12th he aspirated again because my fiance was feeding him and accidentally pushed out too much formula causing Peanut to spit up the formula and sneeze it out. He seemed to have sneezed it all out. Since he has been on the medication I know their isn't much more I can do about him aspirating yesterday because he is already on Baytril. Today Sept 13th he is doing very well. Very active, playing and has a great appetite. The only concerns I have is today during his afternoon feeding he made a loud gag noise, had his mouth wide open and pulled away from the syringe. I was feeding him very slowly with the syringe the vet gave me. Nothing came out of his mouth and he didn't aspirate (nothing came out of his nose). Any clue on what that might of been? My fiance said he could have had the nipple too far down his throat and kind of gagged. Not sure. Another concern I have is since Sept 8th, he has been sneezing and sniffling. Not a loud sneeze just a small puff sneezing noise, I hear it often when he is awake but he never does it when he is sleeping. Other than that he has been acting healthy, playful and has a great appetite. Any feedback or clues on what the sneezing might be about would help me greatly! I am going to call the vet again tomorrow and talk with him about it and see if he wants me to bring him in again.
    I should also mention that we've been starting to feed him solids as well in between formula feedings. He eats Henry's Healthy blocks, apples, bananas and spinach leaves. He also loves to bite on some all natural apple wood sticks we purchased from the pet store.
    My fiance and I are going to be keeping Peanut as we found out from the vet he is unreleasable due to him being blind in one eye. We live in the state of Florida where it is legal and we love him dearly. I'm so thankful and happy I found this board and look forward to hearing your responses!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
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    Default Re: My baby Peanut

    Hi there and thanks for helping this little guy. I think a return to the vet would be a great idea, especially since he was helped the first time.

    What type of syringe are you using? It sounds as if it is giving you trouble. 1 or 3 ml syringes are the best. The o-ring syringes last a while and are smooth and reliable. The disposable ones do get sticky and can cause mishaps after a couple of uses. I used disposable last year and had to use a new one every two feedings. It was costly and annoying. You can purchase miracle syringes here: https://www.amazon.com/Henrys-Health...5350691&sr=8-6

    On the Henry's site it says they are out of 3 ml syringes but if you buy through Amazon, they are in stock. I bought some just yesterday. consider the miracle nipples also.

    Check out this food pyramid for healthy diet. The HH blocks are a great place to start, but he should only get fruit sparingly and minimal to no spinach.

    https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...-Pet-Squirrels

    How much does he weigh, how much do you feed him and how often? He sure sounds cute, we'd love to see a pic!

  3. Serious fuzzy thank you's to cava from:

    Spanky (09-13-2017)

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
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    SC (Madison)
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    Default Re: My baby Peanut

    Aspiration Pneumonia (AP) is caused by the fluid that is inhaled and remains in the lungs (creating a breeding ground for bacteria). There really is no way to know that they have snorted all what they inhaled out through their noses. If he is still on Baytril, then the risk of infection is minimal.

    However, I am concerned about his diet from the brief post... their diet should be a foundation of rodent block, with an abundance of veggies and a bit of fruit... nuts, seeds and such are treats. The info here causes concern that the diet may be too heavy on fruit... review the link above to the Healthy Squirrel Diet.


    Hint (suggestion?): Give him the HHB first and separately and treat it like a treat... let him eat that while you prepare a buffet of lots of different healthy veggies and a bit of fruit.... he'll get into the routine and eat the block believing the "buffet" will be his reward (and it should be!).

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