5 week old with diarreah. Help!

[Kwill]

Hello everyone. I'm so glad I found this site. I've been reading it daily.. hourly.. trying to anticipate issues and learn how to deal with them beforehand. Unfortunately I am at a loss for this issue.
Little Sage just turned 5 weeks old, as of an hour ago she opened her eyes.
My fiance found her about 3 days ago at his job. He is... dun dun duun.... a pest control person.
He saved three baby squirrels from a sticky trap his crew had laid throughout the home. He couldn't bare to let them suffer, and as the house had been excluded, the mother could no longer get to her nest and to them.
His coworker took two of them to raise, as he has experience with raise and release, and my fiance took the one he bonded with throughout the day.
She has been doing amazing, and loves to be held continuously. I carry her in a fanny pack with a pillowcase inside to keep her warm since the heater we have turns off after an hour and she cries if not with someone.
All of her poops were really good. The first two were small and black, then the next few were a mustard yellow. We made sure to hydrate her as soon as we got her, and started her on esbilac puppy powder formula with heavy whipping cream added slightly. We fed her every 3 hours for the first day, then every 3 and a half, now every 4 hours. 5cc's every time.. roughly. Sometimes she wants less and will run to the fanny pack to hide.
She didn't pee for the first day, probably dehydration, and the second day she was a fountain. I went through 3 cotton balls full of urine in one session. Since then it's been pretty consistent urination, nothing that seems extreme, and about 3-5 medium sized poops each time.
So. Today. Her first few poops were normal, a mustard yellow to a sort of greenish color and hard like pellets, and now they are pale green and mushy. They aren't liquid, but very loose. They have a slight odor, but nothing horrendous.
I went online and ordered VF 20/50 for her since her eyes opened and I've heard there's issues with the formula.
I increased the water ratio in her food, and made sure to heat the powder as I mixed It to ensure it decentigrated the powder so it doesnt block up her stomach. It seems to have done the opposite now.
I'm just stumped. I don't think I'm over feeding, but I don't have a scale to measure weight. She is typical size of a 5 week old, and I have plenty of photos if needed.

Thank you!!

[CritterMom]

Make a new batch of formula WITHOUT the heavy cream - just formula powder and water, nothing added and see if this helps. It would be a good idea to increase hydration to compensate for fluid loss with the diarrhea, too. You may need to do more but it is possible that the cream is causing the issue. It is very rich and when used for older babies needs to be introduced REALLY slowly - over a day or so, not all at once like this.

[Javarat]

Drop the cream.
My 3 1/2 week olds are eating a 50/50 ratio of Esbilac/FV.. and I am getting 8 to 15 yellow poops every four hours. "3 to 5" seems like too little.
Maybe you are not stimulating long enough?... Mine pop out 3 to 5 poops after 1-2 minutes stimulation.... but then around 3-5 minutes they dump twice as much.
My rule of thumb is to keep stimulating until the butt no longer looks 'puckered' and pulls back flat. If it still looks puckered they are still have something to push out.

[Nancy in New York]

Hello everyone. I'm so glad I found this site. I've been reading it daily.. hourly.. trying to anticipate issues and learn how to deal with them beforehand. Unfortunately I am at a loss for this issue.
Little Sage just turned 5 weeks old, as of an hour ago she opened her eyes.
My fiance found her about 3 days ago at his job. He is... dun dun duun.... a pest control person.
He saved three baby squirrels from a sticky trap his crew had laid throughout the home. He couldn't bare to let them suffer, and as the house had been excluded, the mother could no longer get to her nest and to them.
His coworker took two of them to raise, as he has experience with raise and release, and my fiance took the one he bonded with throughout the day.
She has been doing amazing, and loves to be held continuously. I carry her in a fanny pack with a pillowcase inside to keep her warm since the heater we have turns off after an hour and she cries if not with someone.
All of her poops were really good. The first two were small and black, then the next few were a mustard yellow. We made sure to hydrate her as soon as we got her, and started her on esbilac puppy powder formula with heavy whipping cream added slightly. We fed her every 3 hours for the first day, then every 3 and a half, now every 4 hours. 5cc's every time.. roughly. Sometimes she wants less and will run to the fanny pack to hide.
She didn't pee for the first day, probably dehydration, and the second day she was a fountain. I went through 3 cotton balls full of urine in one session. Since then it's been pretty consistent urination, nothing that seems extreme, and about 3-5 medium sized poops each time.
So. Today. Her first few poops were normal, a mustard yellow to a sort of greenish color and hard like pellets, and now they are pale green and mushy. They aren't liquid, but very loose. They have a slight odor, but nothing horrendous.
I went online and ordered VF 20/50 for her since her eyes opened and I've heard there's issues with the formula.
I increased the water ratio in her food, and made sure to heat the powder as I mixed It to ensure it decentigrated the powder so it doesnt block up her stomach. It seems to have done the opposite now.
I'm just stumped. I don't think I'm over feeding, but I don't have a scale to measure weight. She is typical size of a 5 week old, and I have plenty of photos if needed.

Thank you!!

As cute as these little ones are and so tempting to raise,
I'm sorry she has lost her siblings to another family.
Is there a possibility that they would let you take the other 2?
They do so much better with siblings.
The Fox Valley formula contains more fat.
Did you do a slow transition over to it? How long has
she been on Fox Valley?

What do you mean when you say " and made sure to heat the powder "?
We use HOT water, but we never heat the powder.

Also when add more water to the formula, that's cutting down on their nutrition.
Instead, hydrate in between feedings.

You definitely need a scale in order to feed the proper amount.
Places like Bed Bath and Beyond have them. They are food/kitchen scales
that weigh in grams. Here's some on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...rds=gram+scale

The recommendation is to feed 5-7% of their weight.
How often are you feeding?

Here's an example of the kitchen scale and how you would weigh.
Put a container on, with a piece of fleece so they don't slip, weight the bowl and fleece
keep it on, and reset it should go back to zero, then put the squirrel in.


About the typical 5 week old, I had a group of 4 that were over 200 grams before their eyes opened.
See this little chunky monkey, he weighed in at 208 grams when his eyes opened.

[Nancy in New York]

This is why they need siblings.

[Chickenlegs]

And when mixing formula, mix with very hot water like Nancy said and mixmixmx then mix some more and put it in the frig for 6/8 hours so everything blends thoroughly. Since overfeeding is the number one cause of the runs (been there done that!) you REALLY need a gram scale. They’re cheap and as far as babies go, they save lives. He REALLY does need siblings. If there’s any way to reunite him with his brother and sister, it would be the most loving and selfless thing to do.

[Mel1959]

I’m so glad to hear CL and NINY say that this little one needs her siblings. It made me sad when I read that she was separated from the others. Not only did she lose her mom, but also her siblings. . They not only do better while their young and being raised, but also when it’s time for release. They can look out for each other. Please reconsider and offer to take the other two or give Little Sage to the person who has the other two. You can’t wait too long, though, because when they are older they can reject any newcomers.

[Kwill]

As cute as these little ones are and so tempting to raise,
I'm sorry she has lost her siblings to another family.
Is there a possibility that they would let you take the other 2?
They do so much better with siblings.
The Fox Valley formula contains more fat.
Did you do a slow transition over to it? How long has
she been on Fox Valley?

What do you mean when you say " and made sure to heat the powder "?
We use HOT water, but we never heat the powder.

Also when add more water to the formula, that's cutting down on their nutrition.
Instead, hydrate in between feedings.

You definitely need a scale in order to feed the proper amount.
Places like Bed Bath and Beyond have them. They are food/kitchen scales
that weigh in grams. Here's some on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...rds=gram+scale

The recommendation is to feed 5-7% of their weight.
How often are you feeding?

Here's an example of the kitchen scale and how you would weigh.
Put a container on, with a piece of fleece so they don't slip, weight the bowl and fleece
keep it on, and reset it should go back to zero, then put the squirrel in.


About the typical 5 week old, I had a group of 4 that were over 200 grams before their eyes opened.
See this little chunky monkey, he weighed in at 208 grams when his eyes opened.

I heat the water to almost boiling, add the powder and cream, and mix for about 10 minutes. I let it cool slightly and put in the fridge overnight.
I haven't begun her on the fox valley, it is arriving tomorrow or the next day. I did slowly begin her on the esbilac formula after hydrating her first.

For the siblings, they originally weren't going to take any of them because they've raised so many and were tired of it. They are the type to eat squirrels and deer and such. We're not planning on keeping her forever, just until she is old enough to be released.
I'll get a scale asap. I feed her every 4 hours, and about 6 hours at night when I try to get a little sleep.

When she poops, she usually stays still and pees, them poops and back and forth. As of yesterday I looked in her little box and she was pooping and peeing on her own and found about 5 or 6 poops and small pee spots. I took that out and threw it in the washer and got her clean t-shirts.

She is about the size of the squirrels in the photos.
I'll try to attach an image of her from today when she opened her eyes.

[Kwill]

Since this morning I cut the heavy cream out of a new batch of food and let it sit for about 5 hours. I just fed her, and she seems fine. Her poops were still slightly runny, but more solid than before. Perhaps I had just fed her too frequently, not allowing a full 4 hours between. I'll keep updating.

[SammysMom]

Can you get that baby's siblings back?

[Chickenlegs]

Can you get that baby's siblings back?

That would be perfect specially as the people don’t sound too eager to raise them. That way she would get her family back and you would get three times the love

[Kwill]

Unfortunately my fiance is becoming disillusioned with her rather quickly. I knew it would be a ton of work, but I don't think he realised it. He's not wanting to take care of any more of them, and we contacted his coworker but he said he wouldn't take her back. So, we're going to raise her as best we can until releasing her. Maybe ill be able to sneak another baby in soon with all these storms going on.

We're thinking of making her a hut in a tree in our front yard to release her to, to keep an eye on her if she stays in the area that is.
Well. Besides all that. Her poops are normal again, and she is pooping and peeing on her own.. which is odd for her age.. but she's weird I guess.

[Spanky]

Raising these babies does require a heap of commitment, time, energy and money. But raising 1 versus 3 is not that much different... if they are siblings and / or all about the same age (and all healthy?). Which is quite different from raising multiples of widely varying ages to be sure.

There are huge advantages to babies being raised together when they do not have their mommy and for those reasons has a big impact on their ultimate success for release and afterwards... a considerable amount of reassurance that your efforts in raising and releasing will be rewarded.

[Kwill]

Well incase anyone wanted an update..
She is doing well. Almost full grown. She's mastered solid food and is still on formula in the mornings.. which she cries for.
Unfortunately, after weeks of begging and trying to persuade the caretakers of her siblings, they continued to say no. They insisted their children loved them.
Then. My fiance told me one had died a few weeks back from falling off a counter. I found that odd since my little girl tends to jump off of anything and is none too graceful.
Then the other day, he told me the other ones tail was bitten off by their dog who was playing with it. I insisted they give me the sibling at this point, but they kept saying no. A day later the squirrel supposedly died from jumping off their kids shoulder and missing a chair. I'm still not believing this. My girl climbed the curtains and fell and was fine. She sneezed a bit but didn't die instantly.
So..
I tried. Time and time again. But now she is truly an orphan.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Thanks for the update Kwill. I'm glad your baby is doing well.


Well, the other situation... very sad, a total train wreck.

[LR]

Thank you for the update! So sorry to hear about her siblings😔 life is much better for your baby though. She has a Momma who loves her and watches out for her.

[Jen413]

So glad she’s doing well. Very sad to hear about her siblings. Very sad situation. One I can’t wven wrap my head around.