Needing help, advice and information please!!!! Urgent worried chippy mom

[Chips-mom]

My little chippy is a grey squirrel and 5 years old, almost 6. Today I noticed a place where she had peed and it turned black I looked and saw a few more places. Does anyone know what would cause this and does anyone know of a vet in the southwest Arkansas area who knows how to treat squirrels???? Her diet is pretty simple, she eats picky squirrel blocks from Henry's healthy pets and vegetables, fruits and treats on their allowed food pyramid.

[Spanky]

A picture always helps...

Have you given her any acorns treats recently?

[HRT4SQRLS]

Agree, acorns can cause some odd looking urine. Anywhere from red to brown color.

[Chips-mom]

No acorns, I'm afraid to give them to her bc I'm afraid of the aflatoxins in some of them... she gets pecans though and she has been stealing a little of my dogs food out of her bowl though. The dog eats blue buffalo large breed, I try to keep her out of it but she is persistent...

[Diggie's Friend]

Research has shown that dry, not frozen, or refrigerated pecans (organic) are by far lowest in fungus contamination of all marketed nuts.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4444134/

Scroll down to see:

(Table 1 "Fungal contamination levels in various tree nuts and dried fruits.")

Of course, "Picky eaters" already contains pecans.

[Diggie's Friend]

Not surprisingly your chippy is stealing bites of dog food; as opportunistic eaters they have been found consuming bird eggs, and even carrion (birds).

Though no doubt a cute photo op in the dog's dish; a better choice would be to daily include skinned (roasted, or boiled) well cooked organic chicken.

Also good to feed, (1/4 Tsp.) of organic soft boiled egg yolk. (yolk soft, not liquid or hard)

Another source that your chippy may appreciate is mealworms.

Camilles Vita-Mealies https://vita-mealie.weebly.com/dried...-listings.html

Be sure to keep them dry and out of the sunlight, as moisture is the friend of fungus.

[Diggie's Friend]

5 to 6 years of age is elderly for a chipmunk. I sorry, I should have gotten this, I've had had a bad cold.

For older rodents you want a lower protein/ phosphorus diet than for younger ones; so don't increase animal sources that include: mealworms, or chicken in very small amounts, and don't feed any other meats period.

There are a number of causes for brown urine, including acorns, UTI, and bladder crystals. In older animals these are common, yet also common is lowered kidney function and kidney failure.

To determine the cause begin by getting testing strips to test the urine for protein, that is an indicator of reduced kidney function. This could easily been caused by eating the dog food, as it is too high in phosphorus for old rodent kidneys to handle. Do not delay in this needs to be done immediately if you don't take a urine sample ASAP to your vet to do the same.

This testing strip source includes a test for protein in the urine, and also for UTI, and urine pH.

https://www.amazon.com/Urine-Strips-...on+test+strips

To familiarize yourself with this condition you should read this article with information on kidney failure common to all rodents.
(scroll down to the address lower on this page)

https://www.2ndchance.info/test.php?page=ratkidney



If there any straining or hunching when urinating?. Does your chippy paw at his genitals (sign of pain) associated with both UTS and bladder stones.

Take a gauze and see if you can't get your chipmunk to give you a sample; if then there are crystals you may be able to see them with a magnifying glass.

Then test for the mean urine pH. To determine this requires not one reading but a series of readings. Begin by taking a minimum of 3 readings throughout the day at least an hour after eating; then take the next one the next morning before a meal. Add up the values and divide the total by the number of readings, which in case of four readings, is four.

If the pH is lower than 6.0, it would indicate that the diet is too acidic from animal sources.

If though the mean urine pH is it is over (7.0) it may be indicative of a UTI, or an infection. ABs are required for UTI.

A common cause of infection in rodents is caused by diets too high in alkaline sources, that promote alkaline urine. This causes the body to dump calcium and phosphorus from the meal that form a disassociated mass of crystals, that collect in the bladder that can abrade the lining causing some bleeding and urine color change.

To test for crystals you can use gauze to try to get your squirrel to pee on it, using the wet tip of a cue tip to stimulate urination. Then use a magnifier to help examine the sample for crystals.

If crystals are present in the urine then a reduction of the urine pH of the diet will need to be done. If both the mean urine pH is over 7.0, and there are crystals in the urine, you will need to reduce the pH of the urine by cooking all vegetables sources you feed, that reduces their pH to slightly acidic, which will support both the lowering of the urine pH to the norm of (6.2 to 6.8), and help to dissolve the alkaline bladder crystals also. This is done by boiling the vegetables instead of feeding them raw. These are my recommendations for cooking them, you may need to adjust the time due to altitude.

For baby leafy greens (arugula, escarole, watercress, garden cress, lettuces varieties, chicory leaves, Bok Choy, mizuna, and radicchio blanching for 90 sec.

Heavier leafy greens, including headed cabbages, mature Kale, Turnip greens, should be boiled up to 10 minutes. Overcooking of greens will result in the foliage turning into green glop. You may want to do a test piece of heavier greens you boil to make sure how long to cook them.

Stalked vegetables boiled up to 20 min., with a bit less time for chopped. Again do not over boil them which in this case would be evident by a sulfur smell and the greens turning yellowish green.

Tap root sources also should be boiled, if sliced they will take less time to finish than 20 min.

[CritterMom]

5 to 6 years of age is elderly for a chipmunk.

Nope. Chippie is a gray squirrel. so not so old... See first line of first post.

[Diggie's Friend]

Thanks, good to know!

As for the cause of the black urine it is still a concern. I would belay including much animal sources high in protein till the issue of the black urine ceases at least, and get the testing strips to see how your squirrel's kidneys now in middle age are doing. If the black urine ceases then introduce some boiled organic chicken an see if there is any darkening of the urine. If not then feeding a small portion no more than a (1/2 Tsp.) would be reasonable to try.

The issue of the diet pH is still a concern, as the healthy norm for pH of gray squirrels found in the wild that is mid 6 range is still applicable towards supporting long-term health, for it is in mid life that bladder crystals in small mammals first present.

Consider blanching greens that is a safety diet protocol that kills off bad bacteria, and nematodes (intestinal invading worms, and their eggs. Also boiling the vegetables that increases the bioavailability of the calcium that they contain.

[Diggie's Friend]

Thanks!

As for the cause of the black urine, that is still a concern. The kidneys can temporarily shut down at any age when there is a source in the diet that causes an severe imbalance of to high phosphorus, acidity.

I would belay including much animal sources in the diet present till the issue of the black urine ceases at least, and get the testing strips to take base readings of how your squirrel's kidneys are now doing middle age.

Checking the mean pH and prevent your squirrel from eating the dog food should help if that was the cause..

As for the opposite possibility of too high alkalinity, Calcium phosphate stones are is commonly found to first present in middle aged small mammals. This is what leads to bladder stones and infections as they age.

Keeping the pH in mid to high 6 range is vital to preventing this from occurring, as is the other form of stones caused from diets to high in acidity. If the diet was high it was from the dog food, not what you feed.

Consider blanching baby greens, a safety diet protocol that kills off bad bacteria, and endoparasitic worms and their eggs, and also supports balancing the mean urine pH for grays, the mean of found in a study in the 70's to be (6.4).

Also boiling the vegetables that increases the bioavailability of the calcium they contain.

[Trooper]

Hi Diggie's Friend: the study you referred on the link about the pecans, indicates that in most cases, pecans sold at grocery stores (like those used in the cited study) are, quote:

"Propylene oxide (PO) or other fungicidal treatment(s) applied to pecans after harvest may be responsible for the low YM (Yeast/Molds) numbers found in our study. Blanchard and Hanlin27 demonstrated that PO application caused the destruction of 80%–92% of surface microorganisms." unquote.

This means that the levels of Aspergillus Flavus, the most dangerous of all the molds possibly presents in pecans, could not be responsible of producing cancer-inducing aflatoxins. Several studies prior to the one cited have found pecans to be the "worse" offenders on the aflatoxins department as they are harvested "on the ground" as opposed to picking or excoriating after picking (for example, walnuts are decorticated after picking, pecans fall as you buy them "in the shell" onto the soil below its tree, increasing their propensity to carry molds and yeasts if not sterilized with Propylene Oxide or Ethylene Oxide or irradiated as it is done in Europe.

I am not denying nor contesting the results of the paper you cited, I just want to make sure we don't get a false sense of security with pecans, because of the finding of this "one" study.

Respectfully,

Trooper's dad

[Diggie's Friend]

Believe me I'm not.

Propylene glycol, fungicides and pesticides that all marketed nuts not organic are required by law to be fumigated with. Yet this doesn't make the nuts healthier, just free of larva, that aren't the issue, but the fungus that grows inside the shell when the shell is breached. Corn that is the number one contaminated source of alfatoxins safe either, nor leafy greens, nor mushrooms, or fruits for that matter. What does is by using superior sources, and using safety protocols for preparing sources fed to NRs.

I only recommend feeding shell organic nuts, pecans primarily, which can examine the outside of the shell for weevil holes that let fungus in, and if then none are found to open them up, for weevils lay their eggs in nuts when still on the tree, when the skin is soft and green, so that there still can be weevils in them even if no weevil holes. Opening them up and examining the inside of the shell to see if it has been eaten by weevil larva that support fungal contamination, is the only reasonable safety protocol for preventing accidental ingestion of fungus. You can even do a quick check with a magnifying glass to see if there is fungal grown on the kernels, which to date I haven't found any even on shelled walnuts in the bag. The price is more fore reason that the product is better quality.

This paired with not storing them in the freezer, or refrigerator, as moisture is the enemy of good nuts.

In addition, I include Milk Thistle Seed extract in my squirrel diet that is known to offer some protection from alfatoxin ingestion. I also include a protocol of soaking the nuts, only pecans for NR diets in yogurt, that contains oxalate reducing good bacteria, then drying them on low. In addition, oxalates are lowered, as are phytates in the nuts, making the nutrients that they contain more bioavailable.

Leafy greens are rinsed and blanched for 90 sec. to destroy bad bacteria and nematodes and their eggs.

The mushroom source I use is dried longer than worm eggs live then ground into powder.

Using filtered water that leaves in good minerals and removes bad ones and bad bacteria also supports health.

It is doing these things that make the difference. There is no guarantee then to prevent these things completely, yet there is significant preparation to support the food fed to the squirrel to be without these issues.

And though I can't speak for what others use or the preparation that they do in feeding a small amount of nuts daily, this is what is done with nuts in my squirrel diet now in its 7th year with an older squirrel doing well I am told.

I'm very aware of all these issues, having aimed at every last source in my diet to be healthy NR diet for tree squirrels, now endeavoring to support others to learn how to do the same.

[Diggie's Friend]

Here are some of the files I have on Alfatoxins, perhaps you have seen some of them already.

Alfatoxins and mycotoxins, are all over our environment, the spores spread with wind. It is safety protocols for growing, harvesting, and storing protocols that make the difference, as well as how they are stored after purchase in a dry cool area, not moist and hot that promotes fungal growth. Not a matter of the spore, as they are about everywhere; it is rather the fungus they produce that produces what in some species of aspergillus, not all, is alfatoxins.

As for the study, does it really matter, as all nuts, grains, milk products, fruits, etc. are susceptible to alfatoxin contamination. No way to get away from them, they are in your homes as well.

Save for supporting safety protocols are kept in place to inhibit contamination both prior to purchase and afterwards also, along with some preparation protocols that can be done, there is no way to ensure they aren't in more than just nuts.

(see Abbotts study of mycotoxins indoors.)

Alfatoxin testing strips are available to test grains and nuts.

Alfatoxins do promote cancer in the liver of rats; the mold in frozen then thawed unopened acorns, which sadly resulted in the loss of many squirrels. This was out of ignorance that nuts need to be stored dried in a cool dry place, and can't be kept much past three months, as they are a perishable crops. Trying to store them to preserve them doesn't' work, just speeds up their decay and fungal growth.

It is Milk Thistle seed extract that is about the only source known to counter these toxins in mammals, AB also used in support. It's a toxic world after all; we do what can be done to combat these issues with knowledge and safety practices.

http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/7402/1/...1-437_1984.pdf