Re: Dosing antibiotics?
Originally Posted by
Faithb
Hi! I am rehabbing my first litter I have 3 babies ( my cousin is a licensed rehabber and has given me lots of advice) I am very well educated on animals and eventually wish to become a licensed rehabber.. my squirrels ranged between 17-21 g when I got them (covered in ant bites almost run over by lawn mower and given to me) and still had umbilical cord attached and were fresh pinkies. I assumed they were a couple days old I got them the 17th and took them to the vet last night (21) as I thought I heard clicking and they were possibly aspirated, and saw here I needed to seek baytril or vet advice. I spent like 10 minutes with the vet and I paid 200$ for the her to tell me they were in almost perfect health (one did have fluid in lungs) but she said there was nothing she could give me or do as they are to young for antibiotics and that he should be okay?
This is just wrong on so many points and we have a board full of rehabilatators that have and can prove it wrong. I can't comprehend how fluid in lungs (if that were even true) could magically disappear and "he should be okay" let alone hearing any vet actually said that but obviously it was not AP. With AP there is no getting around antibiotics.
AP kills without them the same as untreated pneumonia will kill any species.
Originally Posted by
Faithb
(she said they were probably born the day they were found which was a 1 or 2 days before I got them.) basically
I just want people to know if your squirrels are as young as mine it might not be cost effective to take them to the vet as they won’t help you, at least mine did not :/ anyway! My squirrels are doing great and I’ve officially had them for a week which I had told myself if I could get them this far I’d probably be in the clear- a long road ahead but hopefully I can get all 3 back to the wild. Sorry for the long post.
All vets are not educated equal, squirrels are wildlife. and at least require a veterinarian educated in wildlife. Domestic vets usually don't and won't even see wildlife.
Some Exotic vets may see wildlife and treat as they would exotics, many vets won't for three basic reasons; They are not educated to treat wildlife. They are not licensed to treat wildlife. They are not Wildlife veterinarians.
Step-N-Stone
State Licensed
Wildlife Master Rehabilitator