UTI's

[stepnstone]

If the urine is very slow /a drop at a time or if its abdomen and bedding are consistently damp the squirrel may have a urinary tract infection. Uti's are often common in paralyzed squirrels because of the inability of most paralyzed squirrels to completely eliminate their bladder. Paralyzed squirrels that drag along the ground with genital area unprotected risk picking up bacteria that can enter through the urethra and set up infection.
When a squirrel is on a high calcium diet without sufficient Vitamin D and magnesium they will often get small crystals of calcium that come out in the urine.
Without treatment these crystals form stones in the bladder and kidneys. These crystals being present can cause Uti's because they are sharp and can cut into the bladder wall allowing bacteria to enter.
Symptoms of both UTI and crystals in the urine include: cloudy urine, possible blood in the urine, unusual or strong smell to the urine, difficulty in eliminating urine.
They may exhibit small drips of urine instead of a steady stream, lethargy, lack of appetite, pain in the abdominal area. Both UTIs and crystals in the urine will require antibiotics to correct.

[scruffers]

What antibiotics do you recommend?

[stepnstone]

What antibiotics do you recommend?

Replied to your private message...

[Sboone89]

My darling Icarus had an accident a couple of weeks ago leaving her hind legs and tail paralyzed. While she is getting some motion back in her limbs I believe she has a UTI now. My state euthanizes so I do not have access to a vet. What would you suggest?

[CritterMom]

Start calling friends and family to see if anyone has any leftover antibiotics. Cipro would be wonderful - it is used in UTIs in humans. See what you can find, get the name of the drug and post back here. If you find one that will work, someone here can help you to properly dilute it and dose it. We will need the name of the drug and the size in milligrams of the pill, and we will also need the weight of your squirrel, preferably in grams but we can calculate otherwise. YOU will need a 1cc or smaller syringe with clear markings (no needle) to do the dosing.

[Sboone89]

Start calling friends and family to see if anyone has any leftover antibiotics. Cipro would be wonderful - it is used in UTIs in humans. See what you can find, get the name of the drug and post back here. If you find one that will work, someone here can help you to properly dilute it and dose it. We will need the name of the drug and the size in milligrams of the pill, and we will also need the weight of your squirrel, preferably in grams but we can calculate otherwise. YOU will need a 1cc or smaller syringe with clear markings (no needle) to do the dosing.

I was able to get ahold of Cipro 250mg. I need to pick of the RX. but I am pretty sure it will be a pill. Icarus weighs right around 675 grams. She was more a couple of weeks ago but this ordeal has had her drop some weight. I think in part due to the UTI.

[stepnstone]

I was able to get ahold of Cipro 250mg. I need to pick of the RX. but I am pretty sure it will be a pill. Icarus weighs right around 675 grams. She was more a couple of weeks ago but this ordeal has had her drop some weight. I think in part due to the UTI.

I will work this up for Cipro 250mg pill dosed for 675 grams and send the dosing info to your private messages.
If any info has changed after you actually pick it up let me know before diluting.

[hladyv]

Good evening!

I believe my little girl has a UTI. 3 times today I noticed she makes a quick distressed sound right before she urinates. Sounds like the crying they sometimes do when startled, but short and quick.

I've not noticed anything abnormal about her urine, not especially smelly or dark. But she's also been lethargic and yells at her brother whenever he tries to play with her.

She's eating normally and still drinks fox valley formula semi-regularly. She spoons it up with her hand rather than slurping, so not sure how much she gets in all.

Diet: 2 HHB's, variety of Veggies from the pyramid, daily. & a pile of Harlan Teklad 2014 blocks for free feeding, which she does enjoy.

I've been reading through posts on this issue but am concerned about availability of antibiotics.

I've asked around and have available through family, Amoxicillin (not sure of mg's yet) and Macrobid (100mg). I'm awaiting confirmation of the amoxicillin dose.

In the meantime I hoped to confirm if either of these will be good to use for her? And if it's safe to dose without confirmation of the UTI?

I'm in Delaware, and am not aware of any safe vets near me. She saw Dr. Pilny in NYC a few years ago. But it doesn't look like he's in practice at that office any longer.

I appreciate any direction you can provide! I hate to see my girl in any distress. Btw, She's 8 years old, and approximately 470g.... she wasn't cooperating on the scale so it was difficult to get a firm reading. I'm going to try again in the morning in the hopes she'll be more cooperative. Thank you in advance!!

[hladyv]

Update on meds- I now also have access to:

doxycycline, nitrofurantoin, cefadroxil...

Are any of those good options? I can find out dose tomorrow, my in-law is out of town so I'll have to stop by to get them and see what they are.

[thelema93]

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to note that a couple of months back our Lil Mama showed up with what was most probably a UTI. She has never peed inside until that day when she showed up, climbed up on the lightest pillow we have and peed on it a few times. She even turned around, faced her rear end toward me & peed so I could clearly see it. It had blood in it which I would not have noticed if not for her somehow knowing to pee on something it would show up on! My cats with this issue did this too (in the bathtub!) Anyways I had no antibiotics on hand but I always have d-mannose on hand for myself & for my cat that has UTI infections. I believe it is a natural sugar extracted from cranberries, the actual thing that binds to the bacteria that causes most UTI infections (E-Coli) & carries it out in the urine. I've never had any side effects from it and my cats did not either (I've had 2 that were treated successfully.) I've heard it may cause loose stools/gas in large doses but is very safe as far as I've researched. It was a miracle for me as antibiotics gave me awful side effects. I actually stopped getting UTI's because if I ever felt one coming on it would knock it right out. It is more accessible now than it was years ago & most pharmacies should carry it & natural food/vitamin shops.
Anyways I gave Lil Mama a pretty good dose mixed into peanut butter (1/4 tsp) & she ate it no problem. She had no other issues after this. I cannot say for sure that this is what was going on but it is probable. A UTI can rarely be caused by a different bacteria than E-Coli & D-Mannose will NOT work in these cases as far as I've read. I'm not a vet or doctor so this is just based on my personal experience that I'm sharing in the event it may help anyone else or their fur babies. Obviously I would say consult a doc or vet first.

[sundoesshine]

I remember this, thanks for letting us know you figured things out. My mom has issues with uti's so i will pass on the info about the d-mannose. I had also heard you can drink baking powder in water which makes bacteria not be able to stick, or something to that effect. Anyhoo, tried it a couple times and it certainly worked for me in case you don't happen to have the d-mannose on hand. Nice to hear Lil Mama is feeling better.

[thelema93]

Thanks Sundoesshine! I hadn't heard about that remedy, will absolutely keep that in mind. My mother in law also used d-mannose with success. Yes I was so thankful Lil Mama was ok, seeing blood is always alarming. I hope it can help your mom.

[FrendOSquirrel]

I have a female who is almost a year old, her poor genital area is swollen and is hard to the touch, shes often licking it and sometimes seem to squirm when I hold her. Not sure if in heat or UTI, but it has been hard for a week now and I seen that heat was not that long.... I'm not sure what to do for her? Please help. She is still eating and drinking good, and running around during the day. She can urinate too but it is SO swollen, to where it feels hard. I just feel its been going on too long. She does not have a mate either.

[jillian15279]

Update on meds- I now also have access to:

doxycycline, nitrofurantoin, cefadroxil...

Are any of those good options? I can find out dose tomorrow, my in-law is out of town so I'll have to stop by to get them and see what they are.

did you find out if any of those work?

[Kiwismom]

Hi I was just wondering what dosage you went with for the d-mannan and how many days? I got 500 mg tablets and my girl kiwi has had some really strong smelling pee lately, when usually I never actually smell it. Its been about a week and the last time this happened (about a year ago) it cleared up in a couple days. I can't be sure its a UTI because she doesnt have abdominal pain or blood or drips so dont want to start her on anti biotics yet. The only changes in her diet are the blocks, she's finally starting to eat them, but they seemed old so I just got her new ones and a digestive support nibblit. She's roughly. .687 g (she had her back legs amputated, so she's gonna be a little on the light side), please help if you can! Thanks!

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hi I was just wondering what dosage you went with for the d-mannan and how many days? I got 500 mg tablets and my girl kiwi has had some really strong smelling pee lately, when usually I never actually smell it. Its been about a week and the last time this happened (about a year ago) it cleared up in a couple days. I can't be sure its a UTI because she doesnt have abdominal pain or blood or drips so dont want to start her on anti biotics yet. The only changes in her diet are the blocks, she's finally starting to eat them, but they seemed old so I just got her new ones and a digestive support nibblit. She's roughly. .687 g (she had her back legs amputated, so she's gonna be a little on the light side), please help if you can! Thanks!

Hi KiwisMom:
D-mannose is a type of sugar. There is some evidence that it may help prevent UTI's but a recent Cochrane Review in 2022 indicated that there is inadequate evidence on either side so no conclusions be made either for or against it being effective. The most popular proposed mechanism for the possible effectiveness of D-mannos in preventing UTI's is that certain bacteria that can cause a UTI are kept from adhering to the inside of the bladder where a UTI would commonly begin by presumably preferentially attaching to the D-Mannose instead. This could be thought of as more enjoyable bacteria food and the bacteria would then supposedly adhere to the
D-mannose inside the bladder and would then "jettisoned" from the body with urination along with the D-mannose. D-mannose is NOT an antibiotic and does NOT kill bacteria or modify their infectivity!. It also would do little if anything to affect the action of the bacteria that are already causing the infection process. I can assure you that no reputable Veterinarian would ever consider treating a UTI with D-mannose; they would use an antibiotic! This is because antibiotics work to actually cure an infection. They do this primarily by two mechanisms; they either kill the causative bacteria outright or render them unable grow and reproduce.

If your little Squirrel has a UTI, I would strongly recommend using an antibiotic.

Do you have any antibiotics available?

Is there any possibility of you getting even a single Bactrim tablet (SMZ-TMP) as this antibiotic is commonly used for treating infections in Squirrels and will be effective against most of the likely bacteria that would be causing a UTI in a Squirrel. Another good option would be Cipro (or Veterinary Baytril) if you could locate one of those tablets. Both SMZ-TMP and Cipro are commonly prescribed to people and it may be that a friend or family member (or even you) may have even one tablet of either of these antibiotics available.

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Do you have any antibiotics available?

Is there any possibility of you getting even a single Bactrim tablet (SMZ-TMP) as this antibiotic is commonly used for treating infections in Squirrels and will be effective against most of the likely bacteria that would be causing a UTI in a Squirrel. Another good option would be Cipro (or Veterinary Baytril) if you could locate one of those tablets. Both SMZ-TMP and Cipro are commonly prescribed to people and it may be that a friend or family member (or even you) may have even one tablet of either of these antibiotics available.

Hello again KiwisMom:
I did not mean to imply that SMZ-TMP or Cipro (ciprofloxacin) are the only antibiotics that could be used. Another good option would be Augmentin (Veterinary-Clavamox. This is Amoxicillin-Clavulanate). Advantages of using one of these three antibiotics are that there is extensive experience dosing them with rodents and Squirrels in particular and they are good choices for treating UTI's. Again, all three of these are commonly prescribed to people so there is a good chance of finding one or more of these available. Please check to see what you might be able to find.
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel