Severe liquid diarrhea

[MsOakley]

I took in a 7 week old yesterday that has me concerned. He seemed well but lethargic. I gave him 2 feedings pedialyte, 2 of half formula/half pedialyte. He's had 5 feedings (every 3 hrs.) of full formula. It's the end of the day of lots of formula (5% body weight) and he has terrible diarrhea. It's not just soft but totally liquid and tan in color. I'm afraid I over fed him as he's thin and was hungry. Of course I stopped all formula. I gave some benebac earlier this evening and some pedialyte about an hour ago. No bloating or crying (that's always a really bad sign) and no new diarrhea that I can see. So... do ya think I just stuffed him too soon? Any other suggestions? Thanks all, I'm a worried mom :-).

[4skwerlz]

I took in a 7 week old yesterday that has me concerned. He seemed well but lethargic. I gave him 2 feedings pedialyte, 2 of half formula/half pedialyte. He's had 5 feedings (every 3 hrs.) of full formula. It's the end of the day of lots of formula (5% body weight) and he has terrible diarrhea. It's not just soft but totally liquid and tan in color. I'm afraid I over fed him as he's thin and was hungry. Of course I stopped all formula. I gave some benebac earlier this evening and some pedialyte about an hour ago. No bloating or crying (that's always a really bad sign) and no new diarrhea that I can see. So... do ya think I just stuffed him too soon? Any other suggestions? Thanks all, I'm a worried mom :-).

Hi, Ms. Oakley.
A rehabber will be on here shortly. I've PM'd a couple. Just a note to never mix formula with Pedialyte. I will just say, you COULD have ramped up the formula too fast, but he could also have a deadly intestinal bacteria. Do you have access to antibiotics?

[hazel]

Give the pedialyte and Benebac time to do their job and odds are this will straighten out. Be sure to give the Benebac daily.

[Mars]

Can you take a stool sample in and have it looked at?? I would want to ellimanate coccidia as a possiblity. Coccidia is easy to treat with Albon. In the mean time back off to just the Pedilyte as suggested and go slow coming back onto formula. Adding Bioplasma to the formula would help as well.

[Sciurus1]

Just a thought, you may want to try giving the Benebac, by holding the syringe above the head, letting them think it is a bottle. Let him smell it, and take it in their paws. He may even try to lick it, as you slowly squeeze out the dose, because the scent of the corn in it often appeals to squirrels. If not, there is always the option to put the bare tip of the syringe just inside the side edge of the mouth, behind the front teeth, at about a 45 degree angle, aiming at the tongue, not the throat. Sometimes you can sneak it up to them and they don't know what is going down till it is in there!

[MsOakley]

Hi, Ms. Oakley.
A rehabber will be on here shortly. I've PM'd a couple. Just a note to never mix formula with Pedialyte. I will just say, you COULD have ramped up the formula too fast, but he could also have a deadly intestinal bacteria. Do you have access to antibiotics?

Our rehab group always has us dilute formula with pedialyte to ease up to full formula. Are you thinking maybe I made the formula with pedialyte? It's formula made with distilled water, then diluted with pedialyte.
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[Mars]

Just a note about distilled water.
Distilled water is PURE H2O. It is completely stripped of other molecules by the distillation proccess. This is not the natural state of water and is called "empty water". It does not like to being in this state and will work hard to get back to it's natural state by pulling molecules for the blood system. Drinking a 8 oz glass of distilled water has the same effect as taking 2 aspirin. It is a very good choice for a cleansing after a toxin, but I'm not so sure I would give it to babies or use it in formula as it can't really tell good molecules from bad and pulls nutrients from the body as well as toxins. Spring water would be a better choice.

[4skwerlz]

Our rehab group always has us dilute formula with pedialyte to ease up to full formula. Are you thinking maybe I made the formula with pedialyte? It's formula made with distilled water, then diluted with pedialyte.
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Problem is, Pedialyte has quite a bit of sodium in it for rehydration purposes.... A squirrel that is fed nothing but Pedialyte as a fluid for more than 24 hours could get sodium poisoning. We had a case recently on TSB like that....

[Mars]

Our rehab group always has us dilute formula with pedialyte to ease up to full formula. Are you thinking maybe I made the formula with pedialyte? It's formula made with distilled water, then diluted with pedialyte.
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That is fine. The concern I believe is with making the formula with the rehydration fluid. For those of you who don't know mixing formula directly with pedilyte messes with the salt balances and can actually cause dehydration. Just the opposite of what we want.

[4skwerlz]

Just a note about distilled water.
Distilled water is PURE H2O. It is completely stripped of other molecules by the distillation proccess. This is not the natural state of water and is called "empty water". It does not like to being in this state and will work hard to get back to it's natural state by pulling molecules for the blood system. Drinking a 8 oz glass of distilled water has the same effect as taking 2 aspirin. It is a very good choice for a cleansing after a toxin, but I'm not so sure I would give it to babies or use it in formula as it can't really tell good molecules from bad and pulls nutrients from the body as well as toxins. Spring water would be a better choice.

I agree completely.

[4skwerlz]

That is fine. The concern I believe is with making the formula with the rehydration fluid. For those of you who don't know mixing formula directly with pedilyte messes with the salt balances and can actually cause dehydration. Just the opposite of what we want.

Yes. Mars said it much more clearly than I did.

[MsOakley]

In addition to the pedialyte/benebac regimen I also rubbed some rescue remedy on their ears. All in all both were vastly improved this a.m. Oops, I forgot to mention the 2nd boy that came in, same age,separate litter with diarrhea also. His stool was lovely, brown firm pellet. The one I was posting about was firmer but very light tan. Gave both a mouthful of bene just for good measure. Will be watching closely.

[Mars]

YEAH !! Let's us know when we can do the Poopy dance !!!

[hazel]

Glad to hear they're improving!

And for using Rescue Remedy! I should have thought that you might actually have some, LOL!

If it is, in fact, distilled water that you're using, I agree with Mars and would urge you to stop using it.

You can stick with the dosage instructions on the Benebac. No point in wasting it. I'd continue giving it for three days after the stool has normalized.

Benebac has a very mild flavor and most animals don't mind it.

[island rehabber]

Mars, 4skwerlz and Hazel, on this one! I can only put my two cents in to agree that distilled water is NOT good. NRBF told me once about three engineers on his job (Dept of Environmental Protection) who started drinking the distilled lab water, with ice, instead of drinking from the water cooler. All three of them got seriously ill -- I guess we don't need our water to be THAT clean.

[squirrelena]

I hope Ms. Oakley's squirrel gets better, but in the mean time, I want the rest of you to know how valuable your discussion was to me. I was not aware of the pedialyte/formula problem and had the misinformation that distilled water was "safer" to use to dilute. Always trying to learn more and this board helps so much. Thank you, thank you.

[Mars]

[hippiesquirrel]

will Gatorade work to rehydrate him.

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

Pedialyte is prefered but Gatorade will work!