Chewing(teething) and aspiration pneumonia

[Bleafasheezy]

Hello. I found my grey squirrel September 1st. Her eyes were closed so I assumed she was 3 1/2 weeks or so but September 7th she opened her eyes so I rounded up to 5 weeks. I first had to rehydrate her using pedialyte and began mixing it with her esbalic milk for a day or two until I received my squirrel milk from Fox valley. The kit included milk for newborns-3 weeks and 4 weeks-weaning with syringes and nipples. I was nervous about her switching from one to the other due to stomach issue but she really likes the Fox valley and has been having normal bowl movements and gaining weight so I feel a lot better. I just had a couple of questions dealing with teething and aspiration pneumonia. she does have her bottom teeth of course but I read somewhere that you can put a chew block in their box around 4 weeks. I was wondering if chewing sticks would work as well and what age is recommended to introduce them to her. (September 14th she has refused to eat for two feeding now. I believe it has to do with her teething top teeth. I did see a little blood on the nipple from afternoon feeding). Also I’ve had her for about 3 weeks now and all her feeding has been going well so far. There has been aspiration 2 times. As soon as it happens, I stop feeding and she sneezes and I wipe all the milk from her nose until I don’t see any more coming out. I read up on symptoms of it but I was wanting to know about how long until you would start seeing/hearing signs, such as clicking or loss of appetite? It’s been a couple of days but it still has me worried and would just like to be prepared. What is the antibiotic used if this was to happen?

[cava]

Hi there, thanks for caring for her.

It's good to have ciproflxicin or Baytril (enrofloxocin) or Augmenten/Clavamox (amoxicilin-clavulanic acid) on hand in case of aspiration pneumonia.

The signs are lethargy, refusal to eat, clicking, signs of breathing distress. You won't always hear clicking so overall eval of baby is important.

Are you feeding based on weight? (Don't mix pedialyte into formula, in the future. Just water. Also, you want to discontinue pedialyte after 24-48 hours and use water instead after that to avoid too much salt)

Here's a helpful link with a bunch of basics to keep in your back pocket: https://www.henryspets.com/baby-squirrel-care/

Chewing sticks is fine for enrichment/chewing, but the rodent block is intended to be baby's first solid food. Start with a quality rodent block like Harlan-Envigo (formerly harlan-teklad), Mazuri, Oxbow, Kaytee...Or you can buy freshly made squirrel specific blocks from Henry's Healthy Pets. (Same website listed above.)

Abstain from offering other foods until blocks and formula are the main diet, once she is eating blocks regularly in a couple of weeks you can begin to offer one veg at a time to see how she tolerates them. There is a list in the squirrel nutrition section.

We'd love a photo.

[Bleafasheezy]

Thanks for the fast response! I will just have to keep a good eye on her. I only fed her pedialyte the night we found her and the day after until we got Fox valley formula. I use only water in her formula now. Okay I was just wondering what would help her while teething. I ordered my formula from Henry’s and got a little information but didn’t say anything about chewing sticks or salt blocks for teething. I feed her by age, I’m not sure how much she weighs yet. Just said 5-7 ccs and she usually eats about 5. Also I seen somewhere you can feed them apple juice in between feedings at some point.

[Mel1959]

We recommend feeding based on weight. A gram kitchen scale can be purchased at Walmart or Bed Bath and Beyond for around $20. It’s imperative to have a weight for feeding and for dosing any medication, as it is based on their weight. We recommend feeding 5-7% of their weight at each feeding. Example: 100gr squirrel x5%= 5ml and 7% would be 7ml.

The problem with feeding based on age is that gray squirrels in the south are significantly smaller than their cousins in the north. So a 7 week old in the south could be being overfeed, which causes diarrhea, and a 7 week old in the north could be underfed, if fed a specific amount based on age.

Which Fox Valley do you have? 20/50 or 32/40? We do not recommend using 32/40. It sits in their guts like cement and has killed many squirrels.

[Bleafasheezy]

She is eating 20/50. I will weigh her ASAP and go by that. She hasn’t had any issues with using the bathroom. Her poo is solid but turned yellow. I am on my phone but as soon as I get my computer I will definitely upload some pictures!