Eastern Grey baby with blood in stool

[placeholdername]

Hi all- very new here and looking for some emergency help. last week ago I rescued a three week old eastern grey squirrel that had been rejected by its mother. all local wildlife shelters were closed to new patients. as I don't have a car I have been unable to get to the nearest center that has space for him, as it is a four hour round trip, but tomorrow I am renting a car to take him up there.

having had him since Wednesday I started him on electrolytes and then slowly introduced him to Esbilac powdered puppy milk. he has been completely fine- very active, eating on a regular schedule, with softish, but still solid, pellet feces (figure it was from the switch to formula).

fed him early this morning and he was fine but seemed constipated, and at his next feeding he had diarrhea when I pottied him. it seemed to taper off pretty quickly and I assumed it might be the result of overfeeding. just now I went to check on him and there appears to be blood in his stool (edit to clarify: had put down paper towels in case he had more diarrhea and there were spots of blood on the paper towel). it is dark red and earlier when I pottied him there was a strong metallic smell but no blood. from looking at the forum I think it may be a burst blood vessel in his bottom but wanted to check with others- there are no vets in my area specialized for wildlife, and I just want him to be okay until I can get him to the rehab center tomorrow. many thanks.

[CritterMom]

If he has diarrhea I would bet that is the cause of this.

If you have Pepto Bismol (the liquid), you can give him ONE DROP of it. Pepto has bismuth in it which is basically clay, and it mixes with all of the excess fluid in the bowels and thickens up, thus making what was liquid a thick enough substance that it doesn't race through their system and tear things up (diarrhea is quite caustic). It dries things up and sometimes that is enough to break the cycle providing it isn't parasitic or bacterial related. It does NOT treat anything, but just doing what it does is sometimes all that is needed. Plus it won't hurt him.

When it has made the trip from his mouth to the other end, whatever the form of what comes out, it will be VERY dark - sometimes nearly black and will scare the heck out of you if someone doesn't tell you. It is normal and is a function of the bismuth. If that first black poo is still really loose and watery, give another drop. If it is starting to form into poop, hold off and see what he does at the next potty. If it is even more formed, he likely won't need more.