Quote Originally Posted by hanksmom View Post
We can’t win for losing I feel like. This just happened. Not sure if it’s the pancur working or not. He was sitting high up when he let this go, that’s why it’s splattered like it is. But, he’s not had any blood in his poop all day, until now. I got the f10sc cleaner in yesterday, diluted it as stated and cleaned down his critter nation cage and wiped it back down. Could it be that?
Hi HanksMom:
My usual disclaimer is that I am not a Veterinarian and my comments are my personal opinions only and not as a Veterinary Professional. Also, as always, I would recommend that medical conditions in our Squirrels that have a questionable diagnosis and/or no available definitive means for home treatment are best addressed by a Veterinarian. I know that this was impossible when Hank's issues were first presented on TSB. If Veterinary care might now be a possibility, I would strongly encourage you to pursue that. Along with Veterinary care would be facilitation of another Fecal Flotation Test! If, as is most often the case with addressing medical issues with our Squirrels; Veterinary care is still not an option; we can discuss the issues further on the Open Board and hopefully some better understanding and overall benefit for Hank can be forthcoming.

First off, I would like to suggest that you try to determine if the red colored "stuff" is actually blood and not something that is colored red but is not blood. One way to get an idea as whether of not the red material is blood is to put a drop of Hydrogen Peroxide onto the red material. If this is blood, some frothing will usually occur as a substance in red blood cells called catalase will act to break down the hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water and a frothing occurs while that is happening. Red Blood cells have plenty of catalase but so do many other cells in animals and plants but blood does have a quite a pronounced frothing when in contact with hydrogen peroxide. IF there is NO apparent reaction between the red material and hydrogen peroxide, the red may be something that Hank ate.

Panacur itself wouldn't ordinarily cause bleeding and it was yesterday, before you redosed the Panacur that you first noticed what appeared to be blood in Hank's stool. Certainly parasites can cause intestinal bleeding as they may cause significant damage to the intestinal lining. It is not unusual when using a "de-wormer" for worms, that there may be some bleed during for a day or so. I cannot comment on whether or not this would be any more likely with treatment of Giardia with Panacur but the presence of Giardia does NOT often cause blood to be seen in the stool but it can especially with worsening diarrhea (the stool in this recent photo looks to be watery stool and apparently different from the loose stools reported before). Coccidia can also cause blood to be seen in the stool and not having enough actual experience to say this definitively; I believe that Coccidia is somewhat more likely to cause blood in the stool than Giardia and again, it is not common with Giardia!

It may be that Hank has other parasites that are causing blood to be seen in the stool.

If Hank has just started to have watery stools, as opposed to what the soft stools you have mentioned in the past; this may, even with the Bene-Bac; what is termed an Antibiotic Associated Diarrhea. This results from a disturbed gut microbiome and is what is results from problems with the disturbed gut bacteria being able to break down some non-adsorbed carbohydrates and the presence of these carbohydrates in the intestine draws in water and diarrhea results. Another concern that should be mentioned as a POSSIBILITY (not probability!) in light of Hank's recent use of antibiotics is Clostridium Difficile Colitis (a colitis an inflammation of the large bowel). This can develop from use of almost any antibiotic including the sulfa drugs and can cause diarrhea often with blood and can cause many other problems. There is a laboratory test for this but not a home test. Hopefully, Hank is still behaving normally as normal activity, appetite and hydration are very good signs.

As far as the F10sc being a factor; I cannot answer that as I am not familiar with this but I did take a look at the manufacturer's website after you mentioned ordering this and it seem relatively non-toxic from what was described and further; it would seem that Hank would have very little likelihood if any direct contact with this anyway.

Please keep on with the updates. If watery diarrhea continues, maintaining adequate hydration will be more of an issue!

I do hope for the expeditious resolution of Hank's problems and I am optimistic about this occurring! Hopefully no more blood in Hank's stool! Please keep on with the updates!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel