White growth on tongue.

[Squammy]

Hi,

I have 4 orphaned squirrels around 3 weeks of age. One of which, I discovered has a white growth on his tongue. I have never experienced this and I don't think that it's life threatening, but I would appreciate some insight!

I received these 4 from an unexperienced caretaker that was trying to do her best until she realized the amount of work it required. She called me 2 weeks ago and I went and got them. All 4 of them were suffering from aspiration pneumonia. I immediately called my vet and got them in and started giving them Baytril. They are still recovering but are doing much better. I'm thinking the growth in little Henry may be from the antibiotics or the Benebac but I'm not sure. I have an appointment with their vet Friday morning to get it checked out. He is eating fine and using the bathroom normal. It has been an uphill battle with them from day 1 with me so I'm hoping this is nothing major! I have had several sleepless nights due to the pneumonia, now there's this. Please give me good news ! I would love to post a picture but it's next to impossible snapping one :/.

Thank you!

[farrelli]

Never heard of this. What is their diet?

[Squammy]

Me either, that's why I'm kinda nervous. They are on Esbilac and whipping cream. They have had pedialyte and benebac in their system as well.

[Duckman]

Can you get a picture? It would really help in determining if anyone has ever seen it before.

[Monipenny]

Sorry, I don't have answers to the tongue issue, I wonder if they are susceptible to yeast infection? That would be my guess. Unless the esbilac formula has changed and it is now approved to feed squirrels, we here at TSB do not recommend that formula. You can order fox valley here http://www.henryspets.com/formulas/

[Mommaluvy]

I think it's yeast. But .. That's just a guess
does the spot just look like milk that did not come off ? Or is it a bump /lump?

If it just looks like a white spot of milk that won't come off or if it looks like a bit of white fuzz then it's probably squirrel thrush from the antibiotics. I am sure the vet will have something for that. Nystatin is what the give people .

Maybe his immune system is just weak. And he got thrush where his sibs did not.


What you choose to do with the formula is up to you. But the old formula got changed and was causing diarrhea and death . Not white spots on the tongue.
From what I read here esbilac with the PROBIOTICS banner is acceptable for te pinkies. So .. Whether it's cancer or thrush .. The white spot is probably not from the formula
Hmm just had a thought though .. Could it be a burn from formula that was too hot? Maybe what the lady was feeding him with was too hot and burned his mouth ?? Sounds like they were in rough shape .

[Mommaluvy]

I found this but it looks like posts are missing
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/s...-Pox-this-late

I could not find the out come but another tSB person said it could be thrush on that squirrel - which may answer the Q of if they can get it.

[Mommaluvy]

Found an article from pudue U about skin fungal infections - but that caused benign hair loss.

[Mommaluvy]

How did it go?
Did the vet have any idea ?

[Squammy]

How did it go?
Did the vet have any idea ?

I am so sorry to just be responding to this! For some reason it had made it's way into my junk mail folder. I'm definitely gonna check that more frequently!

I feel incredibly unintelligent for freaking out about this!! According to my vet, it turned out to be a misplaced finger. He has a tendency to place his little "hands" in his mouth and it caused a laceration. It was healed by that Sunday. Unfortunately, I lost Levi (the other boy) the following Tuesday . The girls seem to be fully recovered and are weighing in at 46-48 grams. Poor Henry seems to be having issues as far as weight wise and hair growth. I am also having a hydration problem with him. My vet isn't thinking it's major enough to do fluids subcutaneously. He is making me nervous though. He was already starting out as the smallest.. He is weighing in at 41g and his hair isn't coming in as well. He still has an amazing appetite and is otherwise doing well. These are my first set of very sick babies and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to start preparation for the releasing process but geez, it's still happening too fast!! I know I have a little while to go before that happens. I've just watched their incredible struggle and will to live I don't want to let them down! I've raised many that were "easy" and then these poor babies come to me in an almost life/death situation and they (all but 1) pulled through. My vet has been incredible through this rescue,as well! I've called him running off of 2 hours of sleep at 2 AM crying my eyes out, terrified one was gonna pass and he would make a "house call" to put my mind at ease. I've never in my life had such a roller coaster ride with rescuing. Sorry to ramble on about sick babies and attachments to obviously verteran rescuers haha!! Thank you guys soo much for responding!! Now that I know that this is here, I will definitely be using it for all future questions!


There is something to be said about a rescuer's commitment to "sickness AND health" haha .. Every animal deserves a chance in my opinion, even at the expense of my sleep, sanity and forever dwindling finances haha!!

[Squammy]

Never heard of this. What is their diet?

I currently have them on 1 part esbilac 2 parts water with about a teaspoon of heavy whipping cream. I'm thinking about changing to the fox valley. They are doing well on esbilac but I've been reading on the not so great effects of this brand.

[Squammy]

I think it's yeast. But .. That's just a guess
does the spot just look like milk that did not come off ? Or is it a bump /lump?

If it just looks like a white spot of milk that won't come off or if it looks like a bit of white fuzz then it's probably squirrel thrush from the antibiotics. I am sure the vet will have something for that. Nystatin is what the give people .

Maybe his immune system is just weak. And he got thrush where his sibs did not.


What you choose to do with the formula is up to you. But the old formula got changed and was causing diarrhea and death . Not white spots on the tongue.
From what I read here esbilac with the PROBIOTICS banner is acceptable for te pinkies. So .. Whether it's cancer or thrush .. The white spot is probably not from the formula
Hmm just had a thought though .. Could it be a burn from formula that was too hot? Maybe what the lady was feeding him with was too hot and burned his mouth ?? Sounds like they were in rough shape .

I had the thought of yeast as well! I'm not sure how these threads work (first time user). I responded to the very last comment with all of the details of what was going on.

I have them on the esbilac with probiotics. I'm strongly considering the fox valley formula. However, they seem to be doing well with the esbilac. Any suggestion is welcomed ! Thank you for you concern!!

[Squammy]

Sorry, I don't have answers to the tongue issue, I wonder if they are susceptible to yeast infection? That would be my guess. Unless the esbilac formula has changed and it is now approved to feed squirrels, we here at TSB do not recommend that formula. You can order fox valley here http://www.henryspets.com/formulas/

Thank you for your concern! They seem to be doing well on the esbilac but I am strongly considering fox valley! At this point, I don't want to change their diet but I have read and heard about numerous issues with esbilac. I'm afraid to rock the boat, so to speak. I definitely want the best for these babies but I don't want to stall their progress, if that makes sense.

[Monipenny]

Glad I saw this. Don't make any changes. 1. Changes are not always easy on their system especially since these babies have been touch and go. 2. According to many here, there has been changes to the formulas, so please disregard my last comment regarding the formula's. It appears that FV 32/40 (for newborn to 4 weeks of age) is not good for babies especially under 2 weeks. Many rehabbers lost babies in the last year they believe due to some changes in the fox valley formula 32/40, however the 20/50 formula for older babies is still fine. My suggestion is if they are doing well on esbilac, leave them on it. I tried to change my baby over to esbilac and my baby didn't digest it. This was just recently brought to my attention by another member here. However, I kept my baby on fv, she was 3 weeks old when I started to change her milk to esbilac and since she was doing okay on fv I kept her on it when she began having digest issues with the change.

I know there used to be a lot of issues with esbilac but apparently that has changed as long as you get the one with pro-biotics. Esbilac use to be the formula of choice until it went bad but then they made changes that makes it acceptable for squirrels again.

[farrelli]

The problems with Esbilac are with the old formula. If you have hte new one, you're fine. THough many people swear by a 50/50 Esbilac/FV formula.

[Squammy]

Glad I saw this. Don't make any changes. 1. Changes are not always easy on their system especially since these babies have been touch and go. 2. According to many here, there has been changes to the formulas, so please disregard my last comment regarding the formula's. It appears that FV 32/40 (for newborn to 4 weeks of age) is not good for babies especially under 2 weeks. Many rehabbers lost babies in the last year they believe due to some changes in the fox valley formula 32/40, however the 20/50 formula for older babies is still fine. My suggestion is if they are doing well on esbilac, leave them on it. I tried to change my baby over to esbilac and my baby didn't digest it. This was just recently brought to my attention by another member here. However, I kept my baby on fv, she was 3 weeks old when I started to change her milk to esbilac and since she was doing okay on fv I kept her on it when she began having digest issues with the change.

I know there used to be a lot of issues with esbilac but apparently that has changed as long as you get the one with pro-biotics. Esbilac use to be the formula of choice until it went bad but then they made changes that makes it acceptable for squirrels again.

Good! I definitely don't want to disrupt anything with them!

[Squammy]

Update: One of my little girls opened her eyes last night! The other two still have closed eyes, but GEEZ I'm loving this progress with her/them!! I don't want to jinx anything but I think our rough times are in the past!

[amandaleet1972]

VS, or "hoof and mouth", or foot and mouth" are going around in my parts.. it is a HUGE deal.. HUGE.. It almost wiped out the entire cattle industry in the 40's in the USA..
Depends on the strain, but YES- HORSES, HUMANS,DOGS, CLOVEN HOOFED ANIMALS can get it and it CAN be passed from species to species-- I am not saying it is likely. In fact probably not even CLOSE, but one never knows.
Squirrels are known to typically become infected, but if you see mouth/paw sores and fever- look into it..
Just saying.. Because look at the past decade with "Mad Cow", MRSA, Polio coming back-- Whooping cough--- You can't be too careful... We are spending 70 dollars a gallon on fly spray here.. Just saying, if you have a cool vet-- RULE out NOTHING.

[amandaleet1972]

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/...s-this-summer/


"Not saying you have even a remote chance of it, but more diseases are crossing species and mutating.. so, all animal lovers keep an eye on everything, is all. One just never knows these days what is out there..

And yes, as I said, Hoof and mouth CAN be transmitted by HUMANS via dirty clothing, etc.. And YES- YOU, and your dogs and who knows what else- at this point - CAN GET IT.. Maybe even rodents if it mutates enough.. Many viruses HAVE lately.. Just an FYI, since most of us "animal lovers" have more than one species in our home... and since it is KNOWN to infect hedgehogs-- we need to watch out..

[Squammy]

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/...s-this-summer/


"Not saying you have even a remote chance of it, but more diseases are crossing species and mutating.. so, all animal lovers keep an eye on everything, is all. One just never knows these days what is out there..

And yes, as I said, Hoof and mouth CAN be transmitted by HUMANS via dirty clothing, etc.. And YES- YOU, and your dogs and who knows what else- at this point - CAN GET IT.. Maybe even rodents if it mutates enough.. Many viruses HAVE lately.. Just an FYI, since most of us "animal lovers" have more than one species in our home... and since it is KNOWN to infect hedgehogs-- we need to watch out..

I completely agree that we have to be careful. My vet is very used to my crazy diagnosis and is very willing to do whatever necessary to keep my mind at ease. I do my best to avoid cross contamination between whatever species I have in possession at the time. I have 1200 sq ft divided for this exact purpose. Raccoons carrying diseases and reptile diseases scare me the most but I keep a very rigid cleaning schedule. I don't think this is the issue right now, but thank you for pointing it out!

Henry has now opened his eyes but his little tummy is bare. Also it appears as though he has a small scab on the top of his head. I wouldn't think it would be from the heating pad, as they have ample room to move between the pad and their "cooling" area. He is eating fine and had plenty of energy so I'm gonna give him through the weekend and if it's not better, call the vet AGAIN!! He was the smallest and had the roughest time dealing with the Baytril, so it may just be his immune system and his size. Geez, I have been doing this since the age of around 14 (with parental guidance) and have yet to come across anything like it.