Baby squirrel pneumonia

[Charis623]

Hi, I have a baby squirrel that we found in our yard a few weeks ago. I believe she’s 5 weeks old. She’s been doing great until today. She’s had diarrhea and is lethargic. She’s also making a clicking sound when she’s breathing. I see that many suggest antibiotics, where would I get those from? Any help would be great! Thank you.

[Spanky]

Hi, I have a baby squirrel that we found in our yard a few weeks ago. I believe she’s 5 weeks old. She’s been doing great until today. She’s had diarrhea and is lethargic. She’s also making a clicking sound when she’s breathing. I see that many suggest antibiotics, where would I get those from? Any help would be great! Thank you.

How is her appetite?

Does she have the clicking sound constantly, even when she is sleeping? If she is clicking constantly, even when sleeping, is almost certain to be AP. Antibiotics are the ONLY way to treat AP.

Diarrhea is not a symptom of Aspiration Pneumonia (AP) and can be caused by over feeding, feeding bad or incorrect food / formula, etc. The tried and true way of avoiding over feeding (and under feeding) is to feed by weight. I will attach a chart... knowing their weight is important for feeding and critical for dosing any medications like antibiotics. WHite diarhea is usually over feeding.. what color is your baby's diarrhea? Another common cause it feeding kitten formula... and another is warming the formula then rewarming it again later. Any formula warmed for feeding but not used should be discarded.

Antibiotics generally require a prescription so we usually advise people to look through their medicine cabinets, ask family, friends and neighbors. A single pill is all that is required to be able provide a full course of treatment for a squirrel. Some common antibiotics good for treating AP include Cipro and Augmentin... the animal / vet versions are Baytril and Clavamox. If you locate any antibiotics, let us know what you have, the strength and the weight of the squirrel and someone will advise if that drug would be effective to treat AP and provide dosing instructions.

You can order bird and fish versions of baytril on-line, but if your baby has AP she will not survive waiting for them to be delivered. It is always good to have antibiotics on hand when raising a squirrel just in case.