5 week old- diarrhea

[Squirrelmam]

We found the squirrel at ~2 weeks old and she was very emaciated (~10 grams) and dehydrated. Started immediately with rehydration using pedialyte and water, then started esbilac puppy milk replacer until our order of Fox Valley milk came in. When the Fox Valley milk came in we switched her to the 32/40 formula and she had zero issues with it. She has continued to gain weight slowly. 3 days ago she began having diarrhea, it was also the day she opened her eyes (not sure if there is a correlation). I have the Fox Valley 20/50 formula to begin feeding her now that she is old enough but with the diarrhea i am unsure if I should switch her over yet. She is still VERY active and is still gaining weight (~63 grams) and urinating but has not had a solid stool in 3 days. We have alternated water (to keep her hydrated) and milk but the diarrhea has continued. What should be our next steps? I know she is not at the weight she should be yet but she has a healthy appetite and we feed her the 5-7% rule.

[The Love of Foamy]

My two little girls had the same problem with on and off diarrhea, and like your baby they came to me in rough shape. What worked for me was using a home made re hydration mix of 1 cup warm water, 1 Tablespoon Molasses, and a pinch of salt. I would switch every other feeding to the hydration mix and also changed formula to 50/50 store bought formula and the other half goat milk. I ended up moving them off the formula all together as they did much better on the goat milk. I assumed mine had diarrhea because like your little one, was vary emaciated and were covered in Maggots (yuck). Mine eventually got control of there bowels and it sounds like your little one is otherwise doing good. I would go to your new formula if it was me but (I am not a vet and do not play one on TV) LOL. Good luck and keep rocking out being a good Squirrel Mom.

[Squirrelmam]

When using the rehydration mix did you use the 5-7% of weight? I will definitely be trying your rehydration mix and I think I will go ahead with switchinng the food.. Out of curiosity how long did it take for your babies to get to the correct weight for age? I feel like it's taking my girl quite a long time but like I said she is VERY active and loves to eat just is taking her sweet time to put on grams.

[The Love of Foamy]

It also felt like it took forever for them to be at an appropriate weight, and honestly by the time I figured out the diarrhea trick that worked for them I started to feed solids. I would say about two weeks for them to catch up. I was not as concerned as they were super active and letting them out more I think also helped as it could have been stress. Betty and Boop (that's my girls names) are now about 6-7 weeks old and starting to wean themselves. I have never been so happy to see a solid poop in my life and you will to.

[Squirrelmam]

It also felt like it took forever for them to be at an appropriate weight, and honestly by the time I figured out the diarrhea trick that worked for them I started to feed solids. I would say about two weeks for them to catch up. I was not as concerned as they were super active and letting them out more I think also helped as it could have been stress. Betty and Boop (that's my girls names) are now about 6-7 weeks old and starting to wean themselves. I have never been so happy to see a solid poop in my life and you will to.

Another question. How did you handle the switching foods and to solids?

[The Love of Foamy]

I let them decide, at about 5-6 weeks for mine I start off by offering soft fruits and veggies, and they quickly go to nuts and other things. Each day I see they want less and less of formula. I have done this quite a few times and it always works. I never rush them and they can have the formula as long as they want, they will take less and less over time until I go 3 days offering with refusal I call 100%. My girls take about 6cc total for the day right now and some days is less then that. I also have a new (as of last night) a 3 week old who’s eyes just opened this evening. Hope I can eventually get them all in the same cage once this little guy is more active. One Big happy family🥰 let me know how it goes with your little one. And what did you pick for a name? I did not pick a name for the girls until I knew they were going to make it.

[Spanky]

I'd put them on the BRAT diet using Fox Valley 20/50 and once the diarrhea is gone keep them on FV 20/50.

BRAT:
3 tablespoons (already) mixed formula 2-1 (w/ nothing else added)
1/2 tsp baby rice powered cereal
1/2 tsp banana baby food.

Just a quick note: Fox Valley is for babies 4 weeks and older... so a week before they open their eyes. I believe in making the switch at about 3.5 weeks but notice a lot of different threads with the comment to switch over after eyes open... just wanted to make this clarification.

[Mel1959]

I hate to be the rain on your squirrel parade, but 6-7 weeks is entirely too young to entertain the idea of weaning. If they were with mom they would continue to nurse till closer to 10-12 weeks. They need the calcium and nutrients in the formula to ensure that their bones are strong and healthy. Yes, we do let them dictate when they want to wean, but it’s not at 6 weeks.

The first food that should be introduced when eyes open, and while still on formula, is a rodent block. The rodent block is what will provide the necessary nutrients when they finally do wean. Vegetables alone won’t do it. Henrys Pets (online) makes rodent blocks that are healthy and well liked, especially the Picky Eater and Hazelnut varieties. A block is placed in their bin when eyes open. It usually takes a little while before they recognize its food so initially they’ll just shred it. But only after they are eating it well do you move on to the vegetables on the healthy diet list. https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...5&d=1391033425

There is another block that’s also online called Envigo Harlan Teklad 2018. It is a hard extruded block and isn’t as tasty as a Henrys blocks but is less expensive.

I never give nuts to a growing squirrel. They will ALWAYS choose them over the healthy foods. It’s the equivalent of giving a toddler a bowl of ice cream and then expecting them to eat a spinach salad. Nuts have a very unbalanced calcium to phosphorous ratio. When they eat a lot of nuts their bodies try to maintain the proper calcium to phosphorous ratio and will pull the calcium from their bones to maintain it. This is what causes metabolic bone disease. If MBD is left uncorrected it causes hind end paralysis and eventually death. Squirrels also get very protective of their nut caches. For this reason I don’t ever give any nuts till they are put in the release cage at about 14 weeks old.

[Squirrelmam]

Thank you guys for all the info! Sorry I haven't gotten back to say thanks sooner (teacher trying to get ready for a virtual opening to the school year). We did the rehydration mix and also started the BRAT diet. She has continued to stay very active and becoming more adventurous each day! We are starting to see a thickening in her bowel movements which a great relief! Who would've known I could get so excited about semi-solid squirrel poo! She is still gaining weight up to about 67 grams!!

[Rock Monkey]

Here is a professional paper all about squirrel poop. I found it very helpful.

Twelve Common Causes of Stool Problems in Squirrels by Casey and Goldthwait.

Stool problems with squirrels.pdf