DIARRHEA in Female Grey Squirrel for about 2 week/now 3 wks

[maury]

Please we Need your help.

Scrat is a nearly 6-year-old female American gray squirrel. She has always lived in the house and is not sterilized. She eats mostly nuts and seeds, with little fresh fruit and seasonal vegetables added. She occasionally eats a few chestnuts, acorns, puffed rice, ...

For about 10 days she has had constant diarrhea and has lost weight. She is still very lively, but she eats little and above all almost exclusively watermelon.

I've been feeding her rodent ferments (intestinet) for two days, but she's not getting better.

Stools are liquid, light brown in color.

She hasn't changed her diet, the only change is due to the early heat.

She never leaves the house.

We are not yet able to take a stool sample as it is too liquid

What can it depend on?
What can we do?

[Tuff]

Please we Need your help.

Scrat is a nearly 6-year-old female American gray squirrel. She has always lived in the house and is not sterilized. She eats mostly nuts and seeds, with little fresh fruit and seasonal vegetables added. She occasionally eats a few chestnuts, acorns, puffed rice, ...

For about 10 days she has had constant diarrhea and has lost weight. She is still very lively, but she eats little and above all almost exclusively watermelon.

I've been feeding her rodent ferments (intestinet) for two days, but she's not getting better.

Stools are liquid, light brown in color.

She hasn't changed her diet, the only change is due to the early heat.

She never leaves the house.

We are not yet able to take a stool sample as it is too liquid

What can it depend on?
What can we do?

If she lives indoors and this is her daily diet then would change the diet. Really you need to make sure she doesn’t dehydrate first by offering pedialyte to drink. Does it smell bad? Sharing photos may help us determine the cause. If I had to guess the diarrhea is from the diet. Captive squirrels have to have a balance diet of calcium/phosphorus ratios and this diet you are explaining isn’t good at all. Look on Henry’s healthy Pets and find the feeding chart. I would probably guess she ate something bad and it upset her tummy.

[Spanky]

Captive squirrels have to have a balance diet of calcium/phosphorus ratios and this diet you are explaining isn’t good at all. Look on Henry’s healthy Pets and find the feeding chart.

Here is a link to the healthy squirrel feeding chart:
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...-Pet-Squirrels

[CritterMom]

Yes, her diet definitely needs some work. But lets also try to stop this diarrhea. None of these things will cure anything if there is a health issue, but sometimes the GI tract just gets so inflamed that it just needs some help settling down long enough that things calm down.

She can have either Pepto Bismol (the liquid), Laopectate, or Immodium AD. Do you have or can you get any of those and if so, which one?

[maury]

Thanks for your support.
I add more information below.
On the advice of a veterinarian, we started giving foods that thicken the stool (psylla seeds and carob), but our little girl has very difficult tastes and she doesn't always eat what we give her.
She hasn't even touched the supplements that the vet suggested and it's impossible to force-feed her.
We managed to get him to take enzymes (see photo) for rodents and rabbits, which are mixed together with watermelon, the only fruit that she takes with pleasure.
She is eating very little, everything she used to eat now she no longer wants, even the hazelnuts that have always been her favorite food.
We took a picture of the stools, which have decreased in quantity because she eats very little.
In the beginning there was also a lot of mucus along with the feces.
We are in Italy and there are not many experts in this kind of animals so we are in difficulty.
During the first days of diarrhea the weather was summer (very hot and earlier than expected) and she was apathetic and slept a lot.
Despite the decreased weight and continued diarrhea she is now quite lively, but we are worried she may get worse.
We have Loperamide for adults in 2 mg tablets.

[maury]

Please we Need your help.

I try ti re-post the request for help

Scrat is a nearly 6-year-old female American gray squirrel. She has always lived in the house and is not sterilized. She eats mostly nuts and seeds, with little fresh fruit and seasonal vegetables added. She occasionally eats a few chestnuts, acorns, puffed rice, ...

For about 10 days she has had constant diarrhea and has lost weight. She is still very lively, but she eats little and above all almost exclusively watermelon.

I've been feeding her rodent ferments (intestinet) for two days, but she's not getting better.

Stools are liquid, light brown in color.

She hasn't changed her diet, the only change is due to the early heat.

She never leaves the house.

We are not yet able to take a stool sample as it is too liquid

On the advice of a veterinarian, we started giving foods that thicken the stool (psylla seeds and carob), but our little girl has very difficult tastes and she doesn't always eat what we give her.
She hasn't even touched the supplements that the vet suggested and it's impossible to force-feed her.
We managed to get him to take enzymes (see photo) for rodents and rabbits, which are mixed together with watermelon, the only fruit that she takes with pleasure.
She is eating very little, everything she used to eat now she no longer wants, even the hazelnuts that have always been her favorite food.
We took a picture of the stools, which have decreased in quantity because she eats very little.
In the beginning there was also a lot of mucus along with the feces.
We are in Italy and there are not many experts in this kind of animals so we are in difficulty.
During the first days of diarrhea the weather was summer (very hot and earlier than expected) and she was apathetic and slept a lot.
Despite the decreased weight and continued diarrhea she is now quite lively, but we are worried she may get worse.

In the last two days he has not been evacuating anymore (because he eats very little). But she drinks because I find urine and she eats little fresh fruit
From the belly come noises such as gurgling.

What can it depend on?
What can we do?

please if anyone can provide support reply to this post.

[stepnstone]

Your two forums were merged.
Please keep same subject matters together on same forum, scroll back to see reply's from those offering suggestions.
General consensus points to diet, it definitely needs to change! Diarrhea causes dehydration, a dehydrated squirrel will stop eating.
A diet with nuts and seeds is not healthy, fruit and vegetables aids diarrhea. The watermelon is ok for hydration but extra hydration
should also be given.
Continued diarrhea with loss of hydration is life threatening! With diarrhea lasting this long electrolytes have been lost and needs to be replenished.
I am posting the recipe below for the home made hydration fluid. I would offer as much as they will take and often.

I do not know what is available to you but I would also recommend seeking an antidiarrheal such as /or compared to:
Kaopectate, Diotame, Bismatrol, Pepto-Bismol, (Bismuth subsalicylate)
Imodium ( Loperamide)

Home made re-hydration fluid:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 tablespoon sugar (3-teaspoons)
16 oz water (1-pint)

[maury]

Thanks for the support and for the information.
We have been giving her for two days, on the advice of the veterinarian, a rehydrating electrolyte solution, which she seems to take without too much difficulty.
Unfortunately she doesn't even eat watermelon now and we can't force feeding.
If she does not eat she does not produce faeces and without faeces we cannot collect a sample to analyze. Stool samples taken previously were not analyzed because they were too liquid. Now she doesn't even make liquid ones.
The abdominal gurgling continues to be constant, and she maintains adequate urine production.
We have been advised to use Loperamide (Imodium) or metronidazole, do you think it can help? Possibly at what dosages? Apart from keeping her hydrated, what do you recommend to do to stop these symptoms and to be able to get her to eat again? The little one has an approximate weight of 400 g.
We trust in your support. Thanks in advance.

[Spanky]

We have been advised to use Loperamide (Imodium) or metronidazole, do you think it can help? Possibly at what dosages? Apart from keeping her hydrated, what do you recommend to do to stop these symptoms and to be able to get her to eat again? The little one has an approximate weight of 400 g.
We trust in your support. Thanks in advance.

I would give her metronidazole if that is an option, I will send the dosing in a PM. Give me a few minutes to write that up.

I don't know that the loperimide should be given right now if she has zero fecal matter, but it may help with any intestinal inflammation. However, I personally would lean more towards bismuth preparations (Peptol Bismol, Kaopectate, etc.) since those have anti-inflammatory properties and some volume to them (so you will know if they pass through her). I would be hopeful the metro will help and bring her appetite back. Metro is good at knocking out all kinds of bacteria that may be causing her underlying problems. She will need to start taking in some nutrition soon and I hope the metro gets her there.

Metro dosing sent in a PM.

[maury]

Thanks for your suggestions.
From tonight we began to administer the first dose of metronidazole. The medicine is very bitter, and it's really hard to get her to take it by mouth.
We administered her with a syringe, but I'm afraid that tomorrow it will be more difficult to repeat the operation without her getting angry.
Do you have any advice to make It more palatable or to make her take it without trauma.
Mixing it with food is useless because she doesn't eat. Add sugar or other substances to reduce the unpleasant taste? Thanks for the support.

[Spanky]

Thanks for your suggestions.
From tonight we began to administer the first dose of metronidazole. The medicine is very bitter, and it's really hard to get her to take it by mouth.
We administered her with a syringe, but I'm afraid that tomorrow it will be more difficult to repeat the operation without her getting angry.
Do you have any advice to make It more palatable or to make her take it without trauma.
Mixing it with food is useless because she doesn't eat. Add sugar or other substances to reduce the unpleasant taste? Thanks for the support.

Do not mix anything directly with the medication. You can try this trick: after you draw up the dose into the syringe, try dipping the tip into something like honey, molasses, syrup... what every you believe may entice her interest. Something that a bit of will also "stick" to the syringe tip. When she starts licking, get the tip in her mouth and dose her.

[maury]

Thanks for the information.
We will definitely try this technique.
We found an Italian site that sells pepto bismol and ordered it.
If metronidazole doesn't work we'll give pepto bismol. What dosage do you recommend in case?

[Mermer9]

@maury any update on Scrat?