Please help me,I'm from Italy nobody knows anything about greys here.

[Yoana]

Hi, my 8 years old dear Ayko has been sick for the last 5 days.She is feeling better we have been giving her calcium and antibiotics / painkillers and she is know finally feeling a little better. We noticed today that she has a lump under her chin on her neck. It seems as it has gotten smaller since this morning. What could that be? I am working with vets and before we sedate her to do invasive checkups we are wondering if squirrels have any kind of gland in that position that could get swollen. Do any of you had experience with something similar? Any help would be a great favour.
Thank you.
Yoana

[supersquirrelgirl]

Hi, my 8 years old dear Ayko has been sick for the last 5 days.She is feeling better we have been giving her calcium and antibiotics / painkillers and she is know finally feeling a little better. We noticed today that she has a lump under her chin on her neck. It seems as it has gotten smaller since this morning. What could that be? I am working with vets and before we sedate her to do invasive checkups we are wondering if squirrels have any kind of gland in that position that could get swollen. Do any of you had experience with something similar? Any help would be a great favour.
Thank you.
Yoana

Hello Yoana, please give more information on Ms Ayko sickness and what antibiotics & painkiller meds she's taking. Any recent injury ?? The more history you can give the better understanding TSB Members will have to help. Post pictures if possible.

[Yoana]

She is 8 almost 9 years old. She has always been a healthy squirrel since lately.she eats a healthy diet of Henrys peta squirrel blocks or homemade squirrel blocks( having Henrys ones atm)
I had some scares with her in the past but she always got back to perfectly normal.6 months ago she had a swollen eye and I assumed was from a tooth infection and after antibiotics she got back to normal. 5 days ago she felt a bit off and since she was lethargic and got her nails stuck everywhere I started mdb emergency treatment right away. Her eye was also reddish and so we also started antibiotics. She Is on Baytril , Meloxicam and calcium. She is feeling better e since we started giving it to her by injection since she hated medicine by mouth so much she tried to regurgitate it ( I know squirrels can not vomit but she tried) I have no photos for now,the lump is on her neck ,I can feel it by touching her throat. I will send photos tomorrow as soon as she wakes up. Thank you for asking me additional infos

[Yoana]

Ps she also eats veggies and fruit . Forgot to mention.

[CritterMom]

Is the lump actually in the flesh of the neck or is it situated on or over the jawbone? If the jawbone, I would x-ray and examine for tooth root abscess on the rear lower jaw. It looks like you checked for that already - it is easy to miss those in little animals. If that, the tooth would need to be removed. Just like us, antibiotics can't fix a tooth root abscess; the tooth needs to come out. I believe that they have lymph nodes somewhere in that area, too. You mentioned that she had been on antibiotics; and that the lump appears to be getting smaller. Did you see that at any point while she was on the antibiotics? Wonder if those are reducing whatever infection she seems to have and thus the node, if indeed that is what the lump is reducing in size?

[Yoana]

Is the lump actually in the flesh of the neck or is it situated on or over the jawbone? If the jawbone, I would x-ray and examine for tooth root abscess on the rear lower jaw. It looks like you checked for that already - it is easy to miss those in little animals. If that, the tooth would need to be removed. Just like us, antibiotics can't fix a tooth root abscess; the tooth needs to come out. I believe that they have lymph nodes somewhere in that area, too. You mentioned that she had been on antibiotics; and that the lump appears to be getting smaller. Did you see that at any point while she was on the antibiotics? Wonder if those are reducing whatever infection she seems to have and thus the node, if indeed that is what the lump is reducing in size?

Hi ! The lump is on the throat,not on the jaw, it's positioned similar to what would be the thyroid gland in us humans. It has gotten even smaller today so I think it is not cancer. I am now worried because she has been scratching herself everywhere not only on the neck since this morning. Thank you for your help. And sorry if my English is bad

[CritterMom]

What is the name of the antibiotic and how long has she been on it?

[Yoana]

Baytril 5% we did 5 days and just stopped. The lump is going away . But still I would like to know what could've happened. I tried to search for squirrel anatomy in that area I don't find anything online.

[CritterMom]

I was asking to see if perhaps the itching was an allergic reaction to the meds. Never heard of it with baytril but that doesn't really mean anything.

Hopefully after the holiday someone can chime in that has had odontoma surgery done to their squirre. That requires full head x-rays from multiple positions and MAY show something.

[Yoana]

I was asking to see if perhaps the itching was an allergic reaction to the meds. Never heard of it with baytril but that doesn't really mean anything.

Hopefully after the holiday someone can chime in that has had odontoma surgery done to their squirre. That requires full head x-rays from multiple positions and MAY show something.

Thank you so much for the infos. I hope you have amazing holidays

[Diggie's Friend]

A needle aspiration and an x ray by a veterinarian would be needed to confirm the nature of the lump.

Due to the potential of, Baytril' to cause kidney and liver damage in elderly rodents, and to significant reduction of the level of good bacteria in the gut, upon which depends both digestion of food and the support of the immune system, of which approx. 80 % resides in the gut. You may want to ask your vet about trying Allegra or Quercetin, that is also anti-itch.

In the wild, tree squirrels consume soil (geophagy) which contains not only minerals, but also good digestive bacteria which doubles as a key part of the immune system, 80 % of which is comprised of the same healthy forms of bacteria residing in the gut. With squirrels cared for in captivity, especially those of an advanced age, whose health is compromised; you don't want to give them a wild source of soil based bacteria; as this likely will also contain some harmful parasite forms.

Adding a (SBO) soil-based probiotic with prebiotic with a broad complement of good bacteria forms, helps to refortify the good bacterial colony in the gut.

Veterinarian recommended, "Pet Flora" is a soil-based 'probiotic' (SBO) with likewise soil based 'prebiotic', which provides a broad based complement of healthy bacterial forms health professional explain lends towards a better balance than do sources with only a few soil based probiotics mixed with mostly dairy forms. Unlike most sources that lend to flavor and aroma for cats and dogs; this source has no flavorings or extraneous additives, making it on that account suitable to support tree squirrels for both maintenance and rebooting of the good gut flora. The website explains more about this under ingredients. .

For question, including whether this company ships to Italy, contact a representative at: questions@vitalityscience.com (575) 758-3985)

[Yoana]

This may be an issue with the cervical nodes in the neck. Are there any other lumps on his upper body even so not as prominent?

I would not give Baytril again; it is contraindicated for use in older rodents because it is known to reduce kidney and liver function.

Hi,first of all thank you.
I did not know that at all about he baytril. I hope we didn't damage her little organs....She has no other lumps or nodes just the one on her neck that is reducing every day ( today it was just a little nub and it was softer like it got deflated) an she is back to normal(almost)
I searched infos about odontomas but she has no symptoms of respiratory issues. She also never had any kind of white tears and her teeth look perfect. She chews on nuts and horns so she doesn't avoid solids.
Even if she is now back to an almost normal state where she eats ( solid food also ) I would really like to know what happened. Do any of you know what kind of organs or glands squirrels have on their necks?

[Yoana]

This may be an issue with the cervical nodes in the neck. Are there any other lumps on his upper body even so not as prominent?

I would not give Baytril again; it is contraindicated for use in older rodents because it is known to reduce kidney and liver function.

And sorry I forgot to ask you in the first reply. What about the cervical nodes? What are they and what could I be linked to?

[Diggie's Friend]

In significant part, the status of the kidney function is a key factor prior to treatment. When the treatment with Baytril is short, then the impact on the kidneys is less than when the treatment with Baytril is extended, or is a 2nd round.

The cervical lymph nodes are located in rodents on either side of the underside of the neck. Lymph nodes are known to enlarge and to reduce back down in size. This may be from allergy, infection, or a virus, or other conditions. When lymph nodes become rigid (as explained in the quote below) that is more indicative of tumors. Of tumors, there are both benign (non cancerous) and (cancerous) tumors.

Online quote:

Consistency: Press the tip of your nose with your finger and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what a typical lymph node should feel like. Tumors tend to be harder and more solid, like what you’ll feel if you push on your chin with your finger.

[Yoana]

A needle aspiration and an x ray by a veterinarian would be needed to confirm the nature of the lump.

Due to the potential of, Baytril' to cause kidney and liver damage in elderly rodents, and to significant reduction of the level of good bacteria in the gut, upon which depends both digestion of food and the support of the immune system, of which approx. 80 % resides in the gut. You may want to ask your vet about trying Allegra or Quercetin, that is also anti-itch.

In the wild, tree squirrels consume soil (geophagy) which contains not only minerals, but also good digestive bacteria which doubles as a key part of the immune system, 80 % of which is comprised of the same healthy forms of bacteria residing in the gut. With squirrels cared for in captivity, especially those of an advanced age, whose health is compromised; you don't want to give them a wild source of soil based bacteria; as this likely will also contain some harmful parasite forms.

Adding a (SBO) soil-based probiotic with prebiotic with a broad complement of good bacteria forms, helps to refortify the good bacterial colony in the gut.

Veterinarian recommended, "Pet Flora" is a soil-based 'probiotic' (SBO) with likewise soil based 'prebiotic', which provides a broad based complement of healthy bacterial forms health professional explain lends towards a better balance than do sources with only a few soil based probiotics mixed with mostly dairy forms. Unlike most sources that lend to flavor and aroma for cats and dogs; this source has no flavorings or extraneous additives, making it on that account suitable to support tree squirrels for both maintenance and rebooting of the good gut flora. The website explains more about this under ingredients. .

For question, including whether this company ships to Italy, contact a representative at: questions@vitalityscience.com (575) 758-3985)

Hi,is this the product you mentioned?https://www.macrolibrarsi.it/prodott...xoC_KgQAvD_BwE

[Diggie's Friend]

Though the name of this product, "Petflora" is similar; it is not exactly the same as, "Pet Flora" from the US. New Mexico.

As for the rest of what is written on the label; sorry, I can only read English so I can't be of help there.

I would give Vitality Science (located in New Mexico), USA. a call to inquire whether they ship to Italy or not.

DF.

[Diggie's Friend]

Noted on Vitality Science Webpage:

International Orders

All international orders have a flat rate shipping fee.
orders may take several weeks to arrive, depending on the destination.

Unfortunately this means for this source anyway, that the arrival time would likely not be timely to lend the support your squirrel needs for a soil based probiotic source that doesn't contain flavorings that are added to appeal to cats and dogs primarily.