HELP. 5wk Old Not Pooping!

[SquirrelGirl94]

hi. im new to the forum, but I NEED HELP. Quick rundown- we had a bad storm couple days prior to this- my dog caught a baby squirrel (est. 2-3wks old) on July 31. she was a little battered and bruised so i did quick research and found TSB, followed everyone's reccomendations, got a small plastic tote with lid, on non shutoff heating pad (half on half off) put baby in it for overnight. i started Pedialyte for about 12 hours. 5-7% of body weight every 2-3 hours. next day i tried to let mom find baby. mom never returned. so...

i took to TSB again found henrys HMGMF and did that while i ordered FV 20/50. HMGMF was doing fine, id stimulate after every feeding pee and poop was fine. got a little runny so i gave Pepto per TSB, issue resolved. baby was doing well. fast forward i recieve the FV formula about a week and a half ago. (age est 3-4) so i went ahead and swapped to it. all is well for a bit then poops got less frequent. over the past 5 days she has seemed to be getting dehydrated and not gaining weight properly so i started on some pedialyte again for hydration, continued FV. ive only seen 1 very small very hard pellet the last 3 days.

ive been doing tons of research and looking on TSB but no resolve. her belly is not bloated, it is not hard. ive done warm soaks, oil massages, applied oil to skin for hydration and added a small container with water for humidity. i stimulate every feeding plus extra. sometimes ever for 5 mins or so. still nothing. pee is fine. i feed her every 3 hours. ive been giving apple juice/water mix between feedings also, still nothing. im getting really worried for her. should i swap back to HMGMF?? shes ~5wks old now and weighs ~51g. im doing everything i can think of. PLEASE HELP!


other comments: the knot on her head got huge then eventually healed itself from the inside out and the knot fell off. she now just has a big scabby looking place with no hair there, but its recovering well. her eyes opened last week and her left was white and oozy. i assumed infection or blindness. her right eye was big and black. (normal) i ordered terramycin in case of infection of the left eye and have been applying twice a day. will continue for 2 weeks. her eye is much better already, less crusty and oozy. i think ultimately shell still be blind in that eye. but you never know!

[Charley Chuckles]

[CritterMom]

So this is what I THINK is happening here.

The goats milk formula, even with the added ingredients, has little in the way of solids in it. It is sort of a weak formula. The Fox Valley on the other hand, has a ton of milk solids in it. So it is sort of like going from skim milk to pure cream - the stomach isn't set up yet to handle it.

I would go back to the goats milk formula until you see some poops. Then, you need to ease the baby onto the FV, not change abruptly. So you would mix up a small container of the goats milk formula AND one of the Fox Valley, and in a third container, you are going to blend them together and use that to feed. Start out with 75% goats milk formula and 25% of the FV and feed until you are sure he is still pooping correctly. Once that happens, mix it up so it is half goats milk formula and halt FV and do the same thing. Once you have good poops, mix it up so it is 25% goats milk formula and 75% FV. When that is successful, you can go to straight DV.

Note: The FV takes a while to incorporate with the water. Make your day' supply at night before you go to bed and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Stir well before each feeding. The "resting" overnight will allow the water to dissolve the formula powder better. You never want to mix up FV and feed it right away.

[SquirrelGirl94]

So this is what I THINK is happening here.

The goats milk formula, even with the added ingredients, has little in the way of solids in it. It is sort of a weak formula. The Fox Valley on the other hand, has a ton of milk solids in it. So it is sort of like going from skim milk to pure cream - the stomach isn't set up yet to handle it.

I would go back to the goats milk formula until you see some poops. Then, you need to ease the baby onto the FV, not change abruptly. So you would mix up a small container of the goats milk formula AND one of the Fox Valley, and in a third container, you are going to blend them together and use that to feed. Start out with 75% goats milk formula and 25% of the FV and feed until you are sure he is still pooping correctly. Once that happens, mix it up so it is half goats milk formula and halt FV and do the same thing. Once you have good poops, mix it up so it is 25% goats milk formula and 75% FV. When that is successful, you can go to straight DV.

Note: The FV takes a while to incorporate with the water. Make your day' supply at night before you go to bed and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Stir well before each feeding. The "resting" overnight will allow the water to dissolve the formula powder better. You never want to mix up FV and feed it right away.

THANKS SO MUCH! I mixed the goats milk formula and FV and WE FINALLY HAVE POOP. 🙌 I never thought being pooped on would be so stress relieving. 😩 😄