i have a 15week old pup and since he was 9week old he has had an infection the vet says its a bactarial infection.Hes on antibiotics but i have squirels in my garden as i live near woods so just wondered could they have past something to my pup?

I don't know the answer to your squirrel question but if your puppy is on antibiotics that is probably the explanation as to the loose poos rather than the food.  You could try giving him a very small portion of live yoghurt daily to restore some of the good bacteria that is being destroyed by the ABs along with the bad.

Kristy,
  I doubt that the squirrels have passed something to your pup. My 14 mth old lab and my fiance's 3 year old shepherd collie mix having been chasing after squirrels since I can remember and neither of them have ever gotten anything from them. Actually it is one of their favorite things to do, chase squirrels in the backyard. Actually all my fiance's dogs (when he was younger) have chased the squirrels in the backyard. I don't think that you have anything to worry about it. But if you are really that worried I would ask your vet if a squirrel could pass the infection. Hope this helps with your worries alittle. Good luck with him.

Remi's Mom

he has only had half of an antibiotic so far so its not them making him runny but i heard about givin them yog

So he has had an infection for 6 weeks with no antibiotics?

My dog got his nose bitten by a squirrel!

erm- did none of you hear about that dog on bbc news- in a russian park the squirrels were seriously short of acorns, a stray dog came into park- and started barking at the squirrels in the trees- people witnessed this- anyway after the dog had been barking at the squirrels- suddenly they all decended and attacked dog- killing it and running off with its guts, up into the trees!
its true- i'll find the link & pop it on later- be warned!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4489792.stm

thats the link! horrid- they MUST have been starving..

Blimey...an yet the grey squirrels are dying out??!!  Interesting link
Welshie x

Which grey squirrels are dying out? They certainly aren't in this country (mores the pity).

Well, according to certain newspapers they are unfortunatly....but ive never seen s many either...oh well..:rolleyes:

i know that squirels can be dangerous as in attacking my question was more about can dogs catch anything from them?

Your vet is the best person to ask. As they're totally different species I'd say it's unlikely, but then again rats pass leptospirosis to dogs and people ... and grey squirrels are known as 'tree rats' ...

On news this week they were talking about culling greys because there are so many of them.

I've seen couple a black one.  There is a small colony in next town to us.  Bizarre as same day we passed a street OH said this street was built on an old graveyard and there are still gravestones in street. I said No, pull t'other one ;) so he showed me and there they were 2 headstones in the street, one at the end of someone's front garden

ooooh couldnt have that in my garden with my "Head Foreman of Excavations' Siberian Husky!!!!

Didnt all the greys kill off our lovely red Squirrels :( I had never seen a  grey squirrel til' I moved from Cumbria.

There are still a few left but I think I only see one last year where I used to see them regularly.  Only seen a couple of greys though, they have a shooting policy going on, but of course they pass on the parapox virus so you only need one really to devastate a population of reds. :(

Lots of greys here. My mum hates them, they pinched all the apples off her small Bramley tree and dug up her bulbs.  Couple of miles away where my MIL is as you walk through the woods they are shooting up the trees left right and centre, running along front garden fences etc.  Real pests.

You need a powerful air rifle and the right sort of slugs.

Squirrels killing dogs...
Now Molluscs killing squirrels
;)

:D :D

A Relative does that! Shhh don't tell anyone.  He pops them from top window.  Son said "mum, look at that squirrel lying on its back, is it sunbathing?"  Errrr.......

Tell her she's more than welcome to borrow my afore mentioned Excavation Expert ;) He'll soon see 'em off :D..one of his favourite past times.
(he might not be so good on the digging up bulbs issue though :( he'd add to that)

I am very lucky we have red squirels in the trees next to our horses field, i have only ever seen 2 they are beautiful, we reported them the the red squirel people (cant remember their proper name) but they knew they were their.  I felt auful one day it was in summer it was really hot. I went to check the horses trough, and their was a red squirel in there, I think it must have been thirsty and went for a drink bout could not get out. anyway we have a plank of wood in the trough now so if any fall in the can get out.

>... a scientist in the region, said it was the first he had ever heard of such an attack.

While squirrels without sources of protein migh attack birds' nests, he said, the idea of them chewing a dog to death was "absurd".

"If it really happened, things must be pretty bad in our forests," he added.<

Detecting a hint of doubt there.  Bold and italics mine.

It's very cold in Russia at the moment and it's rumoured they drink a lot of Vodka.

When one of my daughters was younger she mistook a crumpled cardboard box in the road as a dead dog.  It was that year we had hurricanes.  Later in the day when I picked them up from school the box had blown down the road and I remarked that the dead dog gets about a bit doesn't it? :D  Now she didn't drink alcohol in those days :D

>It's very cold in Russia at the moment and it's rumoured they drink a lot of Vodka<

What, the squirrels?  :-D  No wonder they are attacking dogs.

Kirsty, what does your vet suggest re the cause of the infection?

the vet says its just somthing puppies can go through

Sent the BBC Report page to a friend of mine, thought it would be amusing, being skeptical as I was.
She wrote back to say she saw two squirrels set on a dog in Gerrads Cross a few years back.

he had antibiotics when he was 9weeks old for a week now again at 15week

If he has been battling infection for 6 weeks with only one course of antibiotics then I would imagine it would be difficult for his bowel flora to settle down.  Why weren't the antibiotics continued or changed when it didn't go away?

he was given a 2nd lot but after one tablet he was sick so we stopped them they wanted to just keep him on his shampoo washes but now hes back on the 1st lot of antibiotics for 3weeks.

If it's a skin infection then I think I would be thinking more about foxes, they certainly carry mange.

Foxes are certainly a far greater health risk to dogs than squirrels are.

One of the owners of one of my Spanish was worried a couple of years ago as he'd picked up a virus and they think that it was from wild rabbits.  He was quite ill for a number of weeks, so if there's something that dogs can get from wild rabbits I'm sure that there is from Squirrel's.

There are plenty of grey squirrels where I work.  I love to see them in the mornings when the birds are singing :d