Hello everyone,

I'm new here and have a couple of questions.

Two days ago my son brought me a very lethargic baby squirrel that he found laying in a ditch. It was barely moving and very dehydrated.

Here's a pic of what it looked like


I looked him over carefully for any puncture wounds, broken bones or signs of illness and couldn't find any. I think he's about 5 weeks old? His upper incisors are just coming in. I've never done a squirrel rehab before but I do raise chinchillas and have quite a few emergency supplies on hand.

I started out giving the little guy 2cc of pedialyte which he immediately threw up. Gave him 5 minutes and tried again one drop at a time every 5 minutes. Got him under a warming light and kept up the syringe feeding throughout the night. I also made sure he was urinating and having bowel movements. I also jumped online to see what I find out about squirrels. By morning he was opening his eyes but his skin was still tented. Yesterday afternoon I started feeding 1/2 canned puppy formula and 1/2 purified water. 1cc every hour watching to make sure he was adjusting.


This morning I only diluted the puppy formula on a 1/4 ratio to water and I'm feeding 4cc every 3 hours. I also ordered some silicone nipples because its hard for him to lick the 1cc syringe, he keeps trying to suckle it. I also ordered primate food and bones from the squirrel supply store.

My questions are:

Do I need to add whipping cream to the mixture I'm feeding? If so, I have whole fresh goat's milk in my fridge (for baby chinchillas) would that be a better substitute?

question #2. He has develop soft poos. They are normal in color just soft. Should I start giving beneficial bacteria? I have a plethora of various kinds of acidophilus and I'm not sure which would be best and I don't want to over do it. I have on hand AbsorbAid (30 billion CFU per tablet) vegetarian tablet. I also have Natures Life a milk based acidophilus. Thirdly I have Dawnna's Lifeline which is a combination of acidophilus, digestive enzymes, bee pollen and herbs (it is designed for chinchillas with gastric issues).

question #3 Is there anything else I should be doing to help this guy?

All advise appreciated.

Sarah and Chip