Hello New/First Time Squirrel Parent Los Angeles
Hello Everyone,
First I'd like to thank everyone in here for all your posts and sharing information this has been a huge help and comfort to me and my partner since finding a baby about a month ago. My partner found what we think, based on images and reading through info online, a 4-week-old baby (eyes open, looked healthy no injuries, great coat so his Mama did a great job before he got lost) at the park he works out at. He was there for about an hour and he suspects the baby had fallen out of the tree he was under and had been there a few hours before he arrived at the park. He said the baby had been crying and by the time he was ready to leave he noticed he had stopped and was curled up, and not moving very much. Since it was about to get dark and extremely windy he decided to take him with him because he said some off-leash dogs were circling the area and he had a bad feeling. The next day I called around to the places I knew dealt with California wildlife, where we live, and I was referred to a chain of several people who were all full because of the recent winds and rain, before deciding we should just try to take care of him ourselves. We don't have permits or anything so we are nervous about having him in our possession.
He's about 7/8 weeks old now and doing pretty well, active, loves to play with us and solo with his plushies, loves feeding times, loved napping with me on the couch up till this last weekend when he decided he's a big boy and is cool with being in the enclosure we got for him. He had some diarrhea in the beginning, but since we put him on the goat milk formula and now the fox valley 20/50 he's been doing well with his poops and has gotten quite big. He was 128g when we weighed him the first few days and as of a few days ago, he is now 315g. We've been monitoring his bathroom situation closely because I'm paranoid since the diarrhea, but a few days ago I noticed his urine had some pinkish/reddish sediment in it. We started him on blocks about 2 weeks ago and he has been having 2 HHB and a few small pieces of kale, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and bok choy in between his feedings of formula. We didn't know we were supposed to introduce a water source yet so our water bottle came in Tuesday and his urine went back to pretty clear for a whole day, but last night his last urine before bed had the sediment again. This morning (Friday) it was back to clear and all day it's been pretty clear (drying down to a light yellow stain on the pads) since he's been drinking some water throughout the days since Wednesday. Does anyone have any insight into this? I've read other threads that suggested uti, crystals, etc. but I didn't find anything that fit this exact description. He doesn't seem to have trouble going to the bathroom, we started him on a puppy pad regime in our kitchen so he lets us know he needs to urinate by waking up and stirring around his cage. He is less discerning about pooping now and started pooping wherever, whenever (mostly on us).
We don't know who to contact for a vet who would be ok with seeing him and also returning him to us because it's technically illegal and we don't have a license. Any resources or info would be greatly appreciated. He's such a sweet little boy and we are also trying to figure out where to take him once he is weened/almost weened because we have to go out of the country in late May. So names of any rehabbers that might be able to take over for us would also be greatly appreciated. Thinking about giving him up is already breaking my heart, but he's a healthy little boy who will no doubt grow to be a strong guy so we know we can't keep him long term, we live in an apartment and there's not really a great way for us to try to release him ourselves since we are on the second floor and the closest tree would be way too far for him to jump to from our deck and we live near some busy streets.
Anyway sorry for the long novel. Again thank you all for being such a great resource!
P.S. His name is Cyrus (after Miley) because I was listening to her song 'When I Look At You' when my partner brought him home and her line "When the waves are flooding the shore and I can't find my way home anymore' broke my heart and I started balling thinking about how he had just lost his entire family.
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