What killed my squirrel?

[Winzel]

I am new to this forum - unfortunately...

My sister's cat found a 4 or 5 week old squirrel - I found no evidence of puncture wounds or cuts at all.

I did the normal things of first warming him, then once nice and toasty warm started him on Esbilac. I fed him around the clock for the first 10 days. He responded well and seemed fairly stable.

I kept him on the Esbilac throughout the next 6 weeks and added fresh green leafy vegatables, small amount of fruit and some natural grain - and water.

He was very active and gained strength and SIZE at a somewhat alarming rate, but showed NO sign of any illness what so ever. He loved making 'practice' nests, climbing the various levels of his "house"... sliding upside down for my response, and hanging and swinging with his hind legs.

He was found of snuggling me, scolding strangers and licking me after we played a very gentle wrestling game.

4 days ago I was working an extra job and got a call from one of my co-workers that my baby had choked on something and was shaking all over, but then it went away. (Yes, I take him to work with me...)

When I got back to my other job, all seemed well. BUT, I did more research online and checked out what might be other possibilities... but he really didn't match any of the circumstances of things like the Calcium issue etc...

Last night when I came back to play and feed him, he was EXTREMELY hot and convulsing! He's been fine all day... I cooled him off with a cool wash cloth, gave him small amounts of sugar water (in case of hypoglycemia) followed up by small amounts of Esbilac.

He had one very big siezure and died in my hands within the hour...

I feel absolutely devastated. There must have been something I didn't see... but he remained happy, ACTIVE and ate well right up until when he got sick... does anyone out there have any idea of what this could be?

Thanks for your help even if it's way too late now.

[ShesASquirrelyGirl]

Could be anything and you won't know for sure with out a necropsy done, however to me sounds like he got into something he shouldn't have. Perhaps someone gave him something they shouldn't have with out you knowing? He could have grabbed something and stashed it while he was out...
We had a squirrel here act about the same way because he consumed a toxic plant.

[atlantasquirrelgirl]

The only way to know for certain is to have a necropsy done, which is like an autopsy.

[island rehabber]

Winzel I agree that it sounds like toxic poisoning, to come on so soon like that in an 'older' juvenile. Michigan State or one of your other colleges may have a research lab that would do a necropsy for free or minimal cost; having it done by a vet can be a few hundred dollars. Or, your state Wildlife Conservation dept may do necropsies as well -- New York's does. Either way it is really the only way to know for sure what happened. And I'm very sorry for your loss.

[wheezer]

So sorry for your loss:grouphug :sad I too think it must have been something toxic to have happened so fast.

[philomycus]

I am soooo sorry you lost your little one. :grouphug

[digiandchipper]

I wish I could give you an answer, but know that we're thinking of you. The poor baby - at least you were able to give him a wonderful, loving life:grouphug

[skye]

I am so very sorry for your loss. God Bless
R.I.P Little One

[Winzel]

Thank you to everyone for your kind replies... I'm not doing well with this.

I sort of interragated my co-worker to find out what she might have given him. She had instructions from me to NOT feed him anything that I hadn't left for him... but she's the one he always scolded and she admitted to trying to make friends...

She gave him a brazil nut (finely chopped) and a couple flakes of Raisin Bran and a couple of raisins too. (He still scolded her). Don't know if that was enough to cause such a violent reaction.

The extreme body temperature also scared me... reminded me of when my sister and I were very young and she would spike very high fevers and shake like that.

He had started knawing on the tree branch I'd found for him. It was just a dead branch that I'd stripped the bark from. It had been dried up and dead long enough to not be green and had no insects etc....

I wrapped him up and put him in the freezer with the thought of going to Michigan State when I could cope with it, so I'll take all of your advise and make the call to them and see what I can find out.

Thank you all again for your thoughts - and especially for NOT condemming me for being stupid somehow!

[Gaea]

I'm Sooo sorry for your loss. It doesn't sound like anything you did.
Take care, I'm praying for him & you.
Thank you for taking the time & giving your love to him.
Gaea:thankyou

[Winzel]

Now I have a new concern... I was researching what foods are toxic to squirrels - there was nothing else in his environment that was not in my control... and I found the following link - it totally contradicts EVERYTHING that I've ever read or been told with regard to raising orphan squirrels.

So... what do you all think of this, and if this site is correct, I DID in fact kill my baby with my own efforts to care correctly for him...

http://users.hal-pc.org/~jbsum/squirrel.html ( this is the link to the site)

Please let me know what you think is correct...

Thank you again,

[island rehabber]

Now I have a new concern... I was researching what foods are toxic to squirrels - there was nothing else in his environment that was not in my control... and I found the following link - it totally contradicts EVERYTHING that I've ever read or been told with regard to raising orphan squirrels.

So... what do you all think of this, and if this site is correct, I DID in fact kill my baby with my own efforts to care correctly for him...

http://users.hal-pc.org/~jbsum/squirrel.html (http://users.hal-pc.org/%7Ejbsum/squirrel.html) ( this is the link to the site)

Please let me know what you think is correct...

Thank you again,

AAAAKKKKK! Winzel, put that thought, and that website, RIGHT OUT of your head! This "Clarissa" person has killed more squirrels than anyone else on the planet with her unscientific, unproven lies. Many of us here have worked desperately to save squirrels who have been ruined by her "diet" of scalded milk and nutballs. Every rehabber I know would like to blast her off the face of the earth, but she keeps resurfacing like Gollum out of the depths. She has lost her rehab license and had all her poorly animals confiscated, but still she persists. Please please don't think you did anything wrong because of the garbage you read there!

[Winzel]

OHhhhhhh, thank you AGAIN! What a relief, I was totally freaked out.

Ya know, I did rehab for orphaned hares, birds, and all sorts of other critters for the local vets for about 25 years, but way back then they didn't license you... (I was a vet tech at the time). I had a 95% success rate with my little 'bunnies' and had only a couple batches of squirrels but they all made it to the release stage successfully... so when I saw this website I mentioned above, I was quite shocked by what I found there...

I'm working 2 jobs now (Michigan is rapidly sinking into the Great Lakes and one must work when one can FIND work) - otherwise I'd work at getting licensed here.

I'll stop researching and scaring myself, I'll stick with all of you and keep learning! I'm not hoping for more orphans, but if one comes along, I'll be ready.

Oh, one last thing... just in case my poor little guy had a virus or something (which might account for the fever), should I throw out his house, or just try to sanitize it for emergency use somewhere down the line - can a virus like that lay dormant for any length of time?

Thank you all again!

[island rehabber]

Winzel I have no doubt that you know what you're doing :thumbsup. As for the house I would sanitize it but not throw it out. The only 'bug' I know of that is not killed by a good scrubbing is raccoon roundworm (baylisascaris procyon) and that was not what killed your little guy.

[Winzel]

Thank you, what a bunch of great people on this board! I'm really glad I joined, there is a lot of really great info here and I enjoy reading as many posts as I can... IF I find anything out about my little guy (if MSU will do the work), I'll post back so others can give their opinions with the finding.

:)

[ShesASquirrelyGirl]

You should stick around here. Come spring there will be a bunch of babies needing help and I am sure there are rehabbers around you , you can volunteer with and get some more babies. Just don't bring them to work with you lol. :poke

Good Luck with the necropsy.

[Abacat]

:sad I'm so sorry for your loss. I just wanted to Welcome you and let you know I had you in my thoughts. :grouphug

[Winzel]

Thank you very much. It's very hard for me right now, I keep going to check up on my little guy, or "OH!, here's something he'd like to play with" ... that sort of thing... and then I picture the scared look in his eyes and all I could do was hold him and tell him how much I loved him. There wasn't even any place to take him at 10:30 pm on a Sunday night...

My goal was to release him when the time came - not that I'd want to... but it's what you're supposed to do. But it wasn't time yet and well, I just had no idea that this could happen. He didn't even have fleas and was SOOOO strong when we played before I went to work that morning.

?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????? !

:(

[atlantasquirrelgirl]

I know you are having a tough time, and I'm so sorry. Don't beat yourself up (or anybody else) until you can get that necropsy done.

If you have trouble finding somebody locally to do it, you can contact somebody I know in the South, who performs necropsies on flying squirrels. He has very specific shipping instructions to preserve the body as much as possible.

[Winzel]

There are only 2 other people that work here besides myself... my husband - who believe me KNOWS better to do ANY unauthorized stuff, and a friend of mine. She would never do anything malicious... but perhaps stupid with the thought of being kind.

I haven't been able to determine whether or not the small amount of brazil nuts she fed and/or the all-natural raisin bran cereal were possibly fatal...

One other thought. I have a young Dachshund that I've rescued. She was going to be put to sleep at 7 weeks because her back legs didn't work, she couldn't hold her head up to eat nor even open her eyes. She was incredibly dehydrated. The man was on his way to the vet to have her put down but stopped into my store (he was a regular shopper) and asked if I'd like to try...

Of course I took her! The vet I went to for sub-Q fluids said that quite honestly she thought I was wasting my time... but gave them to me anyway.

She's 6 months old now and all works pretty darn well! Her legs aren't perfect, but she doesn't know it and is strong and fast as lightening!!!

BUT, she has the Megasophugus syndrome and has had 2 minor bouts of a little lung infection which I've successfully treated with Clavamox.

I don't really think that it could be transmittable... but, the second round of this lung thing was a few weeks ago... ?

Of course I wash my hands in between treatments, which may or may not help considering that they all tend to lick my face and anywhere else that's available.

What do any of you think about THAT possibilty?

At this point I'm pretty much done beating myself up over this , I'm just wallowing in the missing of him. His name was Winzel... I took my screen name to be always reminded of him - no matter what.

I am waiting for a 'call back' from MSU. If they won't do it, then I will try to contact the person down south (I'll ask for more info if I go that route).

Thanks once again for the wonderful support to all of you. I can't tell you how much better I feel with all of the kindness and understanding flowing my way - you've all been wonderful and have made this horrible situation a little better. :)

Terri

[Lady Squirrelly]

Dear Terri,
When we lose a little one, we all go through the whys, the what ifs, and the if onlys. We all do the best that we can. Answers are great but sometimes they don't come. Just know that we understand.
I am so sorry you lost little Winzel. I know how much it can hurt. When I lost my Screech 3 years ago, I went to bed and stayed there for the whole weekend.
RIP little Winzel :grouphug :grouphug :grouphug

[Mads]

could he have bitten into an electrical cord by chance?

I'm also very sorry for you loss. Sounds like you were doing everything correctly ...

[Winzel]

Nope, I kept his cage clearly away from everything - by at least 2 feet on all sides...

The fever is the key I'm thinking... but WHAT caused the fever!!!


Terri