starvation or esbilac? or am i being overly dramatic again???

[gs1]

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25179

she doesn't have anything else... tomorrow is another day but now ...she's got nothing else....

even scalded milk ... :hidechair ... is it better than no food at all????

[hippmom]

Esbilac is perfectly healthy, just balance it with a 1/2 part whipping cream added in for caloric and fat content balance.

[gs1]

:D thank you hippmom....

but i think it was healthy but then they changed the formula and many baby squirrels died last year.... now not even their own company recommends it for baby squirrels and are actually saying that they've never recommended it for squirrels...:thinking

ofcourse this is just what i've been told .... but i trust my sources....:D

we haven't met already.....:Welcome

oh, hang on ... are you saying the new esbilac can be made safer/better for baby squirrels by adding the cream??? ok ... i see the idea ...interesting!!! hmmm will have to ask around.... but ofcourse...since fv is so available and is so economical.... hmmm???:thinking well...anyway regardless ... a very interesting idea .... :)

[PDXErik]

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25179

[Kristal]

I seem to remember that if you mix it with boiling hot water, let it sit in the fridge for a day before using it, then mix 1 part whipping cream to 3 parts formula before using it, it is ok. I could be wrong about that, though, as I never had a need to remember it for myself, never having gotten esbilac in the first place. Hopefully someone can either confirm that or correct me.

Anyway, get the fox valley. It's better and it is not as expensive. In the meantime the goats milk formula worked really well for me, too.

[CritterMom]

:D thank you hippmom....

but i think it was healthy but then they changed the formula and many baby squirrels died last year.... now not even their own company recommends it for baby squirrels and are actually saying that they've never recommended it for squirrels...:thinking

ofcourse this is just what i've been told .... but i trust my sources....:D

we haven't met already.....:Welcome

oh, hang on ... are you saying the new esbilac can be made safer/better for baby squirrels by adding the cream??? ok ... i see the idea ...interesting!!! hmmm will have to ask around.... but ofcourse...since fv is so available and is so economical.... hmmm???:thinking well...anyway regardless ... a very interesting idea .... :)

No, it was always recommended because esbiilac NEVER had the fat content needed for baby squirrels. Now they have changed their manufacturing process, making it VERY DIFFICULT tomix properly, as it does not absorb the water well. The latest word on esbilac is:

Mix well with extremely hot water, using a blender if possible,
Let sit in fridge for AT LEAST 8-12 hours.
Blend again in blender.
Let sit again to allow bubbles to subside.

Then. supposedly it is ready. Or, you can mix the FV with hot water and use it right away.

Order the FV.

[island rehabber]

IMHO Esbilac is just not safe for baby squirrels anymore. The fact is, Fox Valley was recommended to me a year and a half BEFORE the Esbilac mess when they changed their manufacturing process and wildlife babies began dying left and right in rehabbers' hands. :shakehead I had heard thru the grapevine that the "best" rehabbers in my area had all switched to this Fox Valley stuff for squirrels and bunnies, and I switched too -- dodging the bullet of Esbilac 2009. So what I'm trying to say is, Fox Valley was better than the OLD Esbilac, and is infinitely better than the "new" Esbilac.

I would not feed my baby squirrels anything that requires such ridiculously convoluted methods of preparation as those that are recommended for the "new" Esbilac. :shakehead

[scoobysnack]

There has to be a way to get Fox Valley more easily into people's hands. I think one of the big problems is it's not readily available. People who are brand new to having a squirrel are reluctant to "go through the trouble" of looking it up online, calling and waiting for the order.

Any ideas how availability can be resolved?

[CritterMom]

I don't think Nick has the bucks and marketing department to make it available in pet shops - only bit multinationals like Pet Ag can do that. Leigh's shipping costs are much lower - I am betting Nick uses UPS and their prices are twice what USPS is. Money is usually the reason small businesses stay small...

[PDXErik]

I don't think Nick has the bucks and marketing department to make it available in pet shops - only bit multinationals like Pet Ag can do that. Leigh's shipping costs are much lower - I am betting Nick uses UPS and their prices are twice what USPS is. Money is usually the reason small businesses stay small...

I got mine over USPS

[JLM27]

Give her the Esbilac until the FV arrives. What else can you do unless you have another nursing animal?

[scoobysnack]

One thought I had... maybe he could make it available to veterinarians. A vet here in Gainesville uses it to raise orphans and I believe carries some just in case. If it was marketed to veterinarians people could get it locally. Most folks call the vet when they find one to begin with. And even in illegal states, well heck it's just "puppy formula" so no one would have to know they were carrying it for the squirrels.

In an emergency what about the liquid esbilac in the can? Is that safer to use? How bout "first born" which is available at a lot of places. Just for a day or so until the FV can arrive. We need to be able to tell people what the heck to feed until they can order and receive FV. And whatever it is we tell them had better be easy to get their hands.

[lumbergal]

I fed Esbilac to my squirrels for a couple years with excellent results. When this season started, I lost two squirrels within a week or two. I could not figure it out-they seemed to waste away before my eyes-no matter what I did. They didn't appear to have anything wrong with them and they just kept getting skinnier and skinnier. I found this wonderful forum and discovered that Esbilac had changed their formula. I didn't have a clue, I felt horrible. A lot of the sites you visit-still recommend Esbilac and some of them even recommend Kitten milk and or scalded human milk. Do not listen to those folks-the experts on this forum know what they are talking about. I know what you are going thru and I would definitely switch to Fox Valley. I have switched and have 7 beautiful, healthy babies at the moment. I have one that is fighting pneumonia at the moment (she came here sick), but she still loves to drink her fox valley! Good Luck!:)