scratsdad
11-25-2006, 05:55 PM
Hi and thanks for your concern, I'm at the point of being concerned also from what I've been reading since I've found the board. First of all let me give some history behind Scrat. I found him laying in the backyard the day after a high wind storm. I don't know how long he had been laying there, but with alot of stray cats in the neighborhood I approached him with care. He was about 2 inches from nose to beginning of his tail but didn't seem affraid of me. This was on Friday Sept 22nd. He couldn't get up and was laying on his leftside. We thought scrat was a female until after about a week when his private part dropped. He was kept in the garage in a tall box for the first month. I've since upgraded to a plastic container that has rollers on it with a screen over it. I've been taking him out everyday, rain or shine unless I can't find a somewhat dry area under one of the cedar trees. I also have been taking him out 2 to 3 times in the morning for 15 to 20 or 30 minutes at a time. When he's had enough he comes to our shoes and holds onto them. Otherwise we try to keep a distance, while watching for stray cats. I've also put him on the base of the walnut tree and he climbs up to about chest high at which time I remove him and start over. We're currently got him in a cage, the first cage was a bird cage and felt it wasn't big enough so last friday upgraded to one 3 times bigger for more room. Like the plastic container I've also put branches in his home each time. The current cage has a fireplace size cut log (branch about 2-3inches in diameter. Plus acouple of smaller ones for him to climb under and through. He loves them and chews on them for his teeth.
The first week we had him on straight Pediasure(Vanilla) baby formula. After the first week we upgraded to adding a 8oz bottle into a pot and adding 2 tablespoons of creame of wheat. If the mixture got too thick we added alittle more Pediasure. The cream of wheat has him chewing like he's eating something. We've tried to feed him things like califlower, walnuts, and lettuce, etc but except for yesterday we won't touch solid foods. Yesterday he nibbled, but nothing big. We feed him 4 times a day. at 5am, 10:30am, 5pm and 10:30pm. The pediasure I compared to the chart Gabe posted on Oct of this year. KMR and ESbilac not available at any of the Petsmarts or other pet stores in town. Pediasure has 11.8% Fat, 7.1% proteen, 202g water, 230 calcum which they seem to be comparable with the others. At one time I mixed peanut butter in the mix but someone local told me not to do that and why. She has raised several squirrels and released them. She also works at a Animal clinic. Scrat has grown and is about 2 to 3 times the size he was when I found him, Okay out side for short periods. Last friday I not only got a bigger cage but got a full spectrum light for in the house on cloudy days. We keep him in the house right now due to the cold conditions we had because the garage is not only dark, but about 10 to 15 degrees colder than outside. We had temps in the mid 20's. He's been in the house for a week. His fur and tail are normal for what I've read. Mighty bushy tail. I'm guessing from what I know he's about 3 to 3 1/3 months old. He's had a balance problem every since we've had him.
Friday morning Scrat got his upper teeth and snoot caught between the left and right running bars (caught teeth downward,snoot up). Don't know how he got them through but I heard him yelping and came running. Couldn't get him out without prying the bars apart. Today (Sat his snoot is swollen), that wasn't the half of it. We put him in a smaller bird cage and late in the afternoon we included a dish of veggie sample to see what scrat would try. It looked like the califlower might do. So as not to interrupt we left to do some errans. When we got back I checked to see how things were going and the cage had red stuff on the bars going up and down (got away from the sideway bars because the mornings trama). The bowl had smudges of red stuff and the little cushion in the cage was soaked red. At first I thought it was the calicum carrot because it's slightly a faded red. But that wasn't it..both his cheeks were blood red. I guess he tried to squeez out of this cage. Today one side has the fur missing. I just got through using 1/4 inch square meshing for the inside of the big cage. I picked up a roll at a farm supply.
Here's the concern, besides not eating solids yet, the balance issue when walking.....today Scrat has been dosile compared to past. This concerns me more than anything....it scares me...this is not scrat....what can I do....
The first week we had him on straight Pediasure(Vanilla) baby formula. After the first week we upgraded to adding a 8oz bottle into a pot and adding 2 tablespoons of creame of wheat. If the mixture got too thick we added alittle more Pediasure. The cream of wheat has him chewing like he's eating something. We've tried to feed him things like califlower, walnuts, and lettuce, etc but except for yesterday we won't touch solid foods. Yesterday he nibbled, but nothing big. We feed him 4 times a day. at 5am, 10:30am, 5pm and 10:30pm. The pediasure I compared to the chart Gabe posted on Oct of this year. KMR and ESbilac not available at any of the Petsmarts or other pet stores in town. Pediasure has 11.8% Fat, 7.1% proteen, 202g water, 230 calcum which they seem to be comparable with the others. At one time I mixed peanut butter in the mix but someone local told me not to do that and why. She has raised several squirrels and released them. She also works at a Animal clinic. Scrat has grown and is about 2 to 3 times the size he was when I found him, Okay out side for short periods. Last friday I not only got a bigger cage but got a full spectrum light for in the house on cloudy days. We keep him in the house right now due to the cold conditions we had because the garage is not only dark, but about 10 to 15 degrees colder than outside. We had temps in the mid 20's. He's been in the house for a week. His fur and tail are normal for what I've read. Mighty bushy tail. I'm guessing from what I know he's about 3 to 3 1/3 months old. He's had a balance problem every since we've had him.
Friday morning Scrat got his upper teeth and snoot caught between the left and right running bars (caught teeth downward,snoot up). Don't know how he got them through but I heard him yelping and came running. Couldn't get him out without prying the bars apart. Today (Sat his snoot is swollen), that wasn't the half of it. We put him in a smaller bird cage and late in the afternoon we included a dish of veggie sample to see what scrat would try. It looked like the califlower might do. So as not to interrupt we left to do some errans. When we got back I checked to see how things were going and the cage had red stuff on the bars going up and down (got away from the sideway bars because the mornings trama). The bowl had smudges of red stuff and the little cushion in the cage was soaked red. At first I thought it was the calicum carrot because it's slightly a faded red. But that wasn't it..both his cheeks were blood red. I guess he tried to squeez out of this cage. Today one side has the fur missing. I just got through using 1/4 inch square meshing for the inside of the big cage. I picked up a roll at a farm supply.
Here's the concern, besides not eating solids yet, the balance issue when walking.....today Scrat has been dosile compared to past. This concerns me more than anything....it scares me...this is not scrat....what can I do....