Any info will help

[Vanna]

Hi Squirrel Board,
This is my first try at posting, bear with me..
I'm in Northern California where squirrels are illegal pets.
Ten days ago I found a brown squirrel ( a red fox, I believe).
She was laying unnaturally on the lawn, mostly unconscious.
Her mouth was packed FULL of mud and dirt. In cleaning her mouth (with wet Q-Tips), I noticed her botton teeth were excessively long, which I feel led to her weakened condition.
I packed her up appropriately, brought her in the house and began researching malocclusion and dehydration/nutrition issues.
At this point, I have trimmed her teeth, and maintained her with eyedroppers of (all liquified): unsweetened apple sauce, peanut butter, WATER, calcium supplements (tums), the liquid from canned green beans.
The eyedropper Tx happens every 3-4 hours.
She is MUCH more resonsive now, her eyes are open (I estimate this little creature to be maybe 4-6 months old), and she struggles to walk.
Her front legs don't seem to respond properly, her balance is very poor, she locomotes by basically pushing with her rear legs and sliding along. Also, its doesn't really seem like a seizure (what do I know?) but on occasion her head shakes, sorta 'Parkinson's'-like.
My goal is to rehabilitate her back to "the wild" (my yard), but I've reached a plateau with her and need help. I have already got the numbers and locations of my local wildlife rescue organization and am more than willing to turn her over if they can help her.
I know this was a lengthy message, thank you for reading it and if you have any suggestions, I will be checking back obsessively to read them.
VANNA

[SammysMom]

I am sure an expert will appear soon, but until then thank-you for helping the little one!
The calcium is a great idea. If you haven't already done so, look at the nutrition form as well as the emergency MBD treatment. If it is MBD, warmth is comforting to them as they are uncomfortable and achy. A heating pad set on low that does not have an auto-shut off under only half of the container/cage she is in.
Lots of fleece/flannel to snuggle up in is also comforting.
Welcome!!!:Welcome

[CritterMom]

You need to be very careful of who you turn her over to. Many, many places would immediately euthanize a squirrel like that.

You have done wonderfully so far. She is fairly young still, so I would suggest you return her to a formula diet. It will get lots of nutrients into her FAST and you are already feeding liquid food.

Go to a health food grocery, or if you have a Trader Joes or Whole Foods, and but some goats milk. You can buy fresh, powdered or condensed. Get some Stoneyfield Yobaby yogurt, which is full fat and organic, preferably vanilla or banana and buy a carton of heavy whipping cream. You will be mixing this at 3 parts goats milk (if you buy evap or dry, mix it to package instructions first, then measure), 1 part yogurt and 1 part cream. Warm it to around 102-107 degrees and offer it by syringe (pick up a 1cc or 3cc syringe at a pharmacy - tell the pharmacist you need to feed a kitten.

How injured and how far this little one can come back is unknown, but their recuperative powers are amazing and often they just need some help to take care of food and protection long enough for them to recover.

If you think you have the time and energy to do this, the people here will help. I just fear that most wildlife centers will not give her a chance...

[spykitten01]

I completely agree with crittermom - I would not think that a rehab center would give her much hope. Her best bet is your continued care (with help from TSB - great start though!) or a licensed rehabber (preferrably someone from this site) THANK YOU for helping this poor girl :Love_Icon

[island rehabber]

Excellent advice from all above, and I agree to avoid the wildlife centers in CA unless someone out there knows one that can be trusted! This poor girl may have been hit by a car -- head and front paws/collarbone/shoulder injuries are likely. I would give her a rolled-up piece of sweatshirt or fleece material to lean on so that she can still be upright without having to put weight on her front paws.

[Vanna]

Wow! That was quick! Thank you!
ok, looks like I can get all the additional goodies you sugested! I have studied about this MBD and would dearly love to spare this squirrel ( I call her Flopsy)..
My greatest fear is that a "rescue" organization will kill her, so I will forge on.
I'm squeemish regarding her teeth. I don't know if I've trimmed them short enough.. If I can figure out how to send a picture, maybe you can advise.

Incidentally, I have raised two gray squirrels from babies to adulthood. The first was many years ago, the second one (Nutley) currently lives fulltime in the "wild". Nutely visits me everyday for fun and cuddles and I'm CRAZY about her (and squirrels in general).
Thanks again, I'll keep supplementing her liquid diet with your suggestions.
Do you think she will eat normally again?
VANNA
P.S. I appreciate the kind words about how well it's going so far, but I found The Squirrel Board for advice within hours of finding Flopsy - thats my secret!

[island rehabber]

Vanna, you're SO one of us :D. Check out a thread called "Christine" in the TSB Success Stories Forum....she had similar injuries, and her rescue mamma had some truly ingenious ways of dealing with them. It's a wonderful read, too!

[Vanna]

Dear Everyone,
I thought I'd inform you all regarding Flopsy. Turns out that beside her malocclusion and malnutrition, she'd suffered a head injury.
Her treatment was beyond me so I found a licensed rehabber near me and after a few conversations (I HAD to be sure she was on my wave-length!!) we met.
I was totally impressed with her in every way, and although I cried all the way home -Why did darn Flopsy have to be so loveable?!?! - it was obvious the rehabber knew what she was doing and had the time and resources (Dex) to better tend to her situation. She gave me her number so I could check up on Flopsy and told me that she had very high hopes for major recovery.
So that's it for now, but as I have mentioned, I have another squirrel, Nutley, who requested that I remain in contact with the Squirrel Board for her sake.
A million THANK YOUs again for all the support!!!
VANNA