baby skunk! need help ASAP please

[melowe3389]

Hi, I am new on here but do have experience rehabbing various animals. However I have no experience with skunks. Someone just brought me a baby fits in my hand, no teeth, eyes open, moving around well. What should I feed it? Any special care requirements? Thanks!!

[Jackie in Tampa]

strippedbandits (http://strippedbandits) forum

http://www.stripedbandits.com/


this is the contact info for a skunk guru
mary@animaladvocates.us

and here is the manual
http://www.animaladvocates.us/skunkmanual.pdf

I am not a skunk rehabber..
i will PM some skunk peeps to this thread..
he needs to be warm quiet and dark...
no pets or small children
do you have a heating pad, place it Half under the container so he can leave the heat, set on low.
If not, fill a sock with rice and nuke in microwave for 20-30 seconds.
Does he appear dehydrated?
brb

[Milo's Mom]

Welcome to TSB. I personally have no experience with skunks (thank goodness). Standard protocol for newly found wildlife is Dark, Warm, Quiet, & Hydrate.

Hopefully some of our experts will be on soon. I know some of them have had skunks before.

[jacey]

First I want to say I am totally jealous!!! I love rehabbing skunks! Skunkhaven.com has some pretty good info pages. For starters make sure baby is warm to the touch then use pedialyte to hydrate. Stimulate to check urine output. a 1 cc syringe. They do well with the squirrel type nipples on the syringe. You can use a 3cc but go very slow drops by drops. Esbilac puppy formula or Fox Valley 32/40 for squirrels will do fine. No kitten formula. No cat foods. Can you post a picture and a gram weight?

[Anne]

You have gotten good advice so far.
Warm, dark, quiet, hydrate.
No teeth, so I would guess his age at almost 1 month old.You should feed formula 4/5 times a day. His teeth won't start coming in for another 2 weeks or so. I am not sure if Fox Valley has a skunk formula, but I am sure Nick does have one. Skunks are easy to litter train, like ferrets they like to use one corner of the cage as a bathroom:) . Unless scared he shouldn't spray, but that little extra is developing at this time. Skunks don't have good eyesight, or hearing. Provide him with a house of some kind, they are den dwellers and like to be covered.Like raccoons skunks should be wormed very 2 weeks as long as he is with you. Panacur is good to use.
Email or PM me if you have anymore questions. Also remind me if you need the information when he is older for a skunk's healthy diet.

[jacey]

Fox valley does have a skunk formula but I don't like the fat content . It is a 32/45 mixture which 45% fat is too much sometimes. I just use the 32/40 for squirrels, opossums etc... for skunks because they tend to get chubby.

[jacey]

Oops, I almost forgot the most important thing...Skunk babies can have hypoglycemic problems and have siezures. Just keep a 1 cc syringe filled with Karo syrup. Anytime the baby is shaky or sluggish give a little squirt in his mouth and wipe fur clean.

[melowe3389]

Hi thanks everyone, I am feeding him the goats milk formula posted on tsb (a substitute to ebsilac ) until I get the fox valley formula in. How do I upload a picture? I was guessing he's 4-5 weeks from what I've read.

[melowe3389]

Oo he appears to have mites.. any suggestions for treating that?

[Jackie in Tampa]

I copied this from one of the links below..
looks like advantage would work...:thumbsup
Maybe PM jacey and see what she advises, I have no experience with skunks...but I am so jealous...
pics please!:Love_Icon
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Parasites: As with most mammals, skunks can carry an assortment of parasites. They can have regular dog and
cat fleas, mites, ticks and lice. Always quarantine new patients. You can use flea and tick spray for small animals
such as Ultra-care sprayed on a cotton ball and gently wiped over their body starting around their eyes and ears
so the animals will not run in there and hide. You can also use mite and lice spray for birds, Scalex. Use as above.
You can also use Advantage or Frontline. Just one drop on furred babies and two drops on adults on the back of
the neck. You can put the Advantage on the bedding of hairless babies away from their face. You can also first
wash the baby with kitten safe flea/tick shampoo.
Skunks also get intestinal parasites such as round worms or hook worms. Begin deworming the baby using Evict
or Strongid dewormer at 4 weeks of age. Deworm again two weeks after first deworm then deworm monthly
until release. This is very important because round worms can be deadly to cats and humans. You must always
wash your hands after touching the skunks, cleaning their cage or handling feces. All caging must be sterilized


using a steamer and bleach solution.

[jacey]

For mites and lice use Revolution for kittens up to 5#. Weigh baby with a gram scale and dose accordingly. I believe it is 6mg/kg.