cowgurl543
09-13-2012, 11:34 AM
Hello to all! I am new to this board. Let me give a little bit of background first. I live in Tennessee where it is illegal to own squirrels unless licensed. In my county, though, there are no rehabbers for any animals other than reptiles. (weird I know) My family owned a pet store while i was growing up and many wild/exotic animals in need of rescue were brought to us. We tried to call TWRA a few times, but they always told us to put them back outside and let them die. We never had the heart for that. We have rehabilitated everything from skunks to racoons.
My mother found a tiny baby squirrel about 6 weeks ago and brought him to me. He was approx 1 week old. His nest was blown out by a storm. His other three siblings were already dead. The mom never came back for them. I have been caring for him ever since. He has grown beautifully, and physically, looks like a normal 8 week old. However, I have observed a few issues that i'm concerned about.
1: He doesn't walk well. He uses all of his feet with no pain that I can tell and stands up nicely, but is soooo unbalanced. He walks like he is three sheets to the wind drunk, and occasionally he will just spin in a circle backwards.
2: He doesn't seem to eat solid foods well. Not his rodent block at least. He can't coordinate his handles well enough to hold it and eat, and he is not crazy about the rodent block. He almost chokes when he does eat on it.
These two things are really the only concerns I have. He has been on Esbilac Puppy formula and whipping cream, however, I have read on here to order fox valley which i am doing today. Does any one have any ideas of what could be causing him to walk so unsteadily?
My mother found a tiny baby squirrel about 6 weeks ago and brought him to me. He was approx 1 week old. His nest was blown out by a storm. His other three siblings were already dead. The mom never came back for them. I have been caring for him ever since. He has grown beautifully, and physically, looks like a normal 8 week old. However, I have observed a few issues that i'm concerned about.
1: He doesn't walk well. He uses all of his feet with no pain that I can tell and stands up nicely, but is soooo unbalanced. He walks like he is three sheets to the wind drunk, and occasionally he will just spin in a circle backwards.
2: He doesn't seem to eat solid foods well. Not his rodent block at least. He can't coordinate his handles well enough to hold it and eat, and he is not crazy about the rodent block. He almost chokes when he does eat on it.
These two things are really the only concerns I have. He has been on Esbilac Puppy formula and whipping cream, however, I have read on here to order fox valley which i am doing today. Does any one have any ideas of what could be causing him to walk so unsteadily?