one new baby, and then another

[missPixy]

last wednesday, a friend of a friend found an approximately 4-week-old baby under a tree near a busy street. at first she thought he was dead because of closed eyes and motionless body, but thankfully stopped and checked him out to find yes, he was alive.

apart from dehydration, the baby was in pretty good shape: pristine fur, and warmed up quickly. I weighed him [3.4oz] and started him on FV. he was starving, and took 2ml right away... and did so every 3 hours for the next 24 hours. he started pooping and peeing very regularly after 48 hours, and at that point my only concern was that he's a singleton, and what could I do to make him feel safe?

fast forward to yesterday. another friend found another baby squirrel "running amok" in a road intersection. they were easily able to catch him, and bring him to me. at once there looked something "off" about him, but I couldn't figure out what... the squirrel seemed alert but kept making that baby squirrel purr...purr...purr sound. he's easily 8 weeks old, his tail is almost fully fluffed out.

I was concerned about a possible concussion, but since he was still pretty responsive I chalked his demeanor up to being scared. he was very badly dehydrated, so I was able to get 1.0ml of FV into him, then an hour later, 1.0ml of sugar water into him. I tucked him in with my 4-week-old [who was ecstatic at having another squirrel in there with him!] at this point it was 8pm, so apart from checking on him a couple of more times that night, I let it be. weight: 4.9oz.

today? the 8-week-old is clicking, but not loudly. still making the purr...purr sound, and acting off~~ maybe neuro? I've got him on the sugar water every hour, he's still very dehydrated. could dehydration make him act neuro? his head seems a bit trembly and not able to steady. when offering him the syringe with water, he seems to have a hard time navigating his mouth to the nipple... I find if I gently rest my thumb on his head, he steadies, puts his hands out to the syringe and is able to drink more easily.

I plan on giving him 7 servings of sugar water all together, spaced one hour apart. he's keeping warm snuggling up with the 4-week old, just seems a bit "out of it."

oh, and I started adding a bit of yoBaby yogurt to the 4-week old's FV [not even 1 part yogurt, maybe 1/2 part yogurt] on Saturday. today, soft smooshed poop. I'm not sure if it's the yogurt or the fact that he's probably been eating too much at each feeding [4-5ml every day except today, where he cut himself back to 2ml for 2 feedings.]

I'm eliminating the yogurt until his poop is back to normal. should I give him some sugar water in between FV feedings, too?


here are some pix of the 4-week old:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8314/7984212784_822a4bfd4c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27896260@N02/7984212784/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8042/7984206723_042b7577d5.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27896260@N02/7984206723/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8303/7984206671_621ee79a47.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27896260@N02/7984206671/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8029/7984206619_a40df81166.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27896260@N02/7984206619/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8030/7984212572_54afa01412.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27896260@N02/7984212572/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8169/7984206481_f7fdd59b9f.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27896260@N02/7984206481/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8436/7984206415_38d389b3ef.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27896260@N02/7984206415/)

[SammysMom]

Oh that beautiful face!!! :Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

[daniellenc]

Dehydration can definitely cause shakiness and disoriented movement so I would hydrate through the night and heavily tomorrow to see if that remedies it. Yogurt is fab for diarrhea so I wouldn't exclude it personally just dilute the formula for a few feedings till it becomes firmer and feed within the 5-7% guideline for now:)

The clicking would worry me is it with every breathe or just a noise he makes while purring??

[missPixy]

oh, that's good news about the dehydration~ I hope that's all it is! I'll continue with the hydration.

one update, during the last hydration of the 8-week-old, he seemed definitely perkier. not 100 percent "normal" but a big improvement. plus, the clicking had softened and wasn't with every breath... plus, after the sugar water I had him wrapped in a fleece and held him close to my chest, rocking gently, talking to him and kissing his head... and the clicking would go away for long periods while I did this. he definitely adores being comforted.

[missPixy]

the 8week old didn't make it :sad . he seemed to be getting a bit more stable during the hydration feedings... but then early a.m., when I checked on them, the 8week old was just lying stretched out on top of the blankets.

somebody mentioned to me roundworm? he was found in Cape Cod and I know there are lots of raccoons there~~ but I'd think he was too young at 8 weeks old to suffer from that unless his mom already had it? I guess I'll never know. poor sweet little one.

the 4/5-week old was hiding under the blankets. took him out, fed and comforted him and put him back with fresh new fleece. the old fleece blankets are going through the wash. the 8week old was pooping and peeing normally. wouldn't a concussion take him overnight, especially if he was on heat? he came in on Sunday to me. I don't know, I can just *tell* when I see a baby squirrel whether they are off. I have a headache now from crying.