New here and have some questions

[juls625]

Our kid's found a baby squirrel today laying in a neighbors yard. It was below a large tree but we couldn't find a nest. He appears to be about 5 weeks old, eyes are open. He was out on the porch in a box but I have brought him in and put him in a large tupperware container with a towel underneath and heating pad, etc. He perked up nicely and he just took about 6 ccs of Pedialite. He has 2 injuries I can see, one on his nose and one very small puncture wound on his neck, appears a cat may have got him but he seems okay. He had a few flees on him at first. I've been reading through the messages and we tried to find formula tonight but the big stores (Petsmart/Petco) were already closed. My husband tried a grocery store and drug store but they did not have the puppy formula or goats milk.

My son and I both got bitten by the flees on this little squirrel. Should we be worried?

He has a couple little black dots on him, not sure if those are eggs of some sort? We don't have Dawn, we do have Palmolive. Should I bathe him to be on the safe side?

Just need some advice because I've never cared for a baby squirrel. He seems as sweet as he can be and I just want to make sure I don't do anything wrong.

Thanks!

[farrelli]

Can you go out and get Dawn and goat's milk tomorrow? Puppy formula is bad. GM can be found at many grocery stores, including Walmart. If they don;t have fresh, they often have it in a can by the condensed milk. If you get that, read the instructions to see if you have to dilute it.

If you think that a cat got him, antibiotics are necessary as cat saliva is toxic to squirrels if the skin is broken. Do you have any? If not, could you call around and get some from your friends? Baytril is best, and the human form of it is Cipro, which is commonly prescribed, especially to women for UTIs. Tell us what you've got and we can tell you how to dose it. You will need to tell us the weight of the squirrel, ideally in grams.

[Shewhosweptforest]

:wave123 :Welcome jules625:thankyou for helping the baby...I'm not an expert but others will be on soon..I can tell you that you were right on the money with heat and hydrating....no puppy milk there is a recipe for goats milk formula...3 parts Goat milk, one part vanilla yogurt and later after a few successful feedings you add one part whipping cream...Walmart here carries the goat milk fresh in the dairy section:thinking the big concern is going to be the possible cat bite..that is deadly for squirrels and will require antibiotics....don't worry about the flea bites won't hurt you just a nuisance ...I'll pm a member to see if they can get here and help:thankyou. Edit: great someone is already here ...you're in great hands:)

[farrelli]

Btw, if you don;t have antibiotics and absolutely can't find any, please call around to pet stores and ask if they have Baytril or enrofloxacin. They sometimes have it for reptiles and birds. Again, we can tell you how to dose.

[sid'smommy]

Where about in missouri are you?... I might know some who can get you some fox valley formula right away, and possibly some antibiotics. I really doubt it was a cat that got it, but to be on the safe side anyway. Cats wont just injure it and leave it- they go for the throat and eat it. Even if the cat was just playing with it, it wouldnt likely stop playing with it until it died.

[juls625]

I am in Florissant. Maybe it wasn't a cat, not sure. He definitely doesn't seem real injured, just one little spot on the neck and the little scratch on his nose. The scratch on the nose looks like it's already partially healed though, so don't think it was real recent. The neck is just one little bitty spot with some dried blood.
I will get the goats milk first thing tomorrow and make the recipe for him. He seemed like he was rooting for food when he got warmed up and took the pedialite pretty easily.

If I can figure out how to post pics I will :)

[juls625]

I am currently taking an antibiotic called Cefprozil, would that work? They are 500mg tablets. I have a scale that I can weigh him with in the am and find out what he weighs. I think I will get some Dawn dish soap in the morning to bathe him too, I saw another tiny flee on him a little bit ago. Don't want to him getting bit up or us.

[stepnstone]

I am currently taking an antibiotic called Cefprozil, would that work? They are 500mg tablets. I have a scale that I can weigh him with in the am and find out what he weighs. I think I will get some Dawn dish soap in the morning to bathe him too, I saw another tiny flee on him a little bit ago. Don't want to him getting bit up or us.

Cefprozil, sometimes spelled cefproxil and marketed under the trade
name Cefzil, is a second-generation cephalosporin type antibiotic.
Used to treat skin infections, abscesses, wounds and cat bites.

WMB says "Do not give to animals that cannot tolerate penicillins or
cephalosporins." And Recommends animals be 16 weeks or older.
So that would be a no, sorry.

[farrelli]

Btw, you should only continue the Pedialyte for 24 hours due to the salt. After that, hydration should just be water or water mixed with a bit of sugar or juice.

[juls625]

He is doing really well and even sat up this morning and held the syringe to drink the pedialite. My husband is heading to Whole Foods to get the goat's milk and yogurt. How soon should I switch him over to the formula? He weighs 62 grams

[Skul]

Switch as soon as you get it.
Feed a little, and in an hour give a small amount of water/sugar, then an hour later, more formula.
His body will take a short time to get used to the formula.
Later today, you can go with just the formula if there are no issues.
Remember, the formula must be quite warm for him to take it.

[juls625]

Okay thank you very much. I have been warming the pedialite too. We named him peanut. I uploaded a picture of him on my avatar.

[farrelli]

Have you ordered the Fox Vally or worked something out with SM?

[juls625]

I was confused about that. So even if we do the goats milk formula do I need to order the fox valley formula? I have no problem doing that just wasn't sure if I needed to if we did the goats milk recipe.

[farrelli]

Yes, the Gm is just to get you over the hump. GM is fine, but FV gives your squirrel the best chance. For example, some people will have runny stool with the GM but after switching to FV (which is specially formulated for squirrels) it clears right up.

Btw, you know that formula and Pedialyte shouldn't be mixed, right? You should be phasing out the Pedialyte anyway seeing that it's been probably 24 hours at this point, but I just wanted to make sure.

[juls625]

He just started getting pedialite late last night, around midnight. Hubby is going to get the goats milk and yogurt now. No whipping cream to start with, right? I am ordering fox valley now :) I won't mix the pedialite with it.

[farrelli]

Btw, now that you have picture posting rights, we'd love to see some. Your avatar is adorable. Got a bigger size?

[farrelli]

Yeah, no cream at first.

[juls625]

I think so. I will try to figure out how to add more pics

[juls625]

Here's one

[juls625]

And another

[farrelli]

Awww! :Love_Icon

[juls625]

Sorry doing separate posts, can't seem to upload more than one at a time.

[Shewhosweptforest]

Help NINY or Stosh or one of those other great souls :bowdown who resized my pics until I figured it out:jump Jules, Peanut is so precious ....sounds like everything turned out ok ...no cat bite?? Yay!! :) You really did do a great job with Peanut from the very beginning :bowdown :thumbsup :grouphug

[juls625]

thank you! Yes, he is really adorable. I made him the goat milk and yogurt formula and oh my, he was so excited. He kept trying to swallow the whole dropper because it wasn't coming out fast enough! I didn't want him to aspirate it so I continued slow but steady until he was done. He also had a little bath with Dawn, he wasn't real thrilled with that but he tolerated it. He finally went potty afterward, so I think he must me okay now. And no, doesn't seem to be a cat bite from what I can tell. We looked in the yard where he was found to see if there were any other babies, didn't find any.

Now, I am a little scared about this because I've never raised a squirrel. I don't mind taking care of him for awhile but my goal is to release him into the wild later. So with that being said, what is the best way to succeed with release being the goal down the line?:thankyou

[farrelli]

Just keep doing what you're doing and don't let him get friendly with dogs of cats. Other than that, I think pretty much everything else will take care of itself until he gets older and you start up the "soft release" process.

[MollyBear361]

What a beautiful baby!! :thumbsup

[Shewhosweptforest]

:thumbsup Jules you just enjoy Peanut and as farelli said keep him away from pets...I don't even let mine in the same room..I'm afraid they'll become desensitized to their presence:dono and when the time comes there're a lot of pros here to assist:thumbsup and in the end maybe Peanut will be a yard buddy:) Keep up the good work:bowdown

[juls625]

Thank you for the support. After thinking long and hard of our current situation, I knew we didn't have the time or means to care for him. We called the wildlife hotline and they came and picked him up. We are so sad to see him go but we know he'll be happy there and they will take good care of him. I am glad we got to spend the time we did with him and this place will let us see his progress on line with pictures and updates, so that helps. Still sad to see him go but we know it's for the best.

[Shewhosweptforest]

:bowdown Jules I know that was hard because they do squirm right into our hearts :grouphug but you did a very unselfish thing by putting Peanuts welfare ahead of your own:bowdown it is an all consuming job raising and taking care of a baby and some people do a half*** job:shakehead but it was obvious from the beginning that you wouldn't do that kind of job:thumbsup again thank you and keep up with the board:grouphug I've heard others here say it...once a squirrel finds you it probably won't be the last:) :Love_Icon :grouphug

[Skul]

Considering release is still several weeks down the road.
Best to work on getting the little monster happy, then we can talk about that.

[Shewhosweptforest]

Jules it would be really nice if you could update us here when you get your updates....believe it or not people here get attached easily and good news is always welcomed and needed:) :grouphug

[SammysMom]

Another unselfish act of kindness...:thankyou :Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon